The cast and creatives of Ocean’s 8 reunite at the Temple of Dendur inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Six of the eight masterminds in Ocean’s 8 are back at the scene of their crime: the majestic Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The press conference took place just a few weeks after this year’s Met Gala, which was the location of a high stakes jewel heist in the film and was not robbed this year as far as we know. It was all very meta, particularly because sitting eight feet away from these powerhouse actors killed me and sent me to Heaven. The Costume Institute’s Spring 2018 exhibit Heavenly Bodies, that is.
This clearly is a cast that is totally in sync as the cast was cracking jokes at lightning speed with perfect timing. The energy in the room was electric from the start as the women talked about how they discussed their outfits for the day via their group text, which has since been disbanded, may it rest in peace. To which Awkwafina deadpanned, “I was gonna wear a dress fully made of tampons.” “We’re all wearing tampons. Gary [Ross, the film’s director] is also wearing a tampon in support,” Cate Blanchett replied.
All of the actors spoke to some degree about what a remarkable opportunity it was to work with so many other women. Anne Hathaway noted that the collective experiences each person brought to set made it feel safe and Sandra Bullock commented that typically there are only a few roles available for women and it’s like they’re all on their own “little islands” with no opportunity for interaction.
Considering this long-awaited wave of films helmed by women, I asked the cast their thoughts on remakes of movies with women instead of a male ensemble compared to original stories for an ensemble of women. Cate answered first saying, “I think it’s both. I mean, what’s great about this is you’ve got the history of the franchise and the Ocean’s franchise behind it, but I think that’s what I meant about the script being malleable is that we wanted to make it its own standalone thing. It’s got an echo of what came before, but it’s not a remake. Remakes are great! But if there were only remakes and there were no original stories, it’s like any sort of sense of homogeneity in the film industry. It produces boring results, whether that’s homogeneity of cast or story.”
Mindy Kaling added, “One of the most exciting things is a new voice doing different material or launching a whole brand new franchise that’s not based on a comic book, and then every time you think that way, you see a movie like Black Panther which has completely revitalized that entire genre. So people can work within genres. Lando Calrissian is being played by Donald Glover! So every time you wanna make a rule about like ‘oh no, reboots, remakes’, then it’s a launching pad for great new characters, new dialogue, and new relationships, and it’s a shrewd way to sneak in diverse voices. I’m all for it as long as they’re being reinvented and reimagined.”
Audiences can experience the cast’s infectious chemistry and sharp wit for themselves when Ocean’s 8 opens in theaters June 8th.
