Pacino Joins "Ocean's" Crew
Wednesday April 26 10:00 AM ET
Al Pacino's going gangster again.
The Oscar-winning actor is set to join George Clooney and the rest of the gang for Ocean's Thirteen, the latest installment in the continuing criminal escapades of Danny Ocean and his company of crooks.
No word on the plot, but the next heist will apparently eschew the glamorous European locales of Ocean's Twelve and return to the glitz of Las Vegas. A Warner Bros. spokeswoman said Pacino will dive into the part of Willie Banks, the owner of a high-profile Sin City hotel and casino.
No doubt the latest comic caper will provide the 66-year-old thesp--famed for his roles in The Godfather trilogy, Dog Day Afternoon and Scarface, among other film classics--yet another opportunity to ham it up on the big screen.
Most of the usual suspects are aboard, including Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Casey Affleck and Scott Caan.
Julia Roberts, currently starring in the Broadway drama Three Days of Rain, is the only principal from the first two films not expected to return for round three, though producer Jerry Weintraub and director Steven Soderbergh haven't ruled her out entirely. They've previously said that depends how the script shakes out up by the writing duo of Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Rounders). Roberts herself has publicly said that there's a slim chance she might be back.
Ocean's Thirteen will reunite Pacino with his Sea of Love costar Ellen Barkin, who has been cast as Ocean's new leading lady.
Pacino was last in theaters opposite Matthew McCanaughey in last year's little-seen sports-gambling flick Two for the Money.
He's got several projects in the pipeline, among them: appearing in the videogame version of Scarface; starring as a college professor moonlighting as a forensic psychiatrist for the FBI in the thriller 88 Minutes; and starring in two flicks for Sea of Love director Harold Becker, playing a career thief in Rififi and a 1920s bootlegger in Torch.
Pacino is currently appearing in the Los Angeles stage production of Oscar Wilde's Salome, which runs through May 14 and which he will adapt into a film. He will have a few weeks off before joining the rest of the Ocean's Thirteen when cameras roll on July 21. The sequel is slated for a summer 2007 berth.
