George Clooney picks next directorial venture, a hacking scandal

I guess there's no such thing as too soon. On the back of the multi-celebruty hacking scandal that took the world by storm, actor George Clooney has announced his next film as a director "Hack Attack", based on a British phone hacking scandal.

The film is based on journalist Nick Davies' book of the same name about Rupert Murdoch's news empire celebrity phone hacking scandal, which led to the closure of the News of the World.

"This has all the elements - lying, corruption, blackmail - at the highest levels of government by the biggest newspaper in London," Clooney said in a statement.

Clooney will co-produce the film under his Smokehouse banner for Sony with Grant Heslov. Its shooting is scheduled to begin next year.