George Clooney to Direct, Star in ‘Monuments Men’ About Stolen Nazi Art
January 9th, 2012 | 12:07 pm
EXCLUSIVE
George Clooney has started to work on his next project, writing, directing and starring in a big-budget movie about the men who chased down the stolen art of Europe during World War II, he told TheWrap on Saturday.
“The Monuments Men,” which Clooney is co-writing with his producing partner Grant Heslov, will tell the story of a hand-picked group of art experts chosen by the U.S. government to retrieve artwork stolen by the Nazis.
“I’m excited about it,” Clooney told TheWrap at the Palm Springs Film Festival on Saturday. “It’s a fun movie because it could be big entertainment. It’s a big budget, you can’t do it small — it’s landing in Normandy.”
The movie will be based on the book “The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History,” by Robert M. Edsel.
Click Here to Read More: http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/george-clooney-direct-star-monuments-men-about-stolen-nazi-art-exclusive-34177
Tags: Art theft, George Clooney, Hitler, Monuments Men, Movie, Nazis, Robert Edsel, Treasure Hunt
Greetings from Cape Cod. My book, PROVENANCE, was published June 25, 2011. While it is an “international suspense thriller with romantic elements,” it is based on extensive research that began with an interview with Victoria Reed who at the time was the provenance expert at the Princeton University Art Museum. Ms. Reed—now the MFA’s curator of provenance—recommended my reading THE RAPE OF EUROPA by Lynn H. Nicholas and THE LOST MUSEUM by Hector Feliciano. Soon after this, I attended the extensive German Expressionist exhibit at the Neue Galerie in Manhattan and later traveled to the Yale University art museum to attend a dinner and hear Robert Edsal speak about the Monuments Men. I continue to be an avid reader on the subject as I am not only an art enthusiast and collector, I was also alive during part of WWII and have never ceased to be intrigued by how little we knew about what was going on in addition to the actual fighting
I not only own the film, THE RAPE OF EUROPA, but Mr. Edsal’s books, RESCUING
DA VINCI and THE MONUMENTS MEN. Needless to say, I’ll be anxiously following the progress of the film on the subject that George Clooney will be directing.
I’m an art lawyer and a professor of Art Law. I absolutely love your book, “Monuments Men,” and I’m looking forward to seeing the film adaptation. It will be wonderful for the art world heroes of WWII to be recognized on a greater scale. When will this film be released?
I’m the author of “After the Auction,” published in 2010, the story of a woman hunting for a family treasure 52 years after witnessing a posse of Nazis invade her Vienna childhood home. Her pursuit spans three continents. Along the way she encounters threats, a murder, a deal with a devil, and new romance. One character was a fledgling Monuments Men, a private in the Army, and another is a Scottish Monuments Woman.
I am thrilled that George Clooney has recognized the impact of the Monuments Men with as much enthusiasm as those of us who have researched and followed this topic for years.