So, the wave of remakes in Hollywood continues. Following films such as Planet of the Apes and Vanilla Sky comes Ocean's 11, the highest-grossing and stellar film of 2001, as well as a remake of the most stellar film of the 1960s. The question arises why Steven Soderbergh himself took on such a light film about the robbery of a casino, after all, he is one of the most successful Hollywood directors at the moment?
And why did the most famous actors agree to play in it for only a fraction of their usual fees? Once upon a time, America did not know John, Paul, George and Ringo. There were only a few years left before the glory of the Liverpool quartet, but no one suspected it. And no one particularly regretted it. The American pop industry was ruled not by four Beatles, but by five friends: Frank, Dean, Sammy, Peter and Joy Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Devis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joy Bishop. Four Americans and one English (Lawford). At the beginning of the 1960s, each of these five was about 40.
However, this company could not be called a quintet. They rarely performed together - each of them was a soloist in his own business and built his own musical and film career. They were united not even by a common work, but by a strong male friendship, mixed mostly on joint spree with alcohol, girls and gambling in a casino.
Sinatra and Martin have come up with a suitable name for their company - "Rat Pack". The name stuck, and this star five became "rats" for a long time - not only for friends, but also for American journalists and their readers. The main field in which the Rat Pack showed itself was music and cinema. Frank Sinatra, for example, having started his career as a singer in a saloon, began acting in films almost immediately after he became famous as a musician. Sinatra owed the success of the 1950s to one of the most terrible events of his life - the temporary loss of his voice, which forced him to give all his strength to cinema so as not to sink into obscurity. These years saw his best roles in films such as The Man with the Golden Hand (1955, Oscar nomination) and Unexpectedly (1954). Later, his voice still returned to him, and Sinatra again concentrated on his musical career, playing in the movies only for pleasure and additional earnings.
But back to Ocean's 11. The idea for the film was on the surface. Having worked hard, "Rat Pack" was at the height of popularity. Now coupons could be cut from this popularity. And then a project appeared, in which there was a place for each "rat", as well as for their friends. They could not miss this opportunity.
The idea for the script by George Clayton Johnson and Jack Gopden Russell was as simple as genius. Robber Danny Ocean (played by Sinatra) gathers ten (along with Ocean Eleven himself) criminals. Former WWII paratroopers to rob five Las Vegas casinos. Ocean also wants to return his wife, who went to the owner of these casinos. Then "Rat Pack" demonstrates how cool they are in everything - from performing dance numbers to squandering money. Spectators and spectators throw their caps into the air, give the last money for tickets, and the producers get huge profits.
For greater stardom, such luminaries of the crime genre as Angie Dickinson, a former beauty queen who was at the height of fame in those years, were invited to the film. Richard Conte, Caesar Romero, Henry Silva and Akim Tamirov are an emigrant from Russia, who was an actor of the Moscow Art Theater before the revolution, and in America who made a career in the roles of colorful villains-foreigners.
Lewis Milestone, another emigrant from Russia, was invited to shoot Ocean's 11.His real name was Lev Milstein. He entered the history of American cinema, having received the first director's "Oscar" in 1929 at the first ceremony of this award, and for his very first film "Two Arab Warriors". Two years later, he became the first director to receive two Oscars - for the screen version of Remarque's novel All Quiet on the Western Front. However, by the early 1960s, Milestone was already exhausted, he was 65. Ocean's 11 was his penultimate film.
Filming took 25 days and took place entirely in Las Vegas. During the day, the actors worked on the set, and in the evenings they went to work and play in the casino. However, it was not possible to achieve the result completely desired by the producers. Events developed according to a scenario well known in Russia. A movie made by a "get-together" turned into a movie for a get-together. The actors not so much played as enjoyed each other's company, the first hour of the film was hopelessly sagging due to the need to introduce all the participants in the robbery. The second hour, which was more dynamic, was slapped somehow, however, like the robbery plan itself. The female part of the audience - the most loyal fans of the "rats" - was frightened off by rude misogynistic jokes ... And even Sinatra did not bother to sing. But he did not fail to include in the number of robbed casinos partially owned by him a hotel with a gambling house "Sands Hotel". This ad boosted casino revenues significantly.
Still, such a stellar line-up is a terrible force. The film did not flop at the box office, but it did not make it into the list of the most profitable projects in Hollywood, although it could potentially. Of all the awards, he was awarded an Oscar nomination for the soundtrack and became, during the lifetime of all the characters, a monument to the era of black ties and cocktails - no more, but no less. The most famous scene of the film (the slow passage of the main characters in "cool" costumes) was sold for quotes. The most famous example is Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.
