Margot Robbie will work again with Jay Roach
Margot Robbie has become a very promising figure to lead franchises, and bring successive breaths of fresh air into the Hollywood scheme with her presence.
At the head of his Lucky Chap label, Robbie brought Harley Quinn to life in the DC Universe (for at least two great movies, Birds of Prey and The Suicide Squad) and will soon do the same with Barbie in an attractive film directed by Greta Gerwig about a screenplay he co-wrote with Noah Baumbach. These days Robbie's name continues to sound to lead a reboot of Pirates of the Caribbean away from Johnny Depp, but there is more.
The actress has teamed up again with Jay Roach (who directed her in The Scandal, where Robbie earned a Best Actress nomination) to headline a new installment of Ocean's Eleven. Roach would direct the film, also in charge of producing it together with Robbie herself and Gary Ross, who was in charge of the previous film in the saga, Ocean's Eight. Not much has transpired about this project (which is at a very early stage) beyond the presence of Carrie Solomon as a screenwriter and the intention of setting the plot in Europe in the 1960s.
Which is in itself revealing. The Ocean's Eleven brand was actually born in 1960, through a movie starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. It was then called Eleven at Midnight, and it wasn't until forty years later that Steven Soderbergh recruited a hilarious cast.
Led by George Clooney and Brad Pitt, and thus revitalized the saga. Ocean's Eleven was followed by two sequels also directed by Soderbergh, and in 2018 we had the female reboot directed by Ross, whose cast included Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett and Anne Hathaway.
The temporary setting suggests that the new Ocean's will not be related to the modern stages of the franchise, but will seek to reinforce the link with the classic film. It is, without a doubt, a very interesting approach and perhaps advisable considering that Ocean's Eight had a somewhat irregular performance. Robbie's arrival may change that, and the plan is for the movie to start shooting in 2023.
