Unless you're a Fox News viewer where they don't talk about it at all, the British phone hacking scandal that has engulfed Rupert Murdoch's media empire has been a big deal the world over. Beginning in 2005 but really blowing up around 2011, the controversy surrounds News Corporation's use of phone hacking to infiltrate the lives of celebrities, politicians, even the Royal Family. It's a story one could imagine Hollywood wanting to take its own shot at telling, and that's exactly what George Clooney intends to do with his next directorial project.
Clooney will direct Hack Attack, an adaptation of journalist Nick Davies' book about the phone hacking scandal which forced Murdoch's News of the World newspaper to shut down, sent some to prison, and continues to envelop a number of his other outlets. This is just the latest in a long line of politically-themed films by Clooney and his producing partner Grant Heslov since they began collaborating with 2007's Good Night and Good Luck. Together they've also produced Clooney's The Ides of March and Ben Affleck's Argo, amongst many others.
It's a story built for Hollywood with a lot of really big names involved from all corners of the entertainment spectrum, and it will be interesting to see if Clooney can lure some in to play themselves. Filming is set to begin next year.
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