Steal Yourself for Some ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ Secrets
You know Ocean’s Eleven and its sequels. And you know that the film is a remake of an old movie starring Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack. But did you know before director Steven Soderbergh assembled his cast A-list cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, and Matt Damon, the actors considered for the film included Bruce Willis, Mike Myers, Luke and Owen Wilson? After Luke and Owen Wilson had to drop out to shoot The Royal Tenenbaums, the movie was nearly made with (get this!) Joel and Ethan Coen in the roles of squabbling brothers Virgil and Turk. That’s just one of the facts featured in the latest installment of You Think You Know Movies!
In order to afford the enormous cast, the stars of the film all had to take significant pay cuts in exchange for a piece of the potential profits. As part of his quest to convince Julia Roberts to sign on for the film, George Clooney sent her a copy of the script with a $20 bill and a note that read “I hear you’re getting 20 a picture now.” (Roberts’ asking price at the time was $20 million a movie.) Roberts liked the script and Clooney’s gesture, and agreed to appear as Tess Ocean. (We’re guessing she made more than $20 too.)
You Think You Know Movies? is a ScreenCrush original series that dives deep into the cinematic worlds of your favorite movies and freeze frames a few tidbits you might not have known. We’ve already tackled Star Wars, The Avengers and Spider-Man, but this time we’re betting big on some Ocean’s Eleven facts. Watch more installments of ‘You Think You Know Movies?’ below and let us know in the comments what movies we should cover next!