Ocean’s Thirteen Adds Ellen Barkin, Dumps Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones

James Joyner @ Gone Hollywood | Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Variety reports that Ellen Barkin will play the female lead in “Ocean’s Thirteen,” scheduled to start shooting this summer.

Warner Bros. and producer Jerry Weintraub have set a July 21 start date for “Ocean’s Thirteen,” and Ellen Barkin is the pic’s new leading lady.

Filming will take place primarily on five soundstages on the WBthe WB lot in Burbank, where a fully operational casino will be built. The first “Ocean’s” film was shot at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, the sequel in Europe, but it became too arduous to shoot a movie around the gambling traffic in a real casino, producer Jerry Weintraub said. Director Steven Soderbergh and star George Clooney just used the WB soundstages to shoot “The Good German,” a European-set period drama.

Soderbergh has already committed to direct returning cast members George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Eddie Jemison, Shaobo Qin, Carl Reiner and Elliott Gould.

With Barkin in, that means previous first femmes Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones are sitting this one out.

[...]

Weintraub wouldn’t disclose plot details, other than that Barkin gets closely involved with Damon’s character. As for the absence of Roberts, who starred in both pictures, and “Ocean’s Twelve” addition Zeta-Jones, Weintraub said: “Their characters just weren’t part of the script this time.”

Ellen Barkin is still a nice looking woman but, sheesh, she’s fifty-friggin-two years old. She makes the 39-year-old Roberts and 37-year-old Zeta-Jones look like they belong on the WB by comparison.

Further, Damon is only 35, younger than all three. Barkin’s literally old enough to be his mom.

Yes, Barkin used to look like this: