George Clooney featured in the all-star 2001 remake, alongside Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Julia Roberts, and its two sequels, and now he is returning to the franchise to produce a new version starring his longtime pal, Sandra.

Gary Ross is on board as director, while Steven Soderbergh, who took charge of the trilogy, will produce alongside George, according to Indiewire.com.

The movie has reportedly been in development since last year (14), but it is unclear when it will go into production.

George's Ocean's Eleven release was an update of Frank Sinatra's 1960 Rat Pack film of the same name.

The new project is the latest collaboration between Sandra and George - they co-starred in 2013's Gravity, while they recently reteamed for the actress' new film, Our Brand is Crisis.

The Blind Side star plays political consultant Jane 'Calamity' Bodine in the drama, in which her character is hired to help run a despised Bolivian president's re-election campaign.

The lead role had originally been written for a male, with George in mind to tackle the part, but Sandra convinced producers she would be better suited to lead the cast.

"Initially, it was written with George Clooney in mind," she previously told Entertainment Weekly. "About two-and-a-half years ago, I just put out the feelers saying, 'I'm not reading anything I'm excited about. Are there any male roles out there that they don't mind switching to a female role...?' You don't get to read roles like this (in Our Brand is Crisis) a lot. There's a lot of unforgivable things that she does, yet somehow you have to cheer for her."

However, Sandra spoke out this week (begs26Oct15) to clear up rumours suggesting she had snatched the job from George, who serves as co-producer.

"He, at the time, was not attached to this film to play the (lead) role," she told U.S. breakfast show Today. "I'll steal something from George, it just wasn't this role."