The latest to join the gender-swapping trend, "Ocean's Eleven" is apparently taking the all-female route, eyeing Sandra Bullock to take the lead.
According to The Playlist, the project was started last year by George Clooney, Jerry Weintraub and Steven Soderbergh. Along with Olivia Milch, who will be handling the script, Gary Ross has been attached to direct an all-female lineup, which Bullock will lead. Clooney and Bullock had co-starred in "Gravity" and recently teamed up for "Our Brand is Crisis." If the all-female "Ocean's Eleven" pushes through, it will be the third time the two will be working together, although they had been close for some time now.
The movie had been quietly developing since fall 2014 at the earliest, but had hit a snap when producer Weintraub passed away. Sources say, however, that the project has not been shelved, with Milch in fact handing over a draft of the screenplay already.
Clooney, Weintraub and Soderbergh had become close during the years the "Ocean's" trilogy was being filmed and Bullock was more than warmly welcomed into the extended family. Also, her role in "Our Brand is Crisis" was written originally with Clooney in mind, making the all-female "Ocean's Eleven" gig not the first time that she'll be stepping directly into the actor's shoes.
Though a draft of the script has been submitted, it is not clear in what way the movie will be connected to the original film or if it will ever be. At the very least, there will a cameo from Clooney as Danny Ocean, sources say.
It's not so much that the project has been kept secret but it's only gaining attention recently. In fact, crumbs have been all over the Internet the past few months, with Amy Pascal alluding to the movie in the Sony leak from 2014 and subsequently urging her team to move faster in developing the all-female "Ghostbusters," which reportedly wrapped up filming recently.
Once "The Free State of Jones" wraps up, Ross' schedule will be open to accommodate the filming for the all-female "Ocean's Eleven." There's no word yet on who will be joining Bullock's team but Kerry Washington and Melissa McCarthy appear to be great suggestions.
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