FOX has teamed up with Sony Pictures to develop George Clooney's next film project Monuments Men. It was also revealed that Bill Murray has joined the cast of the film, which also stars Cate Blanchett.
Clooney is set to direct, star, and produce the film, which is based on the World War II novel by Robert Edsel. The story follows the art historians who landed at Normandy to rescue art looted by Adolf Hitler. In a previous interview the actor had this to say in a statement,
It’s an amazing story, and Grant and I are already thinking about how great the casting can be, and there’s also a great love story. Hitler was an art fanatic, and he stashed masterpieces everywhere. He hid 27 Rembrants in a coffin.
The love story part of the story will revolve around Rose Valland, who is a member of the French resistance that tracked the location of the stolen art.
Clooney said the book recounts a story not only largely unknown but also filled with fish-out-of-water intrigue. The group of 11 civilian art experts included Lincoln Kirstein, the founder of the New York City Ballet; George Stout, who worked at Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum; and James J. Rorimer, from the Metropolitan Museum.
The team had never trained for combat, and yet they faced live fire—two of them even died on the mission. Even though the experts were mere privates, they occasionally had to shout out battlefield instructions—'Don’t aim your tank over there, that’s the Leaning Tower of Pisa!' Clooney suggested—to preserve the works of art they were charged to find.
There's no word on who Murray will play in the film, but he's a great actor that will, like always, do a fantastic job! What do you think about the concept for this movie, and what do you think about Murray joining the cast?
Here's a description of the book:
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.
What are your thoughts on Clooney's next film project?