Don Cheadle Says Fans Slam ‘Ocean’s Twelve’ to His Face: They Come Up to Me and Go, ‘I Hated That One. That One Sucked’

Don Cheadle has been a staple of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for nearly 12 years as James “Rhodey” Rhodes/War Machine, but the MCU isn’t the only franchise the actor has under his belt. Cheadle starred as explosives expert Basher Tarr opposite George Clooney, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt in Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s Eleven” trilogy between 2001 and 2007. While the 2001 installment is universally beloved, the far more comedic “Ocean’s Twelve” proved divisive with fans. Cheadle recently told GQ magazine that fans often come up to him to bash “Ocean’s Twelve” to his face.

“When we came back to do the second film, we hadn’t seen each other for a long time,” Cheadle said. “We hadn’t all been together. We were just reuniting, so we were just milling around for an hour and then we realized, ‘Oh wait, we’re actually here to shoot something.’”

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Cheadle continued, “I love it that the second movie is the one that people will just unabashedly walk up to me and go, ‘Yeah, I hated that one. That one sucked.’ It’s like, cool, ‘You just said that to my face like I’m not a person, but alright. Thank you.’”

“Ocean’s Twelve” might be divisive among fans, but Cheadle said it was the most fun “Ocean’s” movie to shoot. “When we were in Italy, we stayed at the de Russie Hotel,” he said. “We had the whole sixth floor to ourselves because we really couldn’t go anywhere. Paparazzi is an Italian word. We really were kind of sequestered, but they were able to give us that whole floor and all of our families were there. So my kids were there and Matt [Damon]’s kids were there and we just toured Europe in this big group and it was just a lot of fun. Everybody just had a lot of fun together.”

Back in 2021, Cheadle told Entertainment Weekly that Soderbergh was toying with an idea for another “Ocean’s” movie to star the original cast. The franchise continued after the trilogy-ending “Ocean’s Thirteen” with the 2018 reboot “Ocean’s 8,” led by Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett.

“We were talking about it [after ‘Ocean’s 13’], and then Bernie [Mac] passed, and very quickly we were like, ‘No, we don’t want to do it,’” Cheadle told EW about making a fourth “Ocean’s” movie. “But I just did a movie with [Soderbergh] and he said, ‘I think there may be a way to do it again. I’m thinking about it.’ And it didn’t go much further than that. But I don’t know; I don’t know who all would be in it. I imagine the main group of us would be in. It would be interesting to see.”

Next up for the “Ocean’s” franchise is a prequel reportedly set in the 1960s. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are leading the project, which is being directed by Jay Roach.

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