Trivia for
Ocean's Thirteen (2007) More at IMDbPro »

• Steven Soderbergh filmed all of Al Pacino's scenes in three weeks.
  
  
• Al Pacino was director Steven Soderbergh's first choice for the role of Willie Bank. The film's producer, Jerry Weintraub, a friend of Pacino's, persuaded him to join the cast.
  
  
• The film's translation in Russia is "13 Friends of Ocean".
  
  
• Al Pacino and Andy Garcia have both acted in The Godfather: Part III (1990).
  
  
• In The Godfather: Part II (1974), Michael Corleone (played by Al Pacino) is at a meeting in Havana, Cuba when Cuban Pres. Fulgencio Batista (played by Tito Alba) receives a solid gold telephone. In Ocean's Thirteen (2007), Willie Bank (also played by Al Pacino) receives a solid gold cellphone obtained by Abigail Sponder from the manufacturer.
  
  
• Two members of Ocean's crew, The Malloy Brothers, are named Virgil (Casey Affleck) and Turk (Scott Caan). This is a reference to The Godfather (1972) in which Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) guns down a character named Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo.
  
  
• Danny tells Willie Bank (Al Pacino), "What I want, what's most important to me...” This was the same dialog Pacino used when speaking with Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo in The Godfather (1972).
  
  
• The fake nose Matt Damon wears is an in-joke reference to The Brothers Grimm (2005), in which director Terry Gilliam wanted the actor to wear a fake nose but the studio vetoed it.
  
  
• Rusty's ring-tone is "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League.
  
  
• The special scent that Linus puts on his neck to seduce Abigail is noted in a title card as "The Gilroy." This is an in-joke on Tony Gilroy who wrote the screenplays for The Bourne Identity (2002), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), all starring Matt Damon, and also wrote and directed Michael Clayton (2007), which stars George Clooney and is produced by Steven Soderbergh.
  
  
• Towards the end of the film, when Rusty and Danny are in the airport, they each mock each other. Rusty tells Danny to try and keep the weight off in between jobs next time. This is a reference to George Clooney, who put on extra weight for his role in Syriana (2005) and in turn injured his back doing some stunts. Danny tells Rusty, "Settle down and have a couple of kids," which is a reference to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's relationship and children.
  
  
• When Danny and Rusty are reminiscing about meeting Reuben, they are wandering in front of the Bellagio. The tune that is playing is Clair de Lune. This is the same tune that played at the end of Ocean's Eleven (2001) when all the characters are standing in front of the Bellagio watching the fountains.
  
  
• When discussing the blueprints of the Bank Casino, Rusty mentions that among the architects responsible for the design was Frank O. Gehry, with whom Brad Pitt has collaborated personally on several projects at Gehry's Los Angeles studio.
  
  
• Linus's fake nose ploy is "The Brody", a reference to actor Adrien Brody.
  
  
• Release prints were delivered to theaters with the fake title 'License to Steal'.
  
  
• The line "You shook Sinatra's hand" mentioned several times in the movie is a reference to Frank Sinatra who played Danny Ocean in the original Ocean's Eleven (1960).
  
  
• This is the last film that Joel Siegel reviewed for "Good Morning America" (1975).
  
  
• The Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow logos at the front of the film are styled in homage to the 1970s/1980s intro animation to New York station WOR-TV's "4 O'Clock Movie," and the accompanying music is identical.
  
  
• In the scene where Danny and Rusty reminisce about their first respective encounters with Reuben, they list the casinos on the Vegas strips where Reuben taught them to gamble and, presumably, how to perform their first cons. These casinos are the same casinos that are robbed in the original Ocean's Eleven (1960): The Sands, Desert Inn, Flamingo, Riviera and Sahara.
  
  
• When Reuben wakes up and speaks to Danny and Rusty, he says "I hear cars coming and going, I hear Linus crying. I think you should tell me what everyone seems to know." This is a variation on lines spoken by Don Corleone to Tom Hagen in The Godfather (1972). In that film, "what everyone seems to know" about was the death of Sonny Corleone, played by James Caan, whose son, Scott Caan appears in this film. Andy Garcia appeared in The Godfather: Part III (1990) as the son of Sonny Corleone.
  
  
• Scott Caan co-stars with Al Pacino in this film. His father, James Caan, played Sonny Corleone in The Godfather (1972), which was Pacino's breakthrough role in Hollywood.
  
  
• The numbers that Mr.Weng picks to win at the roulette wheel are 11, 12 and 13 - the numbers of the three "Ocean" movies, thus far.
  
  
• Obscure reference: In the scene where Ocean's crew is breaking the bank, so to speak, the numbers of amounts won are displayed near specific gamblers to show how much the house is losing. When the shot pans over to George Clooney, the number "5150" is displayed next to him. This corresponds to the health and safety code for placing a psychiatric hold on a deranged individual. In other words, a crazy person is often referred to as a "5150" around police and medical circles.
  
  
• The plane Rusty and Danny fly to Vegas in at the beginning of the movie is a Gulfstream Aerospace G200.
  
  
• Roman Nagel's line, "You're like the Morecambe and Wise of the thievery world," is a reference to the great British comedy double-act Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise. Largely unknown outside the United Kingdom, their work spanned over 40 years in music hall, radio, and television. Their most famous television work, "The Morecambe & Wise Show" (1968) launched in 1968 and was one of the BBC's most popular shows for nearly ten years.
  
  
• Linus makes a joke about the 1973 Château d'Yquem wine. It was produced in between two years (1972 and 1974) of harvests "unworthy to bear the Château's name." He could be hoping that the 1973 wasn't also "unworthy."
  
  
• While Danny, Reuben and Linus watch Rusty claiming to be a seismologist warning Willy Bank of potential seismic activity, Linus says to Reuben, "He's doing an Irwin Allen". Irwin Allen was a television and film producer nicknamed "the master of disaster" for his work in the disaster film genre.
  
  
• Al Pacino reunites with Ellen Barkin after Sea of Love (1989).
  
  
• The gold cellphone Willie Bank receive from Abigail Sponder is a Vertu Signature Yellow Gold Full Diamond, which costs around $50,000.
  
  
• During the film's climax, several shots are used of various bystanders. One of them is cashing out a rather large amount of chips. If you look closely, it's the same actor who played "Bulldog the bruiser" in Ocean's Eleven (2001).
  
  

• SPOILER: All members of the Caldwell (Linus') family that we know of have impersonated some kind of law-enforcing agent in the three 'Ocean' movies. Linus impersonated an officer of the NGC (Nevada Gaming Commission) in 11, his mother acted as a US Marshal in 12, and his father, Bobby, impersonated an FBI agent in 13.
  
  
• SPOILER: The characters make several references to a "Susan B. Anthony" in their heist. This is a reference to the Susan B. Anthony dollar manufactured by the US mint in 1979. It was similar in appearance and size to a regular quarter and many people dropped it into a slot machine without realizing what it was worth. This method was used twice in the film, though the people are using an ordinary coin they don't realize that it will be worth millions in the slot: first by the woman in The Bank who wins the jackpot and later by the VUP at the slot machine in the airport.
  
  

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