LOS ANGELES (JTA) — George Clooney is expected to star in a film about U.S. and British art experts who tracked down Nazi-looted artworks, mainly from Jewish owners.
Clooney, hot off his highly praised “The Descendants” and “The Ides of March,” has optioned the book “The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History,” by Robert Edsel, which is based on a real story, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He most likely will star in the film.
The same events were explored in the 2006 documentary, “The Rape of Europa.”
Meanwhile, after a rash of Hollywood adaptations of Israeli television hits, Paramount Studios is preparing an American version of the 2009 Israeli comedy film “A Matter of Size,” the magazine reported.
The main characters are four fat guys who turn themselves into fearsome sumo wrestlers under the tutelage of a Japanese restaurant owner in Israel. David Permut will produce and Jon Turteltaub will direct the U.S. adaptation.
The Israeli original starred Itzik Cohen and was directed by Sharon Maymon and Erez Tadmor.
