Clooney Producing “The $700 Billion Man,” May Direct

With his tale of a Washington aide eaten by wolves all but done, George Clooney is set to start another film about the dark machinations of the nation's capitol.

Clooney and partner Grant Heslov are on board to produce "$700 Billion Man," based on the Washington Post article about Neel Kashkari, the Treasury aide who was tasked with giving away taxpayer money to filthy rich thieves, reported Variety.

As Laura Blumenfeld's WaPo piece tells it, after doling out billions of dollars, Kashkari was a mess, desperately need of a "Washington detox." So he and his wife left D.C., heading for the hills of northern  California, where he wrote himself a to-do list: 1. build shed, 2. chop wood, 3. lose 20 pounds and 4. help with [Hank Paulson's] book.

We've been impressed overall with Clooney's directorial efforts, "Leatherheads" aside, so hopefully he'll take the chair on this one. And he's got Zach Helm, the man behind "Stranger than Fiction," writing it, so the script is in good hands.

Clooney's currently finishing "The Ides of March," due Oct. 14, which he wrote and directed, starring Ryan Gosling as a D.C. staffer who gets a hard lesson in dirty politics. And Clooney's next starring role is in Alexander Payne's "The Descendants," out Dec. 16, about a wealthy man who tries to reach out to his daughters after their mother suffers a terrible accident.

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