With the recent controversy surrounding a bunch of celebrities having their phones hacked, unleashing a wave of risqué pictures- an event that’s been classily nicknamed The Fappening- people might have forgotten about a much more tumultuous phone hacking scandal. In 2011, British newspaper “News of The World” closed it’s doors after 168 years of circulation. Why? Because it was discovered that the paper’s owner had been part of a phone hacking/tapping campaign that shook the nation to its core. The owner in question, News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch, had overseen the hacking of the confidential voicemails and e-mails of Britain’s most prominent elected officials, celebrities, and citizens.

Journalist Nick Davies, who spent 6 years investigating News Corp, as well as its subsidiary News International, released a tell-all book in July titled Hack Attack: The Inside Story of How The Truth Caught Up With Rupert Murdoch. That book, which tells a dark tale of corruption, will be the basis for George Clooney’s next film. As a director, Clooney has shown that he has a penchant for picking projects that are historical and/or political in nature. Previous entries in the director’s canon include Good Night, and Good Luck, The Ides of March, and The Monuments Men, which all examine different socio-political issues/periods in history.

“As the son of a journalist, George has a sharp interest in the role journalism plays in all of our lives — whether that’s for good, as in Good Night, and Good Luck, or for bad,” says Michael De Luca, President of Production for Columbia Pictures. “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.“

“This has all the elements — lying, corruption, blackmail — at the highest levels of government by the biggest newspaper in London. And the fact that it’s true is the best part,” says Clooney in a statement regarding his next film. “Nick is a brave and stubborn reporter and we consider it an honor to put his book to film.“

Hopefully, he’ll return to pre-Monuments Men form with this one. While I didn’t loathe the movie as many others had, it was definitely his least focused, effective film to date.

SOURCE: THR