‘Oceans 13’ is greenlit

Production will start in July on the second sequel to ‘Oceans 11’, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon and again taking place in Las Vegas. Steven Soderbergh will direct for a third time and although most of the cast, including Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner and Elliot Gould will be back, there is no part written this time for Julia Roberts or Catherine Zeta-Jones. Producer and bit-part player in both movies Jerry Weintraub said:

“It was a script issue. We didn’t have a place to really use talent like theirs, two big stars like that. They’re very good friends of ours, and neither Soderbergh nor I would prevail on them to come back and do nothing just to do it.”

Ellen Barkin is also expected to appear in the sequel slated for Summer 2007. Ben Affleck was said to be up for a part, but was beaten out by that guy who just lost another loan to DiTech.