I’m not sure we actually need a new Ocean’s 11 movie of any kind. The prior trilogy, which was full of dudes plus Julia Roberts and the occasional Catherine Zeta-Jones, was fine for its time and the first one actually holds up pretty well. Can’t say the same for the sequels that followed. But it turns out that with everything going on in Hollywood right now, Sandra Bullock’s Ocean’s 8 may be arriving at exactly the right time, and she knows it.
EW has released a new image featuring Bullock as Debbie Ocean, the thieving sister of George Clooney’s Danny Ocean, along with co-stars Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, and rapper Awkwafina. Missing from this shot is Anne Hathaway, but since she’s already played renowned cat burglar Catwoman she can afford to take some time off.
While this image is pretty cool, what’s even better is Bullock’s attitude about the whole thing. Last year the female-led Ghostbusters film faced a ton of backlash from sexist guys who couldn’t accept women rebooting the classic comedy. They put the cast through a social media crucible like nothing we’ve ever seen, and Bullock practically dares for the same thing to happen to her or her co-stars…
“They did put them through hell. And I’m still trying to figure out why. Forget what the final product was! There were four or five of the most talented comediennes in that film. Everyone should’ve just taken a breath and said, “let’s see what happens.” It doesn’t take just five people to make a movie. It’s pretty much like around 300. So I keep reminding everybody, if you hate my film remember there’s another 299 people all around me. We’re not a reboot. We’re just a this is what’s happening in 2017. It’s not even a passing of the torch. It’s a parallel story of another family member that was raised in the same family Danny Ocean was and what happens when Debbie steps out of jail with all of these amazing, powerful women.”
Bullock admits they’ve already taken some heat, but she isn’t scared…
“We got some but boy, I mean, I’ll tell you, we’ve got some feisty women that will fight right back. It’s like, let’s just take a breath and let’s just see if we come up with something fun. There should be a moratorium. There should be a rule, you’re not allowed to say anything nasty until after it comes out. Obviously that’s never going to happen.”
Nope, probably not. I can’t help but wonder how Ghostbusters would do if it came out now rather than a year ago. It might have fared a bit better. Hopefully Ocean’s 8 won’t get dragged down by a bunch of insecure dudes when it opens next year on June 8th.
