[Alan_Dillman]

And lamer than I had anticipated.

While the actors faces are intrinsic to our memories of those films, there is nothing in the films existence intrinsic to those precise faces and identities.

The existence of nothing hinges on Julia and Tess existing as dopplegangers except the plot of the film itself. And if Julia Real didn't act in Ocean's Eleven, her star needs not be diminished: she'd have taken some other project which could be a hit. Maybe even several in the time it took to film Ocean's Eleven in the real world.

The article's author's brain is wrapped up in la-la land and the cult of personality.

[kmonsen]

I think the main argument is a bit different. If two characters played by Julia Roberts and Matt Damon are talking and someone walks over and says "wow you must be Julia Roberts!", why do they not also say "and man you look like Matt Damon, insane coincidence ".

Why does only one of them look like their real life counterpart? I think also, this would ruin the plot of the previous Oceans's movie since why did no one recognize her in that one if she was the lookalike of a famous actress. It is clear that both movies live in the same universe since 12 is payback for 11.