They pulled three separate heist jobs together in Steven Soderbergh's Oceans 11, 12, and 13, and went behind the scenes of the oil industry in Syriana, but now George Clooney is set to reunite with Matt Damon for an ensemble film of his own making. Damon, whose only film of 2012, Promised Land, won't be released until December 28th, is now in talks to join the ranks of The Monuments Men, Clooney's next directorial effort. Should he sign on he will join the elite group that already includes Daniel Craig, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, John Goodman, Hugh Bonneville and Bob Balaban.
Deadline says that the film is gearing up to start production in Europe next month with a script written by Clooney and writing partner Grant Heslov. The drama is set towards the end of World War II when a group of historians and art museum curators were brought into Germany to identify stolen pieces of art before they were destroyed by the Nazi party. The website doesn't say which specific role Damon will be playing in the movie. The project will be Clooney's fifth directorial effort, following The Ides of March - which came out last year.
Damon was quiet for most of 2012 after having an exceptionally busy 2011, he has an interesting slate coming up in the next calendar year. In August we will finally get to see him in Neill Blomkamp's Elysium, which he co-stars in with Jodie Foster, William Fichtner, Diego Luna and Sharlto Copley. He also has a small role in Terry Gilliam's The Zero Theorem, a bizarre new sci-fi story, which is currently in production.
