Stars thought all-female Ocean’s 8 would never happen

THE Hollywood heavyweights appearing in a new female-led reboot of one of the most popular franchises in the past decade say they feared it would never be made.

Rihanna, Bullock and Blanchett star in the all-female reboot of the popular franchise.

NEVER has a movie seen a more star-stacked female cast than Ocean’s 8. You’ve got Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson, Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling and Awkwafina, not to mention a whole Met Gala-full of celeb cameos (no spoilers here).

Yet not even Hollywood heavyweights Bullock and Blanchett believed that a female-led heist film would ever get financed.

Speaking to reporters at the Met in New York City, the Aussie actress confessed when she first heard about the concept behind the latest iteration in the Ocean’s franchise, it seemed like “an impossibility”.

“Two or three years ago this seemed like an impossibility, like how could you possibly get this made?” Blanchett recalled. “And it’s so great that it’s being released now. We go, ‘Well, of course’. A lot has shifted I think,” the Academy Award winner said.

Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway and Mindy Kaling at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Picture: Anthony Behar/Sipa USA/ MEGA TheMegaAgency.com

Bullock admitted she had the same first thoughts. “I honestly didn’t think it would happen. I thought it was a fun idea … I didn’t at the time think the movie would get made,” the Blind Side star said.

When news of the female-led reboot first surfaced last year, an inevitable online backlash followed. Did the world really need another Ocean’s spin-off, particularly one that doesn’t feature Matt Damon, George Clooney or Brad Pitt? The answer is yes, this is exactly what the film industry in 2018 needed to be serving up.

THE A TEAM

Director and writer Gary Ross revealed he first dreamt up the idea for the flipped script with his “A team” five or six years ago and immediately got to work locking in Bullock to play criminal Debbie Ocean (the estranged sister of George Clooney’s Danny Ocean).

“I realised that there’d never been this kind of ensemble, there’d never been this kind of kick-ass ensemble of women coming together like this before and I thought that was easy,” Ross said. “And then we went to Sandy [Bullock], and Sandy said, ‘well, if the script doesn’t suck and you guys could get these people that you hope to get, then we might be interested.’ Which we took as an absolute yes!

“Then we went through the very long process of trying to get the movie made that really took three or four years … I reached out to Olivia [Milch, co-writer] and we sat side-by-side [to write the script].”

Blanchett revealed that as soon as she knew who her seven female co-stars were, saying yes to the role of Debbie Ocean’s partner-in-crime Lou Miller was a no brainer.

Bullock, Paulson and Rihanna on location for Ocean’s 8 in New York. Picture: Jackson Lee / Splash News Splash News and Pictures Los Angeles

“I just felt like it would be a great, fun thing to do. And it’s a risk, but I thought it was a risk worth taking,” she said.

“We had a director who was really sympathetic to that, who wanted to make a story about women. I think all of us, every single person on this table wants to see more female directors and that absolutely has to happen.

EIGHT DISTINCT WOMEN

Speaking about the chemistry between the co-stars, Bullock said it was a “vomit fest” of admiration, with the actors working crazy hours and bonding together at all hours of the day.

“I went in hoping, and you don’t always get what you look for and by the end … I think we all managed to connect on a level that we never, ever would have, because women don’t get to. There are five roles and we’re all looking for them on little islands and here we were.

“But I feel really lucky because there are no more stones that I need to turn over, and in this one [Ocean’s 8] I really feel that I came out with so much more than I ever imagined and I think that we all feel the same way.”

Ross added that one of the things being celebrated in the film is that these are “eight distinct women from eight distinct backgrounds, and that hopefully looks like what the world looks like, not just what Hollywood has made the world look like.

“And that diversity was important to us. This group of people need to be represented.”

Milch, who recently wrote and directed Dude, said it was vital that they show female characters who are “sometimes contradictory”.

“We shot in New York City, and we shot in all five boroughs, and we showed the world as it is,” she said. “That’s what it feels like when you walk down the street, there are so many different kinds of people, every different type of experience and background and that felt really potent, to tell that kind of story.

“Any woman knows that women are funny and smart and complicated and nuanced, and sometimes contradictory.

“And it’s crazy but we have to start seeing characters that reflect this.”

Ocean’s 8 hits Australian cinemas on June 7.