High Rollers & High Jinks
It is a cool, crisp November night. I'm at the Century Plaza on the Avenue of the Stars, and I am behind closed doors in the penthouse with the ever-playful George Clooney, cute Matt Damon, suave Andy Garcia, and smooth Don Cheadle. Just when I think things cannot get any better, Brad Pitt walks in.
Never mind we're all fully clothed and there are dozens of other journalists and a team of Warner Brothers publicists in attendance. This is my fantasy, okay?
Speaking of fantasy, Ocean's Eleven, directed by Steven Soderbergh, is a movie-goer's wet dream. First, there's the director who, it seems, can do no wrong. Even with a remake of a movie that by most accounts (even his own) wasn't so great to begin with. Then there's the cast. Megawatt star power practically melts the celluloid (and speaking of megawatt, two of the biggest, prettiest Dentyne smiles in the biz, Julia Roberts and Matt Damon, are in it). The producer, Jerry Weintraub, is a living legend and was even on the set of the original Rat Pack film debut in 1960. The script, much updated and much upgraded, is by Ted Griffin (he penned Reeese Witherspoon's 1999 noir thriller, Best Laid Plans). The movie was shot on location in the exciting, glamorous city of sin, Las Vegas. Generally speaking, Ocean's Eleven isn't much of a gamble.
I'd screened the film the night before, and now I'm here for the promotional press conference Warner Brothers has set up. Sitting in the front row, I take in the spare decor -- just four easy chairs set up behind a small glass table with a big, empty bowl on it. I wonder, is the bowl meant for tips? After all, much has been made of the fact that all the super-star stratospheric-salaried actors had taken a pay cut just so they could all work together under Soderbergh's tutelage, and bring the film in under budget.
I haven't seen the original, but I enjoyed Ocean's Eleven 2001 (due in theatres Dec. 7). This seems to be the year of the heist in films, and Oh-E is no exception. Less than 24 hours into his parole from a state penitentiary, the charming thief Danny Ocean (Clooney)is already planning his next job. Abiding by his three rules of conduct -- don't hurt anybody, don't steal from anyone who doesn't deserve it, and play the game like you've got nothing to lose -- Danny orchestrates the most ambitious casino snatch in history. In one night, Danny handpicks an eleven-man crew of specialists, including a card sharp (Pitt), a pickpocket (Damon), and a demolitions expert(Cheadle). Using one small window of opportunity, they will attempt to steal over $150 million from three Las Vegas casinos owned by Terry Benedict (Garcia), the man who just happens to be with Danny's ex-wife, Tess (Julia Roberts).
After a rather long delay, the press conference is underway. The first panel files in: Matt Damon with hair darker than usual, wearing light grey slacks and a long-sleeved black sweater shirt. Andy Garcia, elegant in his suit, crisp white shirt and silk tie, takes his seat beside Damon. Jerry Weintraub strides in confidently, casual in tee-shirt, jeans and tennis shoes, and takes the far chair, leaving one conspicuously empty.
We wait awhile. Where is George Clooney? "We can replace him!" Weintraub eventually barks. "Let's get started!"
Weintraub begins by talking about the casting of Carl Reiner as one of Ocean's Eleven. "Alan Arkin was cast in the role originally, but he got sick and was in the hospital. Could not make the first day of shooting. And I have a long history with Alan Arkin which includes Carl Reiner. The scheduling was impossible with all the big stars, so we could not alter it at all."
Clooney walks in, apologizing for his lateness. "I was with E.T.," he explains sheepishly. (Who do they think they are? Oh, right: E.T.) He looks relaxed and fresh, despite being in interviews all day long, no doubt answering the same questions over and over. His short hair is surfer light, and he's wearing dark slacks and a sport coat with a white shirt unbuttoned by three (but who's counting?).
Clooney immediately gets into the flow of the conversation about Reiner. "There's Brad, and there's Julia and all these big stars, but everybody is circled around Carl the whole time. It was great."
"We all think Carl should be up for an Academy Award," Weintraub pipes up. "That's the only award we're going for on this one."
"Thanks, Jerry!" Clooney sniffs. "Hey, someone get Jerry another scotch, will ya?"
The subject is changed, and one of the online reporters is asking Garcia about his bad-guy persona in the film. Garcia explains that the part was very well written and that there was already a lot for him to draw on. "It's like Steve Wynn -- he owns a lot of casinos and I'm sure he's not a ruthless individual. But in the context of this movie, you have to find that aspect in the character, and empower the character as someone you dislike, so hopefully you'll be rooting for George and the eleven guys." This is the first time I have seen Garcia in person. Even though he moves very little, I notice he has a feline grace about him. Another thing I notice is the almost blinding shine coming from his gold wedding band. His wife must polish it with a vengeance before sending him out into the world each morning.
