Hollywood isn’t through yet with chasing after Nazis, nor with adapting successful Israeli productions, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
George Clooney, hot off his highly praised “The Descendants” and “The Ides of March,” has optioned, and will most likely star, in the actual story of U.S. and British art experts who tracked down the art works looted by the Nazis, mainly from Jewish owners, during World War II.
The film will be based on Robert M. Edsel’s book “The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History.” The same events were explored in the 2006 documentary, “The Rape of Europa.”
After a rash of Hollywood adaptations of Israeli television hits, Paramount Studios is preparing an American version of the 2009 Israeli comedy film, “A Matter of Size.”
The main characters are four really fat guys who, under the tutelage of a Japanese restaurant owner in Israel, turn themselves into fearsome Sumo wrestlers. David Permut will produce and Jon Turteltaub direct the U.S. adaptation.
The Israeli original starred Itzik Cohen and was directed by Sharon Maymon and Erez Tadmor.
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