Clooney goes into full spook mode
9 May 2007
The Guardian

Has George Clooney (right) got the CIA under his skin? It seems starring in Syriana - Stephen Gaghan's 2005 film about oil, corruption, the US and the Middle East - just wasn't enough. The greying heartthrob has just announced that he has two more films about the US secret service in the pipeline.

Burn After Reading, from Joel and Ethan Coen, is a dark comedy about a CIA agent who loses his memoirs. It will be the actor's third outing with the brothers, after O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Intolerable Cruelty. Also starring are John Malkovich, Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand, wife of Joel Coen.

The second project is one Clooney will co-write and possibly star in. Called Escape from Tehran, it will be based on the true story of the CIA creating a fake movie in order to rescue US citizens in the 1980 Iran hostage crisis. As Clooney says: "It is not merely your right but your duty to question your government."