Sources have confirmed that Bradley Cooper is in the mix to write and direct Warner Bros’ Oceans prequel after Lee Isaac Chung stepped away, aiming to keep the project on track for a shoot before year’s end. There’s been buzz that Cooper was bound to star, but again, no deal yet for him.
This is all premature — no deals have been papered — but all parties involved would like it to happen on the LuckyChap production. Margot Robbie is already set to star in the prequel.
Deadline told you last week that the Oscar-nominated Chung stepped away. Cooper is a 12-time Oscar nominee having helmed and starred in A Star Is Born for the Burbank, CA lot in 2018. The pic minted close to $440 million at the global box office.
The plot of the new Oceans movie remains under wraps (of course). The most recent pass at a script was by Carrie Solomon, based on characters created by George Clayton Johnson & Jack Golden Russell.
Cooper recently directed Searchlight’s Is This Thing On? starring Will Arnett as a guy going through a divorce who finds solace in stand-up comedy. Of Cooper’s 12 Oscar noms, four of them are for Best Picture for A Star Is Born, Joker, Nightmare Alley, American Sniper, and Maestro (which he also helmed and starred in).
The Las Vegas heist series of movies began in 1960 with the Rat Pack — Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. Steven Soderbergh rebooted the franchise in 2001 with a new trilogy starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia and Julia Roberts. There was a 2018 all-female version starring Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway and Cate Blanchett. Those four movies in the aughts grossed altogether more than $1.4 billion worldwide.