While George Clooney's latest directorial effort, The Monuments Men, didn't quite make the impression it hoped/predicted for when it was released this February, it looks as though the actor/director has no plans to slow down. The multi-talented Hollywood personality has just signed on to produce and direct Hack Attack for Sony.
The Hollywood Reporter reveals the latest Clooney picture is an adaptation of the book of the same name by journalist Nick Davies. Subtitled The Inside Story of How the Truth Caught Up with Rupert Murdoch, the book hit shelves just this past July. The movie will chronicle the recent British phone hacking scandal that surrounded the Rupert Murdoch News Corporation empire. Clooney will be returning with his regular producing buddy Grant Heslov and their company Smokehouse Productions to bring this story to the big screen.
Although Clooney has starred either in a lead role (The Monuments Men, Leatherheads) or supporting role (Confessions of a Dangerous Minds, Good Night, and Good Luck, The Ides of March) in all five films he has helmed thus far, this will mark the first time he will solely direct, not star, in a movie. Shooting is scheduled to start next year.
"This has all the elements – lying, corruption, blackmail – at the highest levels of government by the biggest newspaper in London," Clooney said in a statement published in THR. "And the fact that it’s true is the best part. Nick is a brave and stubborn reporter and we consider it an honor to put his book to film.”
Overseeing the project for Sony Pictures is Michael De Luca, of Columbia Pictures.
“As the son of a journalist, George has a sharp interest in the role journalism plays in all of our lives – whether that’s for good, as in Good Night, and Good Luck, or for bad," said De Luca in the same statement. "With Hack Attack, George will explore the dark side of that world, a business where all of the rules of journalism are broken in the race for an easy and ever-larger payday.”
This is not the only project Heslov and Clooney has brewing with Sony, as Collider notes that they are also producing a remake of the Norwegian thriller Pioneer for the company.
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