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EXCLUSIVE: What a killer cast George Clooney has put together for The Monuments Men, the period drama he will direct in a co-production between Sony Pictures and 20th Century Fox. Clooney will star with Skyfall‘s Daniel Craig, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, The Artist’s Jean Dujardin, Argo‘s John Goodman, Hugh Bonneville and Bob Balaban.
The drama, which was scripted by Clooney and partner Grant Heslov, confronts the final chapter of Germany’s rule, which came down to the absolute destruction of everything that makes a culture keep its standing, including the lives that are lost and the sacrifices that are made. All of this is in danger of being lost forever as Hitler and the Nazis try to cover the tracks of a murderous regime. A crew of art historians and museum curators unite to recover renown works of art that were stolen by Nazis before Hitler destroys them.
The film will begin production March 1 in Europe. Heslov is producing through their Smokehouse banner. Alexander Desplat is doing the score, and the crew is the same as from the Ben Affleck-directed Argo, which Clooney and Heslov produced and Desplat scored. That latter film finished No. 1 in the box office standings in its third weekend. Granted it was not a strong weekend, but Argo became the first film to do that since The Blind Side.
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I was really excited for this, but that plot description is historically incorrect. The Monuments Men was formed because they were worried about ALLIES causing further destruction in foreign countries. They worked with US military to point out important landmarks because they had a habit of bombing anything and everything. Monuments Men didn’t work on the recovery of stolen artwork until towards the end of the conflict and even then it wasn’t really a ‘race against the clock’ the description makes it to be. No one was aware of how much artwork the Nazi regime stole until they kept discovering salt mines with thousands of artworks inside them. Hitler had no plan to destroy the artwork, he wanted them for his own museum/personal collection. Their main job was to go into newly secured Allied territories and assess the damage and lead the local restoration of the damaged pieces. But I guess that’s not as exciting or as interesting as what Clooney has in store. This would have been a beautiful mini-series.
You definitely know your history, but this is Hollywood. How much dramatic license did Clooney and Co. take with “Argo”? They even posted the disclaimer that some events were dramatized. I suspect they’ll do the same thing with MM> Killer cast, though. I’ll see it.
Are you surprised? It’s the liberals view of WW2, nothing is ever real or accurate in their eyes.
Why are you bringing up current politics in comments about a (somewhat) historical Hollywood production? Sounds like sour grapes, and sour grape-toxcity, so me….I’m just looking forward to seeing the film!
What the hell is so ‘liberal’ about a film in which the Nazis damage art? Taurus 28, there is no ‘liberal’ conspiracy: I suspect this decision comes from intellectual laziness more than anything else.
Surprised that Clooney is actually on a serious project however it is a la Clooney and not accurate. Clooney is not the greatest actor so I’ll take a pass on another WWII movie especially from a man I don’t especially respect. He has made a lot of money putting minimal effort of both selection of films and acting.
Clooney may not be the world’s greatest actor but he is at least respectable..and I find his political views sincere, honest, and well-informed. He certainly has done films that reflect this. I think he is a class act (no pun intended) and has much to offer. Not to mention I rather like looking at him….
And Tom Cruise is NOT Jack Reacher…but, apparently…none of this matters in Hollywood.
Many times the source material either history or written is so much better than the end product which Hollywood produces. Life is often more interesting than art… but in Hollywood this concept falls on deaf ears.
I completely agree with FTCS regarding Tom Cruise playing Jack Reacher. I enjoyed reading every one of the Jack Reacher books, to but have a shrimpy little guy like Cruise portray 6’5″ Jack Reacher is utterly ridiculous. I will not be seeing that movie. What a joke!
Dude, if your life is so interesting, go live it. Or go to a park and watch it unfold. Film is not reality.
What does a casting decision in another film have to do with Clooney and co. taking artistic licence on history?
buzz kill, thanks for ruining the movie before they even start filming!
I hope George will show how the Allies let thousands of Germans starve to death in prison camps after the war ended. This was a war crime that was never prosecuted. We won the war but German soldiers and civilians were kept in POW camps in Germany and were starved to death it was all part of the Morgenthau Plan to completely destroy the German people. I doubt George will show any of this because even today it’s stil too controversial it’s true but it makes us look like arrogant jerks.
