[IMG:L]It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that the Cannes Film Festival was filled with con artists and hustlers, but never ones quite as good looking as the megawatt cast of Ocean’s Thirteen: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Shaobo Qin, Ellen Barkin, Elliott Gould and Jerry Weintraub, as well as their behind-the-scenes ringleaders, director Steven Soderbergh and producer/longtime Frank Sinatra pallie Jerry Weintraub.
The engaging and silver-tongued gang recently sat down at the festival for a not-so-serious press conference on the French Riviera, and Hollywood.com joined the breathless throng of international media to hang on every quip and jibe they aimed at each other (Hey, wouldn’t YOU cross the Atlantic for an audience with that bunch?).
Just like the good-hearted thieves they play in the new sequel – Danny Ocean’s team enacts an elaborate revenge scheme on a tyrannical casino magnate (Al Pacino) who ruined the fortunes of their pal Reuben (Gould) – the Hollywood titans also wanted to do a good turn, having arranged a glamorous fundraiser at the festival to aid war-torn Darfur. But as always the mood was light and the topics ranged across the board, from shaking Sinatra’s hand to sleeping with Oprah.
Question: This film is obviously an entertaining romp and will stand up to any competition, but at the same time here you are doing a lot of serious work in terms of fundraising, using Cannes as a platform to attract the rich and famous and making sure that they’re a little less rich and that the money goes to other causes. Can you talk about balancing the entertaining romp of this film and doing the serious work of fundraising?
Clooney: Well, we did the film and it is an entertainment romp. I always liked that word – romp. But the truth is that we knew we were coming here and we knew that this is a great international film. So if we’re coming to promote the film we thought, ‘Well, if we’re going to be here and there’s going to be a lot of international attention there’s a chance to raise some money and help some people immediately.’ It’s about something that is individually important to all of us and is something that we worked on. So we thought it was a great opportunity to do both. That’s what we’re basically trying to do with that.
Question: Can you be more specific about Darfur?
Clooney: Well, specifically, about Darfur – Don, Brad, Matt and I have been in that region and around there. It’s something that has been an important part of a lot of our lives for the last few years and we thought that it was time to get up and do something. You find that there is a lot more attention to it in the United States than there is internationally at times. So we thought that it was important to be talking about it. It’s not going to go away until the rest of the world is outraged enough to put a stop to it.
Damon: There were so many resources that were brought to bear, that this film opened, and so given our individual interests and what was going on there it seemed that we’d be remiss if we didn’t try to redirect some of those resources for the life and death struggle that’s happening right now as we sit here.
[IMG:R]Question: I love the Oprah gag, and I’m curious to know how it got into the movie. Also, are you all going to do her show together?
Garcia: I have to sleep with Oprah in order to get on the show.
Clooney: Ow. That’s going to hurt. That’s a headline [Laughs]. Ladies and gentlemen – Formerly Andy Garcia. Opening at a dinner theater near you!
Garcia: Thank you very much.
Weintraub: Steven needs to give the Oprah story.
Soderbergh: It was just the script [Laughs]. She was great, though. I have to say that watching her – I don’t know what the word for it is – empire, the way that it functions, the people that she has working for her, it was really impressive, I have to say. We went and watched and we brought Andy there and we watched her tape a show and then she did our segment between that show and another show. I was really, really impressed by her and by everyone around her. It was a really fascinating afternoon.
Weintraub: She did it quickly, with Steven directing it just went like that. It was great.
Clooney: Andy didn’t really sleep with her.
Soderbergh: And she thinks his name is Terry Benedict.
Question: George, you do projects like Good Night And Good Luck and Syriana, and then something like Ocean’s Thirteen. Where does your heart lie between these kinds of films?
Clooney: Well, I want to do musicals mostly. That’s what I want to do more than anything. My heart lies in cinema. I like doing films. I think that all of us up here are fans of films. All of us up here work on different kinds of films all the time and so I think that there’s a great place for big entertainments and I think that there’s a great place for smaller films that get things done. Everyone of the actors up here works on small passionate films of theirs that they want to get done. So I think that everyone has that same sort of sense up here, except Matt. He doesn’t care at all.
