Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling tapped to star in Oceans 11 prequel
Barbie and Ken do a heist: 2023’s favourite on-screen duo, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, are set to reunite for a very unexpected project.
Do you guys ever think about committing theft?
Barbie stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are expected to reunite for the first time since starring in the hit Warner Brothers film, which has grossed more than a billion dollars at the box office.
It was revealed by Games Radar that Robbie, 33, and Gosling, 43, have been tapped to star in an Ocean’s 11 prequel film that will be directed by Austin Powers and Bombshell director Jay Roach while the screenplay will be written by Carrie Solomon.
“I can’t really say much,” said producer Josey McNamara. “But I think we’re just trying to do right by the franchise.”
McNamara added that he’s “excited for people to experience it when it’s ready.”
According to the LuckyChap Entertainment executive, this is hopefully the beginning of several Robbie-Gosling collaborations, reports the New York Post.
“They’re wonderful together,” McNamara noted. “The more projects even outside of that we can have them do would be amazing.”
Little is known about the plot of the upcoming heist film, though it reportedly takes place in 1960s Europe, giving the original 2001 George Clooney and Brad Pitt-led film and subsequent 2018 rival starring Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett a wide berth.
The Post reached out to Robbie, Roach and Gosling for comment.
The Barbie stars received major buzz for their performance together — which Greta Gerwig at one time had to defend. In a recent interview, the director revealed that she was called into “big meetings” to push for Gosling’s big musical number at the film’s climax.
“It just said in the script, ‘And then it becomes a dream ballet and they work it out through dance,’” Gerwig, 40, said during the BFI London Film Festival, according to Variety.
The iconic scene comes when the Kens — led by Gosling and Simu Liu, 34 — begin to fight each other on the beach before dancing it out.
The Little Women director recalled that she was asked by the execs: “Do you need this?”
“I was like, ‘Everything in me needs this,’” laughed Gerwig. “They were like, ‘What do you even mean? What is a dream ballet?’ And I was like, ‘A dream ballet? Where do I begin!’”
Gerwig noted that her dream ballet — a trope used to express a character’s inner turmoil through dance and music — was similar to the one featured in the Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds-led Singin’ in the Rain in 1952.
“I was like, ‘If people could follow that in Singin’ in the Rain, I think we’ll be fine. I think people will know what this is.’”
The Lady Bird director did note, however, that she was nervous that the scene might flop.
“Even though everything felt right to me and was giving me so much joy in the way we were doing it,” she continued. “It was also like, ‘Oh no, this could be just terrible, but now I’m committed.’”
Gerwig would also often sneak into screenings of the film to see the audience’s reaction.
“I went around to different theatres and sort of stood in the back, and would then also turn up the volume if I felt it wasn’t playing at the perfect level,” Gerwig recalled to The Hollywood Reporter.
Making Barbie was “the most joyful” time Gerwig has ever had on a project.
“So, I thought, if I can make a movie that is half as fun to watch as it was to make, I think maybe we’ve got a shot,” she said.
This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission.