'Ocean's 13' Producer Talks About Time on Set

June 11, 2007 — -- "Ocean's 13" producer Jerry Weintraub has had a lot of good times lately. His movie opened at No. 1 at the box office during the weekend, grossing $37.1 million according to estimates.

Then there is the fact Weintraub got to have his hands and feet cemented at Grauman's Chinese Theatre with some of his "Ocean's" actors.

Even though he has worked with men like Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, Weintraub said there is no way to compare the stars of the past to George Clooney, Brad Pitt and the other headliners in the current movie.

"I'd never compare them," he said. "They were all great guys. Those were great times. We had a lot of fun."

Weintraub said that making the movie was an unbelievable trip for him and noted that he watched the actors' lives change as some, like Pitt and Matt Damon, have become fathers.

"We got a lotta kids now, but, you know, it's great," he said. "I said to Brad, 'Everybody's pregnant. What's the hell's going on?' He said, 'That's the age of the people you hang out, you know.'"

But even with all of this fun, a more serious side emerges. Weintraub and some cast members have pushed the Darfur cause.

"It's gone amazingly well," said Weintraub, who also said the idea was not his originally.

"George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle had all been to the Sudan last year."

When it was time to do the movie Clooney talked to Weintraub about doing something good around the film, he said.

"To use that for good and to put a spotlight on the Sudan, and that's what they're doing," Weintraub said. "I commend them for it, and there's nothing I wouldn't do to help them. And now I'm totally involved in it, so they got me."

Weintraub said cast newcomers Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin mixed well with the original actors. But there is one thing Weintraub and Clooney jokingly discussed.

"I just said I was gonna be Sexiest Man for the AARP," Weintraub said.

But Clooney doubted if that would happen at all.