Question: The camera work is very New Wave and the lighting on these films is very jazzy, which is an unusual way to shoot a studio picture. Can you talk about what you’re doing?
Soderbergh: One of the pleasures of making movies like the Ocean’s, and it might be the only pleasure, is that I get the opportunity to play in a way that’s not really appropriate for another kind of film and I can push things both in terms of movement and editing, and in this case color, in a way that if you’re making a serious movie would just take people right out of the film. There’s an assumption that comes from that side of the room and not this side of the room that if you’re making an entertaining film that you’re not as engaged, that you’re not as into it, that you’re not as passionate about it – I don’t work that way. I don’t think that any of the people here work that way either. As George said, we just love making movies and from my standpoint the Ocean’s films are more difficult for me than some of the serious films that I’ve made that I’ve gotten much more attention for. They’re tricky. They’re really tricky, but for me, it’s a side of my interest and my personality that I really like to explore occasionally. I think that if I made every film like Ocean’s or if I make every film like Traffic, that would be a trap and that wouldn’t be interesting to me.
Weintraub: We definitely want to be in competition [Laughs].
Soderbergh: [Laughs] We want to be in competition. We don’t understand why we’re not.
Clooney: We thought we could win.
Soderbergh: I don’t understand. There’s got to be a category that we can win.
Clooney: There’s a Cyrano category that you could win, Matt.
Damon: I’m counting on it.
Weintraub: Shaobo, you haven’t said anything. Tell them something. Tell them something about Al Pacino.
Qin: [Speaks in Chinese]
Clooney: What did he say?
Translator: Al Pacino. I don’t know where he’s at. Where is he?
Weintraub: [Laughs] He doesn’t know where he is either.
Clooney: Next he wants to know where Oprah Winfrey is.
Pitt: As far as Mr. Pacino, naturally, he was nervous at first, but he seemed to take notes well from each of us.
Garcia: He has a bright future.
Pitt: Yeah, and he settled in after a few weeks, don’t you think?
Soderbergh: Yeah, I was surprised that he was so receptive about the notes.
Weintraub: Just to make a statement about Pacino. He can’t be here because he’s doing an AFI Tribute. He wanted to be here though, but that aside, when he came to work the first day he said to me, ‘What do these guys think of me? After all, they’ve been together for a couple of movies now and they know each other and they’re friends and they work together all the time. What do they think of me?’ I said, ‘That’s a very easy question to answer.’ He said, ‘Well, what’s the answer?’ I said, ‘What do you think of Brando when you did The Godfather? That’s what they think of you.’ That’s exactly what they thought.
Clooney: It’s true. He definitely raised our respectability a little bit and we certainly brought his down. We try to bring the classy guys down.
Weintraub: But on the other hand, Ellen Barkin brought the whole thing up.
Question: Ellen, how was it being both the new blood and the lone female on this film? Did you feel like you fit in?
Barkin: It felt very good to be with all of them. It was great.
Soderbergh: Ellen was actually in Ocean’s 12 in a scene with Matt. It had a lot of sexual tension and the scene got cut. So when we were working on the script for the third one it turned out better this way.
[IMG:L]Question: Where did the bit about the code of honor someone in Vegas must stick to if they’ve shaken Sinatra’s hand come from, and how many of you gentlemen had the pleasure of shaking Sinatra‘s hand?
Cheadle: I shook Sinatra‘s daughter’s hand.
Weintraub: I shook his hand. He was my friend and we worked together for many years.
Gould: I shook his hand.
Clooney: Elliott shook his hand. Basically the older people [Laughs].
Soderbergh: According to the writers that’s sort of a common urban myth. There’s a story that if you shook Sinatra‘s hand and if you were dealing with someone else, there was supposed to be a code for that. Is that true?
Weintraub: It’s true, it’s true. It’s definitely true.
Gould: Oh yeah.
Question: Matt, it would seem that you’re to be leaving this character and Jason Bourne behind after three films each. What have you taken away from each experience?
