Oscar nominee Monica Barbaro is joining one of the most star-powered projects currently in development in Hollywood. According to Deadline, she is in final talks to join the Warner Bros. Ocean's Eleven prequel, which already has Bradley Cooper and Margot Robbie attached. Wagner Moura, who received an Oscar nomination for The Secret Agent, is also part of the cast.
Cooper is directing and producing the film alongside Robbie's production company LuckyChap. He is also writing the screenplay, which is based on characters by George Clayton Johnson and Jack Golden Russell. Previous drafts were written by Carrie Solomon. The plot details have not been disclosed. The film is dated for June 25, 2027, and is preparing to begin shooting.
Barbaro is coming off a year that put her firmly on the awards map. She earned her first Oscar nomination and an Actor Award nomination in 2025 for her portrayal of folk singer and activist Joan Baez opposite Timothée Chalamet in James Mangold's Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown for Searchlight Pictures. Before that, she broke out in Top Gun: Maverick in 2022, playing Phoenix opposite Tom Cruise and Miles Teller in a film that received six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture.
Her schedule heading into the Ocean's prequel production is full. She recently completed a sold-out run in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at London's National Theatre opposite Lesley Manville and Aidan Turner. She next appears as co-lead opposite Callum Turner in Universal's One Night Only, directed by Will Gluck, which opens August 7. She also stars opposite Yura Borisov and Andrew Garfield as Mira Murati in Luca Guadagnino's Artificial, which was recently acquired by Neon.
The Ocean's Eleven prequel has a long list of executive producers, including Josey McNamara, Bronte Payne, Bobby Wilhelm, Jay Roach, Michelle Graham, Lee Isaac Chung, Ashley Jay Sandberg, Gary Ross, and Olivia Milch. Barbaro is represented by UTA, Range Media Partners, and Meyer and Downs.