The idea of returning to Ocean's Friends resurfaced in the late 1990s. This thought came to George Clooney's head, who decided after the success of "The Perfect Storm" and "Oh, where are you, brother?" to establish itself in the role of a star, not just the first, but the first magnitude. And what better way than to lead a team of top actors? Clooney's wish coincided with the will of director Stephen Soderbergh. The year 2000 was a year of great creative effort and great success for Soderbergh. Two great films, Traffic and Erin Brockovich, have earned him the reputation as a commercially successful director of troubled films. And it was hard to expect anything different from a man who received the Palme d'Or for his first big film, Sex, Lies and Video. The second breakthrough for Soderbergh was the crime film Out of Sight, in which Clooney played the main role. And now Soderbergh decided to announce a time-out for "Serious" work and shoot something light and fun, but always stylish, because it was the stylization of 1970s films that brought Out of Sight a commercial success. to come up with something lighter, more stylish, graceful and potentially commercially successful than the idea of -11 of Ocean's friends. ”As Soderbergh himself explained,“ isn't it wonderful to collect 15 stars in one film at once? ”And the film“ 11 Friends ”turned out to be the director's eleventh full-length project, it was a sin to ignore such a coincidence.
They immediately decided not to reproduce the classics verbatim. Both Clooney and Ederberg were aware of all the shortcomings for which critics and audiences condemned the previous film. Besides, there are so many talented singers among modern stars. Anyway. The 1960s ended long ago and the new film had to be modern. Before him, it was decided to come up with a new composition of the Ocean's Friends team, to play misogyny - the favorite theme of Sinatra and his friends who have lived more than one difficult divorce ... And to make the new film more dynamic and thoughtful in terms of casino robbery techniques.The dialogues conceived to write in the style of the best films of the noir genre like The Maltese Falcon - short and sharp. However, the main thing was the selection of stars. And it turned out to be a much bigger problem than it was during the Rat Pack days. Sinatra's friends called themselves "rats", but they really were friends, and could go to great lengths for the success of a common cause. Let's say we cancel the tour. The current Hollywood stars, on the other hand, work on a very tight schedule and on contracts that are not so easy to break. Yes, and there is no great friendship between them, so it turned out to be much more difficult to collect many stars at the same time in one place during the filming than initially expected. The composition of the first link was determined rather quickly. They were Clooney himself, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. They were playing together at the Mexican at that time. A very funny story came out with Roberts. After the success of Erin Brockovich, she dreamed of filming with Soderbergh again and was very sorry that he did not take her to Traffic. Therefore, in preliminary negotiations, she immediately agreed to star in Soderbergh's new film. There was only a question of a fee. Producers could not offer her the “legitimate” 20 million - if each star is paid in full, the budget will never fit. And then Clooney and Soderbergh went for a trick. They sent Roberts an envelope with a script and 1 $ 20 bill and a note with the words: "We heard you now charge twenty per film." After reading the script. Roberts was delighted and finally agreed to work. And when she again inquired about the exact amount of the fee, she was told that she had already given consent for twenty ... only not millions, but dollars! And it was no longer possible to refuse.
After solving the problems with the stars of the very first magnitude, hitch began with the selection of the remaining performers. At the beginning, the list included Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, brothers Owen and Hugh Grant, brothers Coen ... However, they almost immediately refused for one reason or another. Only Matt Damon, who replaced Mark Wahlberg, and Don Cheadle managed to stay on the original list. Ralph Fiennes agreed to play the role of Benedict, offered to Hugh Grant, but then he refused. Ultimately, the role of the main villain - the owner of the casino - went to Andy Garcia. Instead of James Caan and Ben Affleck, Scott Caan (James' son) and Casey Affleck (Ben's brother) agreed to star in the film. Don Cheadle, who at one time played Sammy Dzvis Jr. in the film of the hotel and in the voice of the victim asked to wake himself up at half past four in the morning.
Oddly enough, Roberts suffered the most from all these jokes. She was plagued by all honest company, from Clooney to Pitt. She later admitted that she returned to her room every day, like a minefield. However, this did not prevent her from starting a small romance on the set with Clooney, who was just thrown by the English fashion model Lisa Snowdon.
But, despite all the minor troubles, filming went on schedule. To avoid possible problems, it was decided to replace the planned match of heavyweight boxers Lennox Lewis and Michael Tyson with a fight between Lewis and Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko. Indeed, unlike Tyson, Klitschko was not seen in the scandalous "exploits" in the ring. It is in this scene of the film that you can see the short appearance on the screen of Angie Dickinson and Henry Silva - the stars of the first film.
However, it is difficult to get around all the pitfalls. When the filming of the film was almost complete, the terrible news came of the tragedy in New York. And what a sin, the film featured an explosion in the New York hotel. I had to urgently reshoot this scene: such patriots as Clooney and Soderbergh could not allow on the screen offending the feelings of millions of Americans. It was even supposed to postpone the premiere, but the "filmmakers" were on time - on December 7, 2001, the film was released on the screens of the States.
And it turned out to be exactly what people need, frightened by the threat of a new war.A hilarious film about smart robbers, with almost no shootouts and a cleverly crafted scam - and no international terrorists or extremists. The remake of the classic film with its favorite actors, by the general opinion of critics, surpassed the original.
The only one who didn't like the film was Joy Bishop. The star of the first film, he stated that the remake lacks that special aura of friendship that the real Ocean's 11 will celebrate. However, it is difficult to blame the director for the fact that the world has changed in 40 years and the "Rat Pack" is now impossible. You can’t enter the same river twice, but it’s not a fact that the new “river” is worse.