Damon: I think that the Linus character in this movie is really unique because I played him completely differently in all three films. No, I think in terms of leaving him behind, it’s more sad thinking that this group may not do another one. I hope that we do. We’ll see. I’m leaving all of my options open. The Bourne thing, I’m definitely done with though [Laughs]. That’s coming out in a few months and it’s terrific, but I think we’ve ridden that horse as far as we can. So, yeah, other than feeling a bit like a prostitute putting out two number threes in one year –
Clooney: And three number twos [Laughs].
Cheadle: You’re quick. That Clooney is quick.
Weintraub: The most difficult part of this – and Steven didn’t say this and can’t say this – but this is an ensemble piece. All of these actors up here worked together and they give to each other and Steven finds a way to give them all a place in the film, to have something to say, and for their characters to grow. That is the most tedious and difficult thing that he has to do on these films. It’s a very, very hard thing to take care of 13 actors and 13 characters and make it all work and weave it all together. He does that. He deserves a fantastic round of applause. Sex, Lies and Videotape is a great film. I loved it. I love Traffic. I love everything that he does. I think that he’s the greatest director working today and I love working with him. All these actors do, and it is an ensemble piece and that’s why it’s so good.
Question: What is it about Las Vegas, today and why is it that all Americans want to go and spend their weekend there?
Soderbergh: Well, I don’t know that I’m entirely qualified to answer that question. There is something compelling about that city for sure. What’s amazing to me, as I’m sure it is to most of us, but even since we’ve been there five years ago it’s changed. You keep thinking that it can’t get any bigger, that there can’t be any more hotels – you keep thinking that it’s going to reach a peak and then it just keeps going. As a sort of social experiment it’s kind of fascinating. I don’t know where it’s going to end. I think that the one thing that will never go away is that there’s an idea that there’s a place you can go and just cut loose, and everyone feels like this is the place that they can go to and do that. They come from all over the world. I mean, half of the tourists there are coming from outside the United States.
Weintraub: I know because I went to Vegas for the first time in 1947 when I was 9 years old. There were three hotels there. The Sands Hotel, The El Rancho Hotel and the Flamingo Hotel. They were all owned by different Mafia people in America from different cities. Vegas then changed. Howard Hughes came to Vegas and made it into much more of a resort area and a lot of companies started to come in there. That went through the ’50’s and ’60’s and part of the ’70’s and then big corporations started to come in and buy the hotels. They tried to make it a family resort. That went on for about 10 years. After that, they turned around and said, ‘Well, family resorts are nice and little trains with smoke coming out of them going around our hotels are very nice, but strip clubs work better.’ They had the gambling still, and again it’s now transformed itself into this place that – first of all, isn’t a little city anymore. It was a tiny little town and there are now 2.5 million to 3 million people living in that valley. There is a fantastic amount of money being gambled there every minute of every day and the city has evolved. They have wonderful universities and they have art galleries. They have museums, but they also have this place that is, for whatever that kind of entertainment is, the entertainment destination, the number one destination in the world. It’s a lot bigger than Disneyland and a lot bigger than anything else. So that’s where people want to go. They want to go to Vegas, like Steven said, and cut loose. They feel that once they hit that ground, once they get into those casinos and clubs and restaurants, and they have the finest in the world there, they can just do anything that they want to do and have a great time and they do. So it’s a fun place for everybody.
Clooney: The strip clubs aren’t as good in Disneyland.
Question: George, because of the way the Brad Pitt character and Danny Ocean talk about the now-defunct casinos, the Dunes and the Sands, the old hotel from way back when, is there a bit of nostalgia on your part about that long gone Vegas?
Clooney: Well, I have a sense of nostalgia about eras in general. I liked when people put on suits to go into a casino, and now it’s long shorts, and so I think there are things that I’m nostalgic about and that I think are kind of classy and fun to do, but this film wasn’t about nostalgia. I mean, we talked about it for a second.
