“I hear you get $20 a picture now”: Only George Clooney Could Have Pulled a Stunt to Make Julia Roberts Sign Ocean’s 11 When She Was at the Peak of Her Career
- George Clooney gathered some of the best actors to star in the heist film Ocean's 11.
- He played a hilarious trick on Julia Roberts to get her to become a part of the movie.
- He revealed that this movie also marked the first time that he had worked with some of his other castmates.
George Clooney has starred in some of the best movies and has also made friends with many popular actors along the way. One of the actors he has become friends with is Julia Roberts, best known for her performance in some of the most iconic romcoms to date.
The first movie Clooney and Roberts made together was Ocean’s Eleven. The heist film has an ensemble cast featuring numerous A-listers including Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. The Batman & Robin star had already got Pitt and Damon on the cast but was yet to get Roberts to commit to it. So, he came up with a hilarious way to get the job done.
George Clooney Pulled This Hilarious Stunt to Get Julia Roberts Onboard for Ocean’s 11
Ocean’s 11 follows the story of two friends Danny Ocean (Clooney) and Rusty Ryan (Pitt) who assemble a team to carry out a heist worth $160 million from casino owner Terry Benedict (Andy García). Julia Roberts played the role of Tess, who is the soon-to-be-ex-wife of Danny and the lover of Terry.
Danny and Tess interact quite a few times throughout the film. Roberts’ Tess also appeared in the second film of the Ocean’s franchise. The first movie was released in 2001, but it was not until late 2020 that Clooney revealed how he approached the Pretty Woman actress to do Ocean’s Eleven.
In an interview with GQ, the Hail, Ceasar! actor broke down some of the most iconic that he had played in his career. While speaking of the Ocean’s trilogy, he recounted the mirthful trick he played on Roberts to get her to do the movie because she was one of the most highly-paid actresses at the time.
I remember Julia. I didn’t know her. I’d never met her and she was making $20 million dollars a film. And we just talked Brad [Pitt] into doing it and Matt [Damon] into doing it and we wanted Julia [Roberts] to do it. So, I put a $20 dollar bill on a script and I sent it to her. And I said, ‘I hear you get $20 a picture now.’
That seemed to do the trick for the Notting Hill star who joined the cast of the film. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the film was a critical and commercial hit and spawned two sequels.
Julia Roberts Was Not the Only Actor George Clooney Worked With for the First Time in Ocean’s Eleven
Clooney had previously worked with Steven Soderbergh on the 1998 movie Out of Sight when both of them needed a big hit to revive their career. They went on to collaborate on several other films including the Ocean’s trilogy.
That said, it was the first time Clooney was working with not only Julia Roberts but also Matt Damon and Brad Pitt. Speaking about this to GQ, he said:
She [Roberts] was spectacular to work with and is a dear friend, and those guys, I’ve done a lot of movies with Brad and Matt over the years because of that. But that was my first meeting of them. And the very first day we got together it just felt easy and fun.
Since then, the Michael Clayton star has worked with all three of these actors on other films. He did Money Monster with Roberts, and many films including Burn After Reading with Pitt, and The Informant! with Damon. He did not star in the last of these but was a producer on it.
Ocean’s 11 is available for streaming on Netflix.