Another journalist asks Garcia what it was like to film on location. "It was great, because when I go into the casino, this is my place. We were shooting in pit number 5, and you could see the place was really functioning. It was an actor's dream."
"There's a part of method acting for Andy," Clooney says, "which crosses into delusion when he's losing money at the CRAP table."
"I never actually gambled -- and I like a game of black jack," Garcia retorts. "I guess I wasn't so delusional I didn't know it was my casino."
Clooney chuckles and says to us, "Well, you all know that I'm a method actor, so I spent years training for the drinking and carousing that I have to do in this film."
Damon grins, his perfect white teeth all but sparkling with little stars, "Yeah, George called me six months before shooting and said, 'We've really got to start on our research.'"
Damon's asked what it's like to go from leads, to one of a dozen: "It's really not a transition. When I'm older, at the end of the day, I want to look at titles that I'm proud of. With Steven Soderbergh directing, it wasn't rocket science."
"We really just wanted to work with Jerry Weintraub," says Garcia. "Before he dies!" Clooney adds, bringing everyone to raucous laughter.
Damon, seemingly the most easygoing guy on the panel, and the most likely to give a serious answer, is asked another question. What was it like having to live up to the Rat Pack legend? "Well, it's such a reimagining --" (I can't believe he said that! Did we learn nothing from Tim Burton?) "I mean, the only thing it has in common with the original is, a guy named Danny Ocean gets eleven buddies together to knock over a casino." (Three here, five in the original -- but again, who's counting?) "That movie was all about their charm. But we needed more than that going into this one. We needed a tighter script, an update."
Clooney adds his own view: "I love those guys, they're heroes of mine. They're just the coolest guys ever. So when this Ocean's Eleven came about, I was like, 'I don't know...' But this really is a whole movie unto itself. Now, as we start to sell the movie, we all have to talk about the original, and that's fine because that's part of it, but -- let's face it -- we're never gonna be as cool as those guys." (Oh, I don't know. A guy with a pet pig named Max is pretty damn cool, don't you think?)
Deviating a bit from the subject at hand, someone asks Clooney about his directorial debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. What's he done to prepare? "Nothing. I just show up and they act." Everyone chuckles. "No, I've been working on it for almost a year now, doing my own storyboards. You know, I worked with Joel and Ethan [Coen], and they storyboarded every single shot of the entire film, so I did that too. I've been working everyday -- I flew in last night from Montreal. The thing is this: I didn't take it because I just said, 'I want to direct.' I did it because the film kind of fell apart, and I wanted to get this movie made because it really is one of the best scripts in town. So, if I screw up at least I'm protected by a good script and great actors. Jerry's in it," he adds, grinning. Nope, no serious answers from Clooney, ever.
"You're one of the nicest guys in show business, is that difficult to maintain?" a hapless journalist asks. Clooney half-stands and points at him, shouting, "Hey -- fuck you, man!" Once again, the room is filled with laughter.
Finally, somebody gets around to asking about the salary cuts. Weintraub responds, "This all came together because of George. George offered to take a cut and everybody else agreed."
Garcia adds, "That whole thing is really overblown, because we get an extraordinary amount of money for what we do. A pay cut for us is still an extraordinary amount of money. We are privileged. People, generations of families, don't even make that kind of money --"
"Hey, how much did they pay him?!" George interjects, eyebrows raised, mouth agape.
We laugh again, and now it is time for the second set of movie people to be subjected to our probing gems of journalist concern (stuff like, "Did you get to keep your costumes?"). Exit Clooney, Damon, Weintraub and Garcia.
Enter Roberts, wearing a tight white t-shirt with a faded pink logo across the front, jeans with a belt and big buckle, and black boots. Her hair is loose, and she wears little makeup. Soderbergh is next, clad in all-black from his sports shoes to his baseball cap to the rims on his glasses. Cheadle, quite obviously a fashion plate, is wearing a black t-shirt, a luxurious light tan leather coat, faded jeans, and hiking-style boots unlaced just so. Pitt, spiky-hair tipped with blonde, wears a light blue long-sleeved shirt and nicely pressed jeans.
