George Clooney Says New ‘Ocean’s’ Film Is About the Gang Being ‘Too Old to Do the Jobs’

 

Time may have passed, but George Clooney is still up to his old shenanigans. Or at least back to playing career criminal Danny Ocean again.

Speaking in an interview with The New York Times, the Academy Award-winning actor teased the latest installment in the long-running franchise, which would serve as a follow-up to “Ocean’s Thirteen.”

“It’s like we’re all too old to do the jobs we used to be able to do,” Clooney said.

Clooney previously spoke of the project in an interview with Uproxx back in December 2023, where he compared the script to the 1979 comedy “Going in Style,” starring George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg. At the Los Angeles premiere of “Wolfs” back in September 2024, he also told E! News that he’d gotten the rest of the old team on board to return.

“We have a really good script,” said Clooney. “Everyone’s read it and ready to do it.”

The only missing piece is a director, as the franchise’s original helmer, Steven Soderbergh, has stepped away, but in September 2024, Deadline reported that Warner Bros. and Clooney’s production company, Smokehouse Pictures, were courting Edward Berger for the job. The “Conclave” director has had a busy awards season run and Clooney himself has been preparing for his Broadway debut in a theatrical take on his own 2005 historical drama “Good Night and Good Luck,” so it seems there’s no rush to start production.

Now a husband and a father of two, Clooney has slowed down his career output over the last decade, but still remains one of Hollywood’s most in-demand stars despite being in his 60s. This is a new normal for many actors who grew up watching talent age out of the industry and Clooney is appreciative of the shift.

“It gave [Brad] Pitt, myself, and a few of us room to continue working,” he said to The New York Times. “Some guys have hit recently, like Glen Powell and stuff, where I go, ‘That guy’s going to have a really good career.’”

Though his on-screen presence continues to flourish, even a legend like Clooney has fallen victim to the entertainment industry’s changing business habits. His crime comedy “Wolfs,” co-starring Brad Pitt and directed by Jon Watts, unceremoniously had its theatrical release plan pulled at the last minute, with Apple TV+ instead choosing to give it a limited release before dropping the film on its streamer. This pivot ultimately led to Watts canceling a planned sequel, citing Apple’s business practices as untrustworthy.

One hopes Clooney will have better luck returning to Warner Bros. for “Ocean’s Fourteen,” but like Apple, it too has a streaming platform it must cater to. And with an “Ocean’s” prequel film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and directed by Jay Roach also in development there and Warner Bros. Discovery growing infamous for cutting its losses, who knows if either will even see the light of day?