Sony has agreed to split financing and distribution of George Clooney’s “Monuments Men” with Fox, two individuals with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap.
Sony, which was the sole studio behind the project, will continue to finance half the film and release it domestically. It remains the lead studio but Fox will now handle half of the financing and distribute it overseas.
Clooney and his Smokehouse Pictures partner Grant Heslov are writing the drama, which Clooney also plans to direct, produce and star in. He will play a U.S. Army officer and leading art conservationist.
Based on Robert M. Edsel’s “The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History,” the film tells the story of a special group of American and British art experts chasing down European art stolen by the Nazis. The book is set during the 11-month period between D-Day in 1944 and V-E Day in 1945.
The adaptation, set to begin production next spring, will also star Cate Blanchett as an art historian and member of the French Resistance.
Clooney is currently working on "August: Osage County," an adaptation of Tracy Letts' play that the actor is producing with Heslov, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler and Harvey Weinstein.
