Bradley Cooper is writing, directing and starring in a starry Ocean’s Eleven prequel, which is filming now in Europe according to co-star Wagner Moura. Update: With surprisingly little fanfare, Bradley Cooper’s Ocean’s Eleven prequel has quietly begun filming. Word of the production comes via Wagner Moura, one of multiple big-name actors filling out the crime ... Ocean’s Eleven | The crime caper prequel is now filming
Bradley Cooper is writing, directing and starring in a starry Ocean’s Eleven prequel, which is filming now in Europe according to co-star Wagner Moura.
Update: With surprisingly little fanfare, Bradley Cooper’s Ocean’s Eleven prequel has quietly begun filming. Word of the production comes via Wagner Moura, one of multiple big-name actors filling out the crime caper’s ensemble cast.
“They’re already shooting it,” Moura said of the prequel in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter. The detail was tucked away in a broader discussion about The Last House, a Netflix horror thriller Moura recently starred in, and was spotted by World Of Reel.
The news lines up with an earlier report at Monaco Life, which said in July that the Hollywood ‘super production’ is due to begin filming in the principality between the 23rd and 28th August. It’s said that filming will also take place in Nice and other locations across the French Riviera, and that shooting will wrap in October.
Moura added that once he’s finished shooting a play in Europe, he’ll be joining the production in an undisclosed role. “I’m playing a part that I can’t really talk about, unfortunately,” he said, when THR tried to divine whether he’s about to play the villain of the piece.
Understood to be a prequel set at the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix, the Ocean’s Eleven entry will star Cooper (who also writes and directs), Margot Robbie, Monica Barbaro, Vicky Krieps. Currently untitled, the comedy thriller is set for release on the 25th June 2027. We’ll bring you more as we hear it.
Previously…
7th July 2026: Roughly a week after Monica Barbaro was named as a new member of the Ocean’s Eleven prequel cast, along come three more signings.
Vicky Krieps, who lit up the screen in Paul Thomas Anderson’s dramatic yarn The Phantom Thread, is one of the new names. George MacKay, star of Sam Mendes’ 1917, is another. Omar Sy, who was superb in 2011’s The Intouchables and can currently be seen in Netflix’s crime caper series Lupin, is a third.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, actors Lauren Ridloff (The Walking Dead, Eternals) and Jack Holden (War Horse and numerous other stage productions) have also joined Bradley Cooper’s sequel to Steven Soderbergh’s crime classic.
Currently untitled, the Ocean’s Eleven prequel will be set at the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix. So while Graham Hill and Jim Clark were racing their F1 cars around the city’s streets, a young Danny Ocean will be staging some sort of daring heist or robbery. Monaco’s full of rich, glamorous people with stuff worth pilfering, after all.
Bradley Cooper will write, direct and star (he’s said to be playing Danny’s dad), and filming is due to begin this month (July).
We’ll bring you more on the project as it unfolds – including a title. Ocean’s 62, perhaps?
Earlier…
1st July 2026: Work continues apace on Warner Bros’ prequel to Ocean’s Eleven. Bradley Cooper is to write, direct and star, and the rest of the cast is beginning to take shape.
Monica Barbaro, who played Joan Baez in 2024’s Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown (pictured above) is the latest potential addition according to The Hollywood Reporter. Assuming the correct papers are signed, she’ll join Margot Robbie and Wagner Moura – the latter playing the villain.
There’s no title yet, nor plot details, though we’re sure the script – written by Cooper and based on a draft by Carrie Solomon – will involve nicking something. There will also be witty repartee. Cooper will have his work cut out matching Steven Soderbergh’s direction in the 2001 version.
It’s one of the rare instances where a remake is more fondly remembered than the original – 1960’s Ocean’s 11 starring the Frank Sinatra and other members of the Rat Pack.
More on the Ocean’s Eleven prequel (Ocean’s Ten?) as we get it.
Previously…
13th March 2026: Days after director Lee Isaac Chung left the production, it’s possible that Warner Bros has chosen a replacement to direct a long-billed Ocean’s 11 prequel.
According to Hollywood scoop specialist Matt Belloni, the studio has chosen Bradley Cooper to write, direct and star the crime caper. This hasn’t, of course, been confirmed yet (hence the dreaded ‘reportedly” in our title), but Belloni is generally quite reliable when it comes to these sorts of stories.
Cooper received acclaim for his remake of A Star Is Born, and a bit, er, less acclaim for his Leonard Bernstein biopic, Maestro. He most recently shot the comedy-drama, Is This Thing On – loosely based on the career of John Bishop. After two films in a row about real people, frothy thriller with Margot Robbie may beckon, assuming the right deals are made.
A hat tip to World Of Reel for bringing this story to our attention.
Our original story follows…
5th March: A prequel to Steven Soderbergh’s 2001 thriller Ocean’s 11 has been in the works for at least four years, with Margot Robbie set to produce and star.
The production will now have to find a new director, however, as Lee Isaac Chung has left the production after approximately one year in the role. According to a Warner Bros spokesperson quoted by Deadline, it was “an amicable split due to creative differences.”
LuckyChap, Robbie’s production company, also issued its own statement:
“Lee Isaac is a singular filmmaking talent whose vision and partnership have been invaluable to Warner Bros. and LuckyChap throughout this journey. Our experience with him has only deepened our enthusiasm to collaborate on future projects together.”
Chung first made a name for himself as the maker of intimate dramas, debuting with Munyurangabo in 2007 and receiving widespread acclaim with 2020’s Minari. After that, he started moving on a more mainstream trajectory, directing an episode of The Mandalorian before tackling the gustiest of summer disaster movies, Twisters.
While we’ll wait and see what Chung gets up to next, there’s still the question of whether the Ocean’s prequel will finally get going. It was rumoured for a while that it would be set in the 1960s (making it a contemporary of the original Rat Pack version), and that it would be a further vehicle for Robbie and Ryan Gosling following the blockbuster success of Barbie.
In 2022, it was reported that the unnamed heist thriller was due to begin filming later that year, after Robbie had finished work on the above-mentioned Barbie. The director named at that point was Jay Roach, whose work includes the Austin Powers movies.
Hollywood strikes no doubt intervened, as Roach went on to direct The Roses – a remake of sour divorce comedy, The War Of The Roses. (We spoke to Roach about his work on that film and others in an August 2025 podcast – do go and have a listen if you fancy.)
Things are still rather clouded for the Ocean’s prequel, then, but there’s also a sequel in the works. George Clooney and Brad Pitt are said to be leading a reunited cast for the caper, which is set to be directed by David Leitch (of Atomic Blonde and The Fall Guy fame).
There’s Warner’s acquisition by Paramount looming, however, and it remains to be seen how the studio’s slate will be shaken up by that deal. Paramount has talked about its plans to somehow pump out 30 films a year, though, so maybe pushing a couple of Ocean’s entries through the system will help it hit that lofty target.
More on this as we get it.
