Cate Blanchett in Talks to Join All-Female ‘Ocean’s Eleven’

An exclusively female driven Ocean’s Eleven reboot – known familiarly to industry insiders as Ocean’s Ocho – has been in the works at Sony for several years now. Just last year, it was announced that Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock (Gravity) would be toplining the film as spiritual equal to the iconic Danny Ocean character, played by Frank Sinatra in the original and by George Clooney in the 2001 remake. The Playlist now reports that Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) is circling the role of Bullock’s partner (the Brad Pitt-Rusty Ryan character). It is important to note that these characters, although being compared to the iconic Ocean and Ryan roles, will only be based on their personalities and friendship, rather than carbon copies.

The previous Ocean’s Eleven films follow a ragtag team of white collar criminals who band together to pull off a seemingly impossible casino heist.

It was previously rumored that Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games) was in negotiations for a role in the flick, however, it is now being speculated that she may have a scheduling conflict. Scoring Blanchett as the film’s second lead would be just as great of an addition as Lawrence, however, there are six more roles to fill (if they are planning on sticking to the eight members implied by the temporary Ocho title) which leaves room for plenty of dynamic actresses to sign on.

Gary Ross of The Hunger Games and Seabiscuit is taking the reigns from Steven Soderbergh (a personal friend) and will be directing the pic which he also pitched to the studio. He is also the director of the upcoming Civil War epic The Free State of Jones starring Matthew McConaughey. The remake is set to begin production late this fall to early winter, so we can expect many more casting decisions to be made throughout the summer.

Blanchett’s last film appearances included the broadcast news biopic Truth as well as Carol which earned her another Oscar nomination. Her next trips to the theaters will be in Terrence Malick‘s Weightless and Andy Serkis‘ Jungle Book. She has also recently been attached to Thor: Ragnarok.