- Title: USA: George Clooney talks stolen Nazi art
- Date: 9th November 2013
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 08, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GEORGE CLOONEY ON THE AFI FEST RED CARPET (SOUNDBITE) (English) GEORGE CLOONEY, "THE MONUMENTS MEN" DIRECTOR AND STAR, SAYING: "That's how powerful we are, to be able to get the Germans to break a story about 1,500 pieces of art. We were really excited that they're finally going to start returning them. I hope that with our film, at some point we make it hard for people very hard not to return art that they have, stolen art. That would be fun to do. That would be a nice accomplishment for the film." PAN FROM TCL CHINESE THEATRE TO GEORGE CLOONEY TALKING TO REPORTER
- Embargoed: 24th November 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVAD7YWZAHWJW344I305PDA0O5MB
- Story Text: George Clooney hit the American Film Institute's film festival red carpet in Los Angeles on Friday (November 08) to talk about how his film "The Monuments Men" coincided with the recent news of stolen Nazi art in Germany coming to light.
"That's how powerful we are, to be able to get the Germans to break a story about 1,500 pieces of art," Clooney said. "We were really excited that they're finally going to start returning them. I hope that with our film, at some point we make it hard for people very hard not to return art that they have, stolen art. That would be fun to do. That would be a nice accomplishment for the film."
The chance discovery of 1,500 artworks in a Munich flat owned by a reclusive elderly son of a war-time art dealer made headlines earlier this week. The art, in what could be one of the most significant recoveries of Nazi-looted paintings, sketches and sculptures, could be worth well over $1.35 billion (USD).
Clooney co-wrote, directed and starred in "The Monuments Men," a film based on a book about a group of hand-picked art experts chosen by the U.S. government to retrieve artwork stolen by the Nazis. Hitler systematically emptied the museums and private collections of Europe during World War II.
The story centers around a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians - called the Monuments Men - who risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of art culture.
"The Monuments Men" releases in U.S. theaters on Feb. 7. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
