Danny Ocean (George Clooney) is the face of Ocean’s Eleven and the rest of Steven Soderbergh’s franchise and some people wonder if the character is based on a real-life figure or is a completely fictional character. The Ocean’s movies, of which there are three movies all directed by Soderbergh, center around Danny and his crew of thieves. Rusty (Brad Pitt), Linus (Matt Damon), and Basher (Don Cheadle) co-star along with a talented supporting cast. Each movie depicts a different heist and is filled with Soderbergh trademarks from quick, rat-a-tat dialogue to plots that slowly unwind and only fully reveal themselves entirely at the end.
Danny is a slick, charming, and clever con who puts all of Clooney's real-world qualities to great use. Though all the Ocean’s movies have many characters, Danny is the lead. Ocean’s Eleven is when the plot is most focused on Clooney’s character but even Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen give Danny more screen time than most of the crew. Danny Ocean and his heists feel like something that could have been pulled from real life. While most of the characters in the Ocean’s franchise are clearly fictional, some feel just real enough that they seem like they came from history, Danny in particular.
Danny Ocean Is A Fictional Creation
Just like the other characters in the Ocean’s franchise, Danny Ocean is a fictional character with no real-life basis. What he is based on, is the Frank Sinatra character from the original 1960 movie, meaning Ocean’s Eleven is actually a remake. In that film, Danny Ocean is a World War II veteran who uses his military mind to stage a theft of not three but five major Las Vegas casinos. The rest of the Rat Pack, a famous group of actors (Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop) also star. The similarities between the movies end with Danny but neither bases their hero in any historical fact.
The Ocean’s Franchise Is More Fantasy Than Reality
While it would be fun to imagine a real-life group like the fictional characters in Ocean’s pulling off grand heists, it simply would be just too difficult for any of Danny Ocean’s plans to succeed. In The Ringer, the various problems with Danny’s Ocean’s Eleven heist are laid out in plain detail, and the points can be extrapolated to all the Ocean’s movies. From the title, there is already a problem, as assembling a crew of eleven thieves is no easy task. As the security consultant mentions in the article, that many thieves would never be able to keep a heist that big under wraps.
The other parts of Danny’s plan start to fall apart after scrutiny. One issue the article brings up goes for all four of the films. The heists are based around getting into the “back of the house” in order to be near the vault. In real life, almost no one is able to get into the back of the house without a number of clearances. Sometimes, casino executives can’t even enter, so no trailing Terry Benedict into a count room. It’s tempting to hope there’s a real Danny Ocean somewhere, but it’s probably better to enjoy Ocean's Eleven's fictional characters and the franchise as just that, a work of fiction.