As Berger elaborated:  “We were talking at that time, Brad Pitt and I, and yes, was I seduced by the thought of doing something like that. I’m from a small place in Germany. I’ve never had those opportunities. And suddenly Brad Pitt and George Clooney and Julia Roberts and Matt Damon, I would be able to make a movie with them. … It’s a franchise. I can pay my crew. I can have fun with them. It’s a temptation.”

“But Deep down inside, I knew it’s not my movie, it’s Steven Soderbergh’s movie. He invented that, beautifully. He made them, and I’m just following in his footsteps. What is new for me? I love those movies, but in essence, I don’t know what to add to what the great Steven Soderbergh did.”

Steven Soderbergh, who had  been the creative genius behind the Ocean’s franchise from the beginning, withdrew his involvement after Ocean’s 13 was released in 2007. Three key players have since died: actors Bernie Mack and Carl Reiner, and producer jerry Weintraub.

Berger continued by saying he toyed with the idea but quickly rejected it: “I went to bed, slept eight hours, and realized, it’s not me. I called Brad [Pitt] because we had talked a bunch of times. I knew he was open to doing something, and I basically said, I’m sorry, I don’t want to do Ocean’s and hope I haven’t offended you. But I have this great script that I would love you to look at because I think it might be a challenge for both of us. He read it in two days and called back and said, I want to do it. It’s the best script I’ve ever read.”

The “great script” that Berger was referring to is The Riders for A24, which is set to shoot in 2026 with Brad Pitt in the starring role. Berger’s most recent project  was Ballad of a Small Player with Colin Farrell in the starring role.

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