George Clooney to direct phone-hacking film
Sony pictures has announced that George Clooney is to direct a feature film about the UK phone-hacking scandal based on the book "Hack-Attack" by Guardian journalist Nick Davies.
George Clooney
Davies told The Drum that Clooney was: “wired up,” about making the film and revealed that he had been speaking to the Hollywood star about the issue for over three years. He said that Clooney’s interest was sparked by the fact his father was a journalist: “he gets it,” the reporter said.
The book catalogues Davies six year fight to expose the scale of illegal practices at the, now defunct, News of the World and the links between News International executives and senior police officers and political figures. It was the Guardian journalist’s investigations that revealed that employees of the Sunday tabloid had hacked the voicemail of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, leading to the closure of the title, the Leveson inquiry and the jailing of the newspaper's former editor Andy Coulson
Davies told The Drum that he was pleased the film was being directed by Clooney rather than a: “commercial director who would just be looking to make money,” “he could make something very important” he added. Asked which actor he would like to play him in the film Davies laughed and said: “everyone is asking me that,” but did not express any preference.
The proposed film, being made by Sony pictures is expected to begin shooting next year. Michael De Luca, who is overseeing the project, told Variety magazine: “With ‘Hack Attack,’ George will explore the dark side of that world, a business where all of the rules of journalism are broken in the race for an easy and ever-larger payday.”
The Drum can also reveal that author Peter Jukes, who live-tweeted the phone haking trial has penned a radio play about the case which is due to be broadcast on the BBC in October.
You can see the Drum's short film about the phone-hacking trial below.