George Clooney to Direct and Star in WWII Movie THE MONUMENTS MEN
George Clooney has announced that his next project will be a big screen adaptation of the World War II novel by Robert Edsel called The Monuments Men. Clooney will direct, star, and produce the film, which tells the story of the art historians who landed at Normandy to rescue art looted by Adolf Hitler. 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,” Clooney said. “He hid 27 Rembrants in a coffin.
As for the love story, it will revolve around Rose Valland, "a member of the French resistance who diligently tracked the location of (and sometimes hid on her own) stolen art." The article goes on to explain...
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.
This sounds like a very interesting and different kind of World War II film that many of you might find interesting, especially those of you who are interested in art history, like myself.
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?