George Clooney Reveals A Couple Of Massive A-Listers Turned Down Roles In ‘Ocean’s 11’

brad pitt and george clooney in oceans 11

Warner Bros.


Given that it was a remake of an iconic Rat Pack-starring film, it’s understandable that there was some trepidation about Steven Soderbergh’s reboot of the Ocean’s franchise when the project was first coming together 20-plus years ago.

Still, while understandable, those concerns were obviously proven to be misplaced, as Ocean’s 11 was not only beloved by fans and critics, but it went on to gross over $450 million at the global box office and was followed up by two successful sequels, Ocean’s 12 and Ocean’s 13.

Part of the reason that the Ocean’s franchise was such a hit was due to its star-studded cast, which featured the likes of Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia, Bernie Mac, Casey Affleck, Carl Reiner, Scott Caan, and more alongside George Clooney’s Danny Ocean.

That famed cast, apparently, almost included the likes of Johnny Depp and Mark Wahlberg, who apparently told Clooney to “f off” when approached about making the film.

During a recent appearance at the TCM Classic Film Festival, Clooney and Soderbergh discussed their beloved collaboration and revealed that Depp and Wahlberg were just two of many actors to pass on the project:

“Steven had just done ‘Erin Brockovich’ and ‘Traffic, ‘and he was nominated for directing both films. So, people really wanted to work with Steven,” Clooney said during the event.

“That said, some people did say no to us,” director Steven Soderbergh chimed in.

“They did. Some very famous people told us to f*** right off: Mark Wahlberg, Johnny Depp. There were others. They regret it now. I regret doing f****** Batman, Clooney said.

In addition to the sequels Ocean’s 12 and Ocean’s 13, there was also an attempt at a female-led reboot back in 2018 with Ocean’s 8, which Soderbergh produced.

There have also been recent reports of Barbie co-stars Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie reuniting for a 1960s Europe-set reboot of the film. Warner Bros is likely waiting to see how Barbie plays out, though, before moving forward with that one.

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