BS! Take your extreme right-wing revisionism (source: The Center for Research into Anti-Semitism at Berlin’s Technical University) and shove it.
sorry, but your comment is way off base. Americans treated German prisoners well. You’ll recall that Patton was discharged because he seriously advocated training the Germany soldiers to go to war against the USSR. The Allies rebuilt Western Germany to be a bulwark against the USSR.
I think you are mistakenly thinking of the way that Germans treated POWs during WW2.
Oh, boy. Another WWII movie.
So last century.
History is never “so last century,” and Clooney is the best of the best. Just watched “The Descendants” and “Good Night and Good Luck.” Sheer Genius. What have u created lately that could match?!!!
George needs to check the box-office of the last five WWII movies.
The period has been mined on television and film, ad nauseum. It’s done, move on. The audience already has.
Every time I turn to the History channel there’s something about the evil little nazi’s. Good god enough already!
NO! Not “enough already”……I find this period of history incredibly fascinating and distressing and enlightening and a demonstration of the triumph of the human heart and the strength of committment to humanity at any cost…..and NO, I am not Jewish….but I do have friends who lost their grandparents, great-uncles, great-aunts, cousins, etc., in perhaps one of the greatest historical tragedies that ever occurred. I wasn’t born until the 50′s, but I still view WWII as a drama we must NEVER forget…..so please do not belittle the attempts of others to keep these memories fresh in our minds, be it via hollywood films or via a grade school history text book.
If we were to start listing all the movies in the world not historically accurate you would have just about every ‘based on a true story’ EVER made.
And that includes those made by Conservatives as well as Liberals over the many years for the dullards already bringing that angle in just because it’s Clooney. If anyone goes to a Hollywood movie expecting total accuracy then they must not have seen many films before.
If I want real history or facts I’ll pick up a book. The rest – ‘It’s only a movie’. Don’t mistake it for the former.
Sounds like IS PARIS BURNING? minus the suspense and excitement.
Sounds like the sort of junk history you’d see on The History Channel that is almost like propaganda. Focus more on the real war, on the Eastern Front. The Russians were the ones that really defeated the Germans. Just look at the numbers.
I love how all the armchair history experts have found their way to a showbiz blog to show their expertise on WWII in a comment field. You’re so smart, go write a book.
I also love how these fat, unemployed (and probably conservative) trolls who post on DEADLINE are taking swipes at Clooney. He’s laughing all the way to his villa in Italy. I’ll take a Clooney miss (“The American,” “The Men Who Stare at Goats”) over most people’s hits any day.
This cast is killer. All those headliners for only $10, think about it.
PS: “Inglourious Basterds” and “Valkyrie”–even in the midst of Cruise’s woes with the press–made money. So much for WWII flicks don’t make bank.
its a really interesting And little known story. I am glad to see the book coming to life. this is a passion project for clooney, who happens to be one of the nicest and most professional guys in Hollywood today. not sure why you right wing haters immediately start calling everything he does lefty conspiracies but those comments just make you look idiotic (Taurus 28 I am talking to you)
Interesting to see what kind of impact Dujardin can have post Oscar win and if he can make the transition from European cinema to Hollywood. Although Scorsese and Clooney seems a good way to start.
Go George and Grant… whats wrong with a concept, idea, based in history with a bitchin cast?… for god’s sake, lets see what happens before the impotent criticisms leap to the fore….
Wow.
Does George need a dutch actor? *waving* here I am
Yes, beware the trolls who live to stir the hornets nest.
We must never forget WW2. It was the last war that really defined good and evil. We knew what we were fighting and we can’t forget the atrocities committed. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. And yes, the monuments men were there to keep the Allies from bombing monuments. And there are lots of war stories out there. Who knows? Maybe it was a race against time. Bert Lancaster made The Train which was about rescuing French artwork from being shipped to Germany. I’m sure that was embellished too but who cares? It’s a great story. I will definitely see this one.
The thing about all Clooney written,starred, and directed pictures is that they always seem to fall into at once being too serious to be entertaining but too frivolous to be taken seriously. But, I’m a sucker for them and the guy so I’ll definitely see it.
Why not a film about the curator of the Louvre. The woman got all of the pieces to safety as the Germans approached Paris. She was the only person who knew all of locations. She survived the occupation and got all the art back. Now that’s a mini series or film