MATT DAMON - DAMON BEGGED FOR SMALLER OCEAN'S ROLE

MATT DAMON begged producers of forthcoming sequel OCEAN'S TWELVE to make sure his role as LINUS CALDWELL was just as small as it had been in the 2001 original.

Damon spent most of this year (04) filming in Europe - he began shooting Ocean's Twelve immediately after he wrapped THE BOURNE SUPREMACY.

Damon says, "I actually asked for a smaller part this time around. I wanted to do less work because I had just come off The Bourne Supremacy and I was tired."

Despite the actor's protests, producers GEORGE CLOONEY, JERRY WEINTRAUB and STEVEN SODERBERGH insisted Caldwell have more screen time.

Clooney jokes, "Matt showed up and told us he had this big hit sequel under his belt so we'd need him to sell our picture. We had no choice but to give him a bigger part."