Matt Damon Is Backing Female-Lead ‘Ocean’s Eight’ Reboot

Matt Damon “can’t wait” to see Ocean’s Eight. The 45-year-old actor – who played pickpocket Linus Caldwell alongside George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the three previous Ocean’s movies – thinks the upcoming female reboot is a great idea.

He gushed: “I think it’s going to be awesome.”

The heist comedy will star Anne Hathaway, Sandra Bullock, Helena Bonham Carter, Cate Blanchett, Sarah Paulson, Rihanna, Mindy Kaling and rapper Awkwafina, and Matt thinks they’ll do a great job.

He told ET Canada: “They’re going to kick ass.”

Meanwhile, Clooney has recently produced Manchester by the Sea, which stars Casey Affleck, Kyle Chandler and Michelle Williams, and though he was initially supposed to direct too, he is thankful he passed those duties on to Kenneth Longeran.

He said: “It’s so beautifully written. It’s one of best screenplays I’ve ever seen. I was initially supposed to direct [the film], and I read it, and I was just slobbering in tears. I just called Kenny immediately and said, ‘Kenny, you have to direct this. There’s no other way that this can be done.’ Probably, as a producer, the smartest thing I did was getting out of the way.”

It was previously revealed that Damon and his Ocean’s co-stars could land cameo roles in the new movie, which reportedly revolves around a heist at the Met Gala.

And filmmaker Gary Ross promised the movie will be an “extension and a continuation” of the Clooney-led trilogy. He said: “You know, Steven Soderbergh and I are incredibly close friends, and we would not have done this if we weren’t. I don’t think he would’ve wanted anyone to do it if we weren’t. This is very much an extension and a continuation. He’s a producer on the movie.”

The first Ocean’s 11 movie was made in 1960 and saw Frank Sinatra in the title role of Danny Ocean, with his co-stars including fellow Rat Pack members Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop.

Clooney took on the titular role in the 2001 movie Ocean’s Eleven, reprising the part for Ocean’s Twelve in 2004 and Ocean’s Thirteen three years later.