George Clooney and the Coen brothers don’t really need the third time they work together to be the charm or third time lucky – after all, their previous collaborations produced O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Intolerable Cruelty.
Still, a return for the trio is something to look forward to, even if they won’t be able to start work on their new film before next August (everyone’s very busy – particularly George, who has to direct Leatherheads).
The Coens have written Burn After Reading, a semi-comic CIA pic about an agency man who pens a book detailing some of his missions and then loses the disc with his manuscript on it. It’s loosely taken from former CIA chief Stansfield Turner’s book Burn After Reading: Presidents, CIA Directors And Secret Intelligence.
Clooney will not be taking the lead role of the disc-misplacing agent, though – he’s agreed to play a hit man who also features in the plot.