Clooney’s Smoke House headed to ‘Tehran’

It manifests itself in the projects he is attached to (most of the time as writer and/or director) – whether the issue is foreign policy, politics, counter intelligence, international intrigue, George Clooney is a magnate such material. After picking up the screen rights for the just announced Our Brand is Crisis and The Innocent Man recent performances in Syriana, the Smoke House shingle is adding another ‘covert’ operation to its ‘to do’ list.     

I’m not sure if this will adopt a tone closer to Escape from Alcatraz or Midnight Express, but we can only hope that Clooney and his Smoke House partner Grant Heslov make an interesting true story into an engaging screenplay. Variety reports that Warner Bros. Pictures picked up the film rights to Joshuah Berman's Wired magazine article on the real-life intelligence tale and set it up with Smoke House to produce. Of course, this also means that it may be a potential directing and starring vehicle for Clooney. Don’t expect to hear much about this project for a while – it will only be out of the gates once Clooney clears up an already very busy slate in acting, directing, writing and producing. Heslov and Clooney co-wrote Good Night. And, Good Luck. Smokehouse VP Nina Wolarsky brought the project and David Klawans is attached to produce.

Escape From Tehran is the real-life intelligence tale that centers around CIA operative Tony Mendez, a master of disguise who was put in charge of rescuing six Americans hiding out in Tehran. He came up with the idea of using a bogus movie and contacted Hollywood makeup artist John Chambers. Chambers and Bob Sidell, also a makeup artist, launched Studio Six Prods. (an allusion to the six Americans awaiting rescue) and announced their first movie project, to be shot in Iran. Both Variety and the Hollywood Reporter were duped into writing news stories on the film after Studio Six took out trade ads. Mendez went to Tehran in January 1980 and told the Americans to pretend they were Canadians on a scouting trip for a big-budget Hollywood epic.