Bradley Cooper in Talks to Write, Direct and Star in “Ocean’s Eleven” Prequel with Margot Robbie

Tommy McArdleFri, March 13, 2026 at 5:34 PM UTC

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Bradley Cooper on Jan. 19, 2026; Margot Robbie on March 9, 2026Credit: Karwai Tang/WireImage; Stephane Cardinale/Corbis/Corbis via Getty -

Bradley Cooper is in talks to write and direct a prequel to Ocean's Eleven, sources confirmed with PEOPLE

Cooper was previously reported to be costarring in the movie with Margot Robbie, who has been developing the project since 2022

George Clooney and much of Ocean's Eleven's original cast also aim to shoot a sequel this year

Bradley Cooper may now be writing and directing the Ocean's Eleven prequel he and Margot Robbie were previously reported to be costarring in.

On Friday, March 13, sources confirmed with PEOPLE that Cooper, 51, is in talks to write and direct a prequel to George Clooney and Brad Pitt's heist franchise for Warner Bros. after filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung (Minari, Twisters) stepped away from the project. Cooper's discussions regarding writing and directing the movie would keep the prequel on track to shoot in 2026, as sources confirmed with PEOPLE.

Efforts to develop a prequel to the original Ocean's trilogy date back to 2022, when Robbie's publicist told PEOPLE that she and director Jay Roach were developing "an original Ocean's film set in the '60s." In 2023, producer Josey McNamara, who is a co-founder of Robbie's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, claimed that Ryan Gosling would costar in the movie after he and Robbie found smash success with Barbie earlier that year.

Multiple outlets first reported that Cooper was in talks to costar in the movie with Robbie in October 2025. At that time, Twisters director Chung, 47, was reported to be taking over the project from filmmaker Roach, 68, who most recently released last year's dramedy The Roses with Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Bradley Cooper and Margot Robbie on April 13, 2024Credit: Lester Cohen/Getty

The evolving development of Robbie's Ocean's prequel comes five months after Clooney, who portrays series lead Danny Ocean in the franchise's first three films, claimed in October that he and much of the original Ocean's cast aim to shoot the sequel Ocean's Fourteen by the end of 2026.

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“There was something about the idea that we’re too old to do what we used to do, but we’re still smart enough to know how to get away with something, that just appeals to me,” Clooney told Variety of the project in December.

George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt in Ocean's ElevenCredit: Moviestore/Shutterstock

Ocean’s Eleven itself is based on the 1960 film of the same title, which starred Frank Sinatra as Danny Ocean alongside Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Dean Martin and Joey Bishop. Clooney, Pitt, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle starred in the series' three movies made between 2001 and 2007, while Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, Awkwafina, Sarah Paulson and Helena Bonham Carter starred in a 2018 all-female spinoff titled Ocean's 8, which saw Bullock, 61, portray Danny Ocean's sister Debbie.

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The movie would mark Cooper's fourth as a director after A Star Is Born, the Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro and last year's Is This Thing On? Cooper wrote and acted in each of those three movies. Outside of his own work as a director, he most recently appeared on the big screen in a cameo role for last year's Superman and in one episode of HBO's comedy The Righteous Gemstones.

Robbie, meanwhile, most recently appeared in February's adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”