Ocean's Thirteen hits Cannes in style
Story by Jack Foley
THE stylish cast of Ocean’s Thirteen were greeted by hundreds of fans in Cannes on Thursday (May 24) as they attended the world premiere of their latest heist flick.
Actors George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia and Don Cheadle attended the ceremony, as well as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. They all signed autographs before attending a press conference and speaking about their hopes for the film.
The third film in the lucrative series finds Danny Ocean (Clooney) and crew taking on ruthless casino owner Willy Bank (Al Pacino) after he double crosses their friend and mentor Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould), sending him straight to the hospital.
Enlisting the help of his pals and even a former adversary to take down Bank’s new casino on its opening night, Ocean plans an ambitious, risky form of payback – but there are no limits when it comes to one of their own.
All but Pacino turned up for the most packed press conference of the Cannes festival so far, which was conducted in light-hearted fashion.
Commenting on Pacino’s contribution to the franchise, Pitt quipped: “He seemed to take notes well from each of us. He has a bright future.”
While Clooney joked that the script for the film will, in his opinion, “go down in the history books as one of the great screenplays of all time”.
Franchise director Steven Soderbergh told journalists that the Ocean’s film enabled him to have some fun and experiment at the same time – but he took them seriously and they did present a different set of challenges.
“One of the pleasures of making a film like Ocean’s Thirteen is that I get the opportunity to play in a way that’s not appropriate for other kinds of films.
“I can push things both in terms of movement and editing, in this case colour, in the way that if you’re making a serious movie, it would just take people right out of the film.
“There’s an assumption that if you’re making an entertaining film, that you’re not as engaged, that you’re not into it, you’re not as passionate about it. I don’t work that way and I don’t think any of the people here work that way. We just love making movies.
“So, from my standpoint, the Ocean’s films are more difficult for me than some of the serious films I’ve made that I’ve gotten much more attention for. They’re tricky. I think that if I made every film like Ocean’s or every film like Traffic that would be a trap.”
Ocean’s Thirteen opens in UK cinemas on June 8 and will be looking to build on the success of its predecessors, Ocean’s Eleven, which took $450m (£226m) at the box office, and Ocean’s Twelve, which went on to make a further $363m (£182m).
The film was playing out of competition at the Cannes festival but was intended to bring a form of light relief from some of the more serious films on show.
Check out photos from the film or watch the trailer