George Clooney in Talks to Direct Coen Brothers’ ’50s Crime Noir ‘Suburbicon’

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It’s been a decade in the works, but it looks like we’re getting closer to George Clooney directing Suburbicon, a script from the Coen Brothers. Deadline reports that the actor turned director is currently in talks to helm the film, which is being described as a crime noir set in the 1950s in the same vein as the Coens’ 1984 neo-noir Blood Simple (also the Coens’ debut feature). But as Slash Film points out, when Clooney spoke about the movie in 2005, he described it as a comedy:

“I’m going to do a comedy with Joel and Ethan in around a year. I really like working with them and I like doing comedy with them. They offered me a part in Suburbicon a long time ago, and since then decided they have other projects they want to work on. So I called them up and said ‘How about me taking a spin at it?’ Because it’s a really interesting, really funny, very dark comedy.”

We kid, but perhaps Clooney got his uncle to rewrite the script, similar to the fascinating story behind O Brother, Where Art Thou?. The sibling directors have a penchant for blending light and dark, evidenced in most of their films, but particularly Fargo. Clooney’s time behind the camera is mixed, but his 2005 historical drama Good Night and Good Luck garnered six Academy Award nominations.