Anton Corbijn’s George Clooney led adaptation of the Martin Booth novel “A Very Private Gentleman” is set to being shooting this September after Clooney promised to return to the Italian city of L’Aquilla, ravaged by a recent earthquake, to shoot a film as a boost for its economy.
“We’ll shoot a film here at the end of September, in which I will act,” Clooney announced to journalists yesterday and while the actor neglected to mention the title of the project, the Corbijn helmed project which Clooney was attached to earlier this year would surely be it as it is set predominantly in “a rural village in southern Italy” and was to set to begin shooting this film anyway.
The novel, which was adapted for the screen by Rowan Jaffe (“28 Days Later”), is described as a “creepy psychological suspense” story and follows an assassin “to a rural village in southern Italy where he poses as a quiet artist who paints miniatures of butterflies and has traveled to the area to capture a unique native specimen.” The assassin has but one more assignment to carry out though, of course, romantic entanglements and local friendships complicate his task.
Also coming out of Clooney’s visit to disaster stricken Italy is news that city of San Demetrio will be host to a new “Nobel Peace Prize” cinema opened by Clooney with its inaugural film screening being Wes Anderson’s “The Fantastic Mr. Fox.” Clooney will be in attendance presumably along with co-star Bill Murray, who was also been in Italy bringing global awareness, to what could the world premiere of the film.