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Preview by: Jack Foley
OCEAN’S 12, the eagerly-anticipated follow-up to George
Clooney’s ultra-hip heist movie, continues to attract interest
from all corners of the eagle-eyed media.
Having been repeatedly photographed while filming in Italy (including
the Eternal City of Rome), the producers recently had to dismiss
claims of Mafia intimidation on the Palermo set.
Now, however, the focus seems to be on the plot itself, with
co-star, Matt Damon, revealing a little more about the plot’s
details, while promoting his own sequel, The
Bourne Supremacy.
The film will pick up as the original crew - which included Clooney,
Damon, Brad Pitt and co - have been caught by Andy Garcia’s
casino owner, Terry Benedict, following a tip-off from Vincent
Cassell’s European thief.
Benedict wants his $150 million back, while Cassell simply wants
to challenge Ocean’s crew, in order to prove that he is
the world’s greatest thief.
So, with time against them, Ocean’s 12 (as they become)
must recover the money by pulling various European jobs, or face
the prospect of prison, or worse, at the hands of Benedict’s
henchmen.
Damon is one of a host of high-profile stars who helped to make
the original such a huge success for Warner Bros, and the sequel
is expected to be one of the biggest hits of the Christmas season.
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However, keeping the plot a secret
was child’s play, considering some of the reports which
have surfaced from the set, which alleged that the stars had unwittingly
become the focus of a Mafia investigation.
Producer, Jerry Weintraub, was forced to dismiss reports that
members of the Mafia were trying to extort money from production
staff on the film set of Ocean's 12, and subsequently came out
in defence of the hospitality that Italy had shown them.
In a statement, he said: "We were never approached by any
Mafia for extortion money. It's ridiculous; it's total fabrication.
They said I was worried about my stars. That was nonsense.
"No one ever threatened any of us. If anybody was going
to get extorted it was me.
"All of Italy was great. We had nothing but a wonderful
time. I hate for them to get a bum rap like this."
The claims in question arose while the team was filming in the
seaside town of Scopello, in western Sicily, when police official,
Giuseppe Linares, revealed that the film's cast and crew were
unaware of an undercover investigation into local Mafia activity.
He claimed that during the investigation, officers noticed some
suspected mobsters hanging around the Ocean's 12 set, and suggested
that some may have been looking to extort the production, or could
have been worried that a secret alcove used to hide arms in the
area might be uncovered.
Ocean’s 12, which also co-stars Julia Roberts and Catherine
Zeta-Jones, is due for a UK release in February, following its
US bow in mid-December.
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