One of the first questions asked is addressed to Pitt, wondering why he did an episode of Friends and what took him so long. To which Roberts chides, "Don't ask him what took so long, say you're happy he did it!" Throughout the conference, she takes a few of us reporters to task for our less-than-stellar line of questioning. (My own question -- coming soon! -- is hardly Mensa material, but somehow I escape Roberts' ribbing.)
Pitt answers, "Self-promotion for Spy Game. No, I do love the show very much and watched it long before I met my wife. It makes me happy, this show. Especially for these times, entertainment is very important, so I just wanted to get out and do some." One thing I notice about Pitt, aside from the obvious, is that he is the only person on the panel who really fills his chair. The others seem poised, sitting on the cushions, while Pitt's actually in the chair. Owning it. However, he is not still. He's fidgeting quite a bit. Not nervously, but as if he'd rather be moving around and doing something constructive.
The next battery of questions are for Cheadle: Do you have any plans to do a lead role? "No. Never want to do one." What would be your ideal part? "Well, first -- I've gotta be naked." He goes on to say that he would really like to do something set in the jazz era. (Are you reading this, Woody?)
One of the reporters, a Las Vegas resident, asks Soderbergh what it was like working there. "The piece was such a fable," he replies, "that I wasn't interested in coming into Vegas to expose the underside. It just wasn't relevant to the movie. It was a character in the film in a way, and I didn't want to sell it out for a laugh. There are a lot of people who live there, and a lot who visit and I didn't want to [make fun of that].
"I think it's best when everything," he goes on, "top to bottom, revises and reimagines" (not again!) "the movie. Like, Joe Cocker's With A Little Help From My Friends -- great original, great Beatles song. But his version is completely different [from theirs] and completely amazing. So you have to go from the ground up."
Somebody can't resist asking about Clooney's famous pranks. Julia pipes up, "We cannot speak of that," (pending lawsuit?) but Soderbergh tosses us a crumb. "Everybody on the set could imitate Jerry's voice. George could do it so well, he convinced hotel employees a couple of times to give 5:45 a.m. wakeup calls, while we were on night shoots. Jerry'd be screaming, and the hotel employees would be saying, 'But Mr. Weintraub, you called us yesterday, asking for this wakeup call.'"
Questions for Roberts: What was it like working with Soderbergh again? "I think Steven has a great appreciation and respect for movies, and a great story told well. And that in conjunction with his own intelligence [is great]. Since he had to hire the handicapped when it comes to actors [we make a good pair]. I have reckless abandon when it comes to my job, and it seems the two things together work."
What was it like being the only female among a dozen guys on set? "It was nice. I thought it would be a more queenly experience, something that never happened to me in high school. It really wasn't that. It was more like high school. But it was fun. Come what may, I knew that would be my distinction -- I would forever be 'the girl' and nobody could change that. George tried, but..."
Roberts bites furiously at her fingernails as the questions keep on coming. How about the costumes? "I've done five films with [costume designer] Jerry Kurland, and when you start it all looks like so much fun, like Malibu Barbie. But it's a nightmare. It's so much pressure to live up to a glamorous dress."
One of the reporters decides to ask Roberts about the backstory on her character, Tess. Did she really love Danny? Why is she with Terry? Had she ever been arrested? (What's her favorite color?) Roberts hesitates, again nipping at the nails. "I don't know..."
"I do," says Pitt resolutely. "I'll be answering the rest of Julia's questions."
But not before getting some more of his own. This one is a doozy. Somebody asks how he manages to keep turning out good acting performances despite his good looks, i.e., 'Brad Pitt was great -- where did that come from?' Roberts exclaims, "I want that on a t-shirt!" The reporter persists: Is it hard to avoid the typical Brad Pitt roles? Is that a fight you fight in Hollywood?
"What is the Brad Pitt role?," Pitt ponders. "No, really. The leading man has been done, and done really well. For me, it's more fun to go the other way. The great thing about my baggage, as limiting as it may seem, is that it also sets me up for that kind of surprise." Roberts looks at him, then the reporter. "I can't believe he answered you!"
Eventually, the wireless mic makes its way to yours truly. I say to Pitt, "Most of your characters seem to have odd little quirks" (He starts twitching and ticking; I push on) "In this case, Rusty Ryan has an insatiable appetite. How did that come about?" Pitt begins to reply, "It wasn't an idea or..." but Cheadle chimes in, "He just eats a lot!" We all chuckle, and there goes my 15 seconds of fame. On to the next question.
Afterwards, Pitt was kind enough to approach me and answer the question properly. So... do you want to know why Rusty Ryan ate so much? Too bad. I'm saving it for my memoirs!
