Few movie stars are as candid about regretting a role as George Clooney is when it comes to the infamous campy caper that is Batman & Robin -- a movie he has apologized for and poked fun at time and time again. Then again, few actors have been asked to don rubber nipples. The reason I bring this up is because, the Oceans franchise star was joined by series director Steven Soderbergh to talk about one of their best movies, and while discussing the beloved heist franchise they brought up the Hollywood A-listers who turned the film down. Bringing this back around to Batman: Clooney vicariously compared Johnny Depp and others in the discussion turning the gig down to his time as the Caped Crusader.
According to Soderbergh and Clooney, the production process for what is now considered one of the best heist films wasn't entirely trouble-free. The pair revealed to TCM host Ben Mankiewicz (via EW) that some major Hollywood heavy hitters were approached for the part of Linus but passed -- somewhat aggressively -- before Matt Damon was ultimately cast. The big revelation here was that both Johnny Depp and Mark Wahlberg were some of the actors who turned the part down. The Up in the Air star comedically added that those stars regret turning the project down about as much as he regrets agreeing to wear the Dark Knight cowl. He said:
