The 'Ides of March' actor/director will also serve as the producer for the film project, which is based on David Grann's massive article in the May 28 issue of The New Yorker.
- June 7, 2012
AceShowbiz -
George Clooney will once again helm a political movie following his directorial stint in highly-praised drama "The Ides of March". The 51-year-old actor has been sealed to tackle the directing duty for Focus Features' "The Yankee Comandante".
Courtesy of Deadline, Focus is making a rights deal for "Yankee Comandante", which was an article written by David Grann in the May 28 issue of The New Yorker. The studio has tapped Clooney to serve as the director in addition to co-producing the movie project along with his Smokehouse partner Grant Heslov.
Grann's article itself centers on William Alexander Morgan, who helped Fidel Castro and the Cuban rebels overthrow Fulgencio Batista. Morgan was the only American in the rebel army and the sole foreigner, other than Argentinian icon Che Guevara, to rise to the army's highest rank; The Comandante.
Morgan, whose motives for being in Cuba were subject to suspicion, was later imprisoned and charged with working for U.S. intelligence. At the same time, his exploits as a rebel soldier led the first FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and everyone else to work hard to discover his motives and whom he was working for.
As for Clooney, he recently received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor thanks to his role as an indifferent father in dramedy "The Descendants". He's just produced Ben Affleck's upcoming political drama movie "Argo" and will next be seen starring opposite Sandra Bullock in Alfonso Cuaron's adventure pic "Gravity".
