George Clooney to Direct Political Espionage Thriller The Department Based on French Drama Series The Bureau
George Clooney is set to direct and produce a political espionage thriller series for Showtime under the working title The Department.
According Deadlinethe network ordered the series as an adaptation of the French drama The Bureau (Le Bureau des Legendes), which ran for five seasons from 2015 to 2020.
Based on true accounts of former spies and inspired by contemporary events, the series focused on intelligence officer Guillaume ‘Malotru’ Debailly, who returns to the French capital after six years undercover in Damascus.
The Bureau focused on the daily lives of French agents within the nation’s main foreign security service, its equivalent of the CIA, who trained and led long-term missions in areas with French interests. Living under false identities for years, these agents seek to identify and recruit good intelligence sources.
This comes after Clooney was seen filming Wolves in New York City.
He’s on board: George Clooney, 61, will join Showtime to direct and produce a political espionage thriller series under the working title The Department.
Coming to the small screen: Showtime commissioned the series as an adaptation of the French drama The Bureau (Le Bureau des Legendes), which ran for five seasons between 2015 and 2020.
He has to face the challenge of reconnecting with his daughter, ex-wife, colleagues and even his old self.
In 2019, the The New York Times praised The Bureau as one of the best international TV shows of the decade.
In June 2020, NPR also praised the show. saying, ‘It may well be the best TV show in the world right now.
Chris McCarthy, Chairman and CEO of Showtime and Paramount Media, said: “Just as Homeland took global espionage to new heights, The Department will take viewers into an even deeper world of intrigue and subterfuge with complicated characters fighting with their own demons while fighting existential threats to the nation and the world.’
Alex Berger, President of The Originals Productions, said: “We are delighted to extend The Bureau’s DNA through the Showtime Department with our friends at MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios.”
He added: “Federation and Paramount are taking our franchise to the next level, creating a new high-stakes international espionage show set today in a very complex geopolitical environment.”
MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios are scheduled to begin production on the series later this year.
Earlier this week, Clooney was spotted out and about in New York City’s Chinatown while filming new scenes for his upcoming Apple TV Plus movie, Wolves.
The Plot: Based on true accounts of former spies, The Bureau focused on the daily life and missions of agents within France’s main foreign security service, the French equivalent of the CIA seen on Jimmy Kimmel Live last year. past.
The 61-year-old actor has been filming scenes with Brad Pitt around the Big Apple for the past few weeks.
Both Pitt and Clooney have been attached to star and produce since September 2021, when Apple won a bidding war on the project.
The project reunites the stars for the first time since 2008’s Burn After Reading, a year after the last Ocean movie, 2007’s Oceans 13.
Clooney is also in post-production on his latest directorial effort, The Boys In the Boat, based on a true story.
The film follows the University of Washington rowing team as it rose from its Depression-era beginnings to winning gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
The actor and filmmaker will also direct a new television series based on his directorial debut, 2002’s Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, with Justin Timberlake as Chuck Barris.
New movie with Brad Pitt: Clooney was spotted on Wednesday in a black BMW while filming new scenes for his upcoming Apple TV Plus movie Wolves