George Clooney to Make Film About Bin Laden's Driver

With all the topics out there to make a movie about, would you ever want to spend money on and appear in a film focusing on Osama bin Laden's personal driver and bodyguard?

If you're one of the most liberal actor/director/producers in Hollywood, and your name is George Clooney, the answer is apparently "Yes."

As reported by the British Guardian Sunday (emphasis added, h/t Ace, photo courtesy Daily Mail):

George Clooney, already one of Hollywood's leading liberal voices, has embarked on what may be one of his most controversial projects: the story of Osama bin Laden's driver.

Clooney's production company, Smokehouse, has bought the rights to a book about Salim Hamdan, an inmate at Guantánamo Bay who last week was sentenced to jail for his role in helping the al-Qaeda leader. The book, The Challenge, is by journalist Jonathan Mahler and tells the story of Hamdan's capture and trial, defended by a US navy lawyer, Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift. It has had a big critical success. [...]

Clooney is believed to be interested in playing the role of lawyer Swift and the case certainly has all the drama and tension of any fictional legal thriller.

Isn't that special? And, to top it off, according to the British Daily Mail, Clooney is ready to spend about $30 million on the project.

Well, at least he's got his priorities straight.