Soderbergh: I think that it’s human nature. As I was walking in here I realized that it was 18 years ago that we were here with Sex, Lies… I think that when I look back on that I certainly feel like the festival has gotten bigger and all of that. I think that it’s normal to look back and say that it was great then. The first time I was here it seemed more innocent. Of course it probably wasn’t, but I think that it’s just part of life that you look back on a past experience and perhaps color it a little bit and make it seem better than it was.
[IMG:R]Question: Steven, you talked about applying your skills with equal passion for the commercial and more serious films. These two worlds have become more and more separate. In the ’70’s there was a time that they were the same thing. Do you hope for a time where these two worlds of filmmaking will start to find a middle ground, and how would that happen?
Soderbergh: Well, we’re only partially in control of that in that perhaps you can make a film that bridges that gap, but if it isn’t well reviewed and people don’t show up, then you’re not going to see very many of them. So it’s not as straightforward as you might think, making a movie that seems to be both commercial and has some substance to it. I won’t bore you with a lot of examples, but I’m sure that I could come up with a list of 10 films that over the last 10 years that I think have bridged that gap and they haven’t been commercially successful and that’s the business we’re in. So you can’t always blame the filmmakers and say, ‘Why aren’t you making better films?’ There are plenty of really good films and I’m sure that there are some here at this festival that are never going to find an audience and that’s something that we can’t entirely control.
Question: How hard is it to get all of these characters into play in a film like this, Steven, and how do you do it so gracefully when most directors would fall apart?
Soderbergh: When we began this process with Jerry years ago we made a rule that we weren’t going to bring anyone on the movie that had a reputation for being unpleasant and we stuck to it.
Clooney: Pretty much [Laughs]. No names.
Soderbergh: That really solves everything, That solves everything. Just no jerks.
Weintraub: Nobody came with baggage. Everybody left it at home.
Soderbergh: I mean, I have to say that this is just a unique group of people. Eddie [Jemison] I’ve known since I was 20 years old. Scott [Caan] is a filmmaker in his own right. Elliott was the star of some of my favorite films of all times, seminal films for me. When we get everyone together it’s not a joke. They don’t leave the set. The conversation ranges all over the place, from the work that we’re doing to – there are a lot of bright people up here who are very well-read, and so the conversations are always flowing and is always interesting. There are occasions when it’s hard to get everyone to be quiet and focused and quiet and stand in the right place.
All: Matt! Matt! [Laughter]
Damon: Again, I don’t know where I was.
Soderbergh: But it’s worth it.
How does it really feel to BE Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon?
Clooney: I’ll tell you how it feels to be Brad Pitt.
Damon: I’ll tell you what it’s like to be George. No. It’s tough to talk about what it feels like to be yourself because you can’t really compare it to anything else – except for George who goes so deep into character when he plays Danny Ocean that he could probably step outside of himself and take an objective view.
Clooney: I’m still Danny. I can’t talk about it now. Talk about yourself, Matt.
Cheadle: He has nothing to say.
Clooney: I don’t know what to say to that.
Question: George, what have you learned from Steven as a director.
Clooney: Here’s the thing: Steven steals a lot of things from me as a director, a lot of things, which has a lot of influence on what I do because I’m very careful about my shots. Because he’ll steal ‘em. No. Listen, Steven has an influence on most filmmakers, quite honestly. You can call it an influence or you could literally call it stealing because I’ve called him up and said, ‘I’ve just stolen a shot from you from a film you did four years ago.’ Then he’ll tell me where I stole that shot from. He’s the kind of filmmaker, it’s not just about the kinds of films he makes and the style he shoots them in it’s also the way that the set is run. He keeps it very calm and he works efficiently and he gets exactly what he’s after. That teaches filmmakers a lot. Most filmmakers, you go take a class from him. That’s the only nice thing that I’m going to say about him.
Question: Steven, is this film more of a reference to the original 1960 Ocean’s 11 film and did you steal any ideas from it?
Soderbergh: How many other Rat Pack films did they do? They did Robin and the Seven Hoods.
Weintraub: Sergeants Three. Four for Texas. But they did other things together –
Soderbergh: Yeah. As you can tell, the main thing that we were trying to appropriate was just this group of people who were close and everything else we kind of started over again.
–Reporting by Jenny Karakaya
