It’s challenging for the audience to single out a particular acting talent in a star-studded film like Ocean’s Eleven. As Matt Damon described, the movie felt like a mini-holiday for actors who were accustomed to shouldering the burden of entire films. The Ocean’s trilogy is an American heist comedy film series directed by Steven Soderbergh.
The films boasted big names, including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Don Cheadle, and Al Pacino, alongside Matt Damon. Since the actors had a great time together, things sometimes got a bit unprofessional on the sets.
Matt Damon Revealed The Actors Struggled To Keep Straight Faces During Filming
In the Ocean’s trilogy, Matt Damon played Linus Caldwell, a skilled pickpocket. Damon disclosed that his co-stars Brad Pitt and George Clooney were always at their hilarious best during filming, often ruining takes for him. The Martian actor revealed that the lighthearted atmosphere on set might have proved a headache for Steven Soderbergh, who seemed to be the only serious individual on set.
The Ford v. Ferrari actor had earlier revealed an elaborate prank Pitt pulled on Clooney after the latter kept pranking his co-stars on the sets. The group of actors undeniably had a lot of fun together, as suggested by the Good Will Hunting actor during an interview with GQ:
“We rarely kept a straight face. I mean what’s in the movie are the takes where we didn’t kind of fall out laughing because we were pretty unprofessional. Steven used to complain. He was like the teacher trying to keep everybody in line. But we just had so much fun together and it was such a good group, there was no ego.”
Damon also appreciated Soderbergh who took all the heavy lifting for the movie. According to The Departed actor, shooting with a bunch of celebrated actors demanded well-choreographed filmmaking, which the director handled well.
Matt Damon Shared That Actors Had No Ego In The Group
Matt Damon further added that the esteemed group of actors had no ego among them. The Oppenheimer actor shared an amusing story about how the actors would applaud the last person to arrive on set. This is unimaginable on most other sets, where actors reaching the set late might provoke at least a disapproving glance from co-stars and crew. Damon recounted:
“…the last person [to get to the set] invariably got a round of applause like a standing ovation from everyone else. Even if you’re like two minutes early to set, and you’re the last one. It’s kind of the opposite of what you might expect in a situation where ego could get involved. It just never happened.”
Despite the playful antics of the actors, Soderbergh’s $85 million gamble paid off, as the first movie in the franchise collected $450 million at the box office. That’s millions more than the $150 million Danny Ocean and his team heisted from Bellagio in Ocean’s Eleven. The franchise went on to gross $1.1 billion worldwide.
All three movies in the Ocean’s trilogy, as well as the spinoff Ocean’s 8, are available for streaming on Max.
Source: GQ – YouTube
