Stars to boost troops' morale after Ocean's 11 premiere
Hollywood actors George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts premiered their new film Ocean’s 11 at a star-studded party in Los Angeles.
The movie is an all-star remake of a 1960s picture which originally starred the infamous ‘‘Rat Pack’’ actors led by Frank Sinatra.
Directed by Steven Soderberg the film tells the story of 11 criminal associates led by Clooney who plot to rob a string of casinos in Las Vegas.
Also at last night’s premiere were Pitt’s wife Jennifer Aniston and film cast member Don Cheadle.
Some of the cast were due to fly out to a secret military location in Turkey for a morale boosting visit to British and US troops stationed in the country.
The stars, including Clooney, Roberts, Pitt, Andy Garcia and Matt Damon, will sign autographs and deliver gifts before showing the film to the forces engaged in the war against terror.
The project was the idea of Ocean’s 11 producer, Jerry Weintraub.
He said: ‘‘We were talking about doing a premiere in Rome and Paris and I said ‘I’ve got a great idea. We’ve got troops over there in harm’s way. Why don’t we go over there and show it to them?’.
‘‘George jumped up and said ‘great’ and everyone came on board.’’
Mr Weintraub telephoned his long-time friend, George Bush, the former US president, and the visit took shape.
‘‘I called President Bush ... and he said he thought it was fantastic,’’ he said. ‘‘We made a call and two minutes later I got a phone call from the Pentagon and we got the ball rolling.’’
