George Clooney is busy looking for directorial projects at them moment. A few weeks ago it was reported that he's working on a film about the Smothers Brothers, and now TheWrap says George is set to tell a story about artwork stolen by the Nazis during WWII.
Clooney has optioned the nonfiction book, The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel and will adapt the project with producing partner Grant Heslov for Sony Pictures. The filmmaker hopes to direct the film and may also star.
The book tells the story of the US government's efforts to retrieve artwork stolen by the Nazis and the art experts whose skills were put to use in the campaign. The title comes from the name given to the American and British art historians and museum curators who helped the military track down the stolen pieces.
"I'm not opposed to doing a commercial film, I'm just opposed to doing a commercial film that doesn't feel organic to me," George Clooney told the The Wrap at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on Saturday. "So if we're going to do a commercial film, we thought 'Let's do something that seems fun and actually has something to say.'"