Claim: George Clooney works in the film industry as an actor and director.

The Monuments Men is a 2014 American-German war film directed by George Clooney , and written and produced by Clooney and Grant Heslov . The film stars an ensemble cast including Clooney , Matt Damon , Bill Murray , John Goodman , Jean Dujardin , Bob Balaban , Hugh Bonneville , and Cate Blanchett . It is loosely based on the non-fiction book The Monuments Men : Allied Heroes , Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter . The film follows an Allied group from the Monuments , Fine Arts , and Archives program that is given the task of finding and saving pieces of art and other culturally important items before Nazis destroy or steal them , during World War II .   The Monuments Men was co-produced by Columbia Pictures -LRB- in association with 20th Century Fox -RRB- and Babelsberg Studio , and released on February 7 , 2014 . It received mixed critical reviews and grossed $ 155 million worldwide against a $ 70 million budget .