Clooney will produce, co-write and direct and star in the new film.
Clooney’s new project is based on the book The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, by Robert M Edsel. Edsel’s story is set during the 11-month period between D-Day and V-E Day at the end of the Second World War and traces the fortunes of a group of men and women who attempted to return stolen art to their rightful nations.
Clooney will star in, direct and produce the film, as well as writing the screenplay with long-term collaborator Grant Heslov. Clooney plays George Stout, a U.S. Army officer and leading art conservationist who repatriated tens of thousands of pieces of art from the Nazis.
Blanchett will play the role of Rose Valland, an art historian and member of the French resistance. Dujardin, the first French actor to win an Oscar for Best Actor earlier this year in Michel Hazanavicius’ silent film The Artist, will play a supporting role.
The film is shooting in Germany, Austria, Paris and England next spring.
