Update 7/28: THR reports that George Clooney is confirmed to star, with TriStar Pictures financing and distributing the film.
About a year-and-a-half ago, it was announced that Jodie Foster was going to direct a financial world drama called "Money Monster" — and then, that was pretty much the last we ever heard of it. But we’d wager that the success of "The Wolf Of Wall Street" has made the genre temporarily cool, especially if it has handsome men in the lead doing bad things.
And so, The Wrap is putting the cart before the horse and reporting that George Clooney is in early talks for the film. How real is this? “This story is so premature, I would be embarrassed as a journalist to even print it,” his rep told the site flat out. So, yeah…. And really, with Clooney shepherding a small flock of projects — both as directing and starring vehicles — we’d wager the gig would have to be really good for him to take a detour. But admittedly, on paper, this does sound decent.
Penned by Alan DiFiore ("Grimm") and Jim Kouf ("National Treasure"), the story follows Lee Cates, a TV money guru who gets taken hostage on air by Kyle, an ordinary man who lost all his money thanks to a bad recommendation from Lee. And ratings soar as a result.
Sounds decent enough, but financing still has to come together (though we’d wager Clooney’s name would be a big asset in that happening) and again, it seems like he’s a long way from signing anything. So something to think about for now, and at any rate, it confirms "Money Monster" is still very much in the works.
