George Clooney, who can currently be seen in award-nominated The Descendants, will next direct and co-star in The Monuments Men, an adaptation of the 2009 book by Robert Edsel. Clooney and Grant Helsov will produce for Sony Pictures. The book is officially described as follows:
At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: “degenerate” works he despised.
In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Momuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture.
Focusing on the eleven-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world’s great art from the Nazis.
Its an amazing story, and Grant and I are already thinking about how great the casting can be,” Clooney told 24 Frames. “And theres also a great love story.
Heslov and Clooney teamed up in 2011 for The Ides of March, which Clooney directed, co-wrote and co-starred in.
