Sandra Bullock confirmed to lead director Gary Ross’s Ocean’s Eleven reboot
Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock is back in theaters this week with the political satire Our Brand is Crisis in a role originally developed for the film’s producer George Clooney. Now she’s looking to go two-for-two with the Cloonster, as The Playlist has revealed and Entertainment Weekly has confirmed that the actress will take over his lead role in the Ocean’s Eleven franchise in an all-new, all-female reboot.
Whether Bullock will be playing Danielle Ocean, one of Danny’s embittered ex-wives or another character entirely is unclear at this time, but we do know that The Hunger Games director Gary Ross is onboard to helm the reboot. Ross has a longstanding friendship with “Ocean’s” trilogy director Steven Soderbergh, with the latter having produced Ross’s 1998 hit Pleasantville and famously directed second unit on the first Hunger Games. Soderbergh has been onboard to develop the reboot with producers Clooney and the late Jerry Weintraub since last year, with screenwriter Olivia Milch (Queen & Country, Little Women) having recently turned her draft in to Warner Bros.
Bullock had previously scoffed at turning her Melissa McCarthy buddy comedy hit The Heat into a franchise after her bad experiences on Speed 2: Cruise Control and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous. It sounds like her friendship with Clooney may have persuaded her to step back into the sequel arena, not to mention that “Ocean’s” is a well honed brand that dates back to the original Rat Pack-led Ocean’s 11 from 1960, starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.
Ross is currently putting the finishing touches on his Civil War epic The Free State of Jones, starring Matthew McConaughey, which is due out on May 13, 2016.
(Photo credit: WENN)
