Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling Reuniting Already

Movies

Barbie and Ken are getting back together sooner than we thought. The stars of this year’s biggest hit, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, are reuniting for an Ocean’s Eleven prequel directed by Jay Roach of Austin Powers fame. The film will take place in Europe during the 1960s. The Ocean’s Eleven prequel was first announced in May with Margot Robbie attached, and Gosling joined the cast in June. But today, the film’s producer, Josey McNamara, spoke to Total Film about the project and Robbie and Gosling as a pairing. The Ocean’s Eleven prequel will, McNamara said, “do right by the franchise.” As for Robbie and Gosling, “[the] more projects even outside of that we can have them do would be amazing.”

They’re not saying much about the Ocean’s Eleven prequel, but if it takes place in the 60s, Danny Ocean and his team of thieves can’t be involved unless they’re little kids. Does that mean Robbie and/or Gosling will play relatives of theirs? That seems silly; when you’re this far removed, why not just make an original heist movie in the vein of Ocean’s Eleven? The main series went on at least one movie too many, and now they’re doing spin-offs and prequels without the stars that made them so much fun. (If they want to do something interesting, they could tie it to the original film that starred the Rat Pack; the only character name the remake kept was Danny Ocean, so they could say the Frank Sinatra version was the father of Clooney’s.) But I suppose it makes financial sense; Ocean’s 8 was a big success (in part because the budget was kept modest), and Hollywood doesn’t stop tapping a well till it loses them a lot of money. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling joined the film before Barbie became a cultural phenomenon, so the producers are probably licking their chops at the idea of piggybacking off of their first pairing’s success. But I wonder if they’re striking a bit too much while the iron is hot. People loved Robbie and Gosling in Barbie, but if they keep teaming up, will audiences tire of them? It could come off as a cheap gimmick, especially if Hollywood tries to sell them as the next Bogey and Bacall.