Oceans 13 - What Is It About?

The first details of Oceans 13 have been revealed and it seems that most of the moviegoing world is well past caring. Not me, though - I loved Oceans 12 even more than I adored Oceans 11. Soderbergh turned those up-front, straight-down-the-middle crime capers into beautiful, glittering love letters to cinema. Simply, the Oceans films are the magic of the movies. Oh - and for the record? All of the Julia Roberts business at the tail end of 12, perhaps the most heavily criticised sequence in all of Soderbergh's career? I couldn't get enough of it.

No Julia on this outing, though - and no Catherine Zeta Jones either, as, according to producer Jerry Weintraub, "their characters just weren't part of the script this time". I'm surprised, and a little sad, that they aren't going to be shoehorned in for a cameo somewhere. Isn't that what sequels are all about? Matt Damon's Linus will get a love interest however, to be played by Ellen Barkin.

When shooting begins on July 21st it will be on the Warner Bros. soundstages, where a full-scale working casino set is reportedly being built. If my hunch is correct, it might actually be appearing as just that in the movie - a set of a casino, not an actual casino. Danny's gang hitting a heist on a soundstage seems like the most logical progression for the series - though what would be worth taking is anybody's guess. How about real money brought in to appear in a film-within-the-film? Or multi-million dollar jewelry hanging from an actress' neck? Wild speculation, but, well, I just wouldn't be surprised.

Earlier reports alleged that the film would in some way involve South Africa, perhaps being set there, in part. It has also been claimed that the film's story was conceived by Soderbergh. On the current press release, there's no mention of any of this, and the screenplay is credited entirely to Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Rounders, Knockaround Guys and the stalled Untouchables prequel, Capone Rising).

Clooney, Pitt, Damon and Soderbergh have all made professional concessions to align their schedules and make this film a possibility. Clearly, they believe in it - and I'm inclined to believe in them.