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Christian Bale Gets “Goosebumps” Every Time He Sees ‘Ford v. Ferrari’

Ford v Ferrari centers on British driver/mechanic Kevin Miles (Christian Bale) and American car designer Carroll Shelby’s (Matt Damon) attempt to build a race car for Ford Motor Company and compete at France’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. During the Ford v Ferrari premiere, Bale discussed why he loves playing real characters and what makes the feature a “really moving” tale.

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“The Monuments Men” Are Ready for a May Blu-Ray Release

“The Monuments Men,” George Clooney’s WWII set directing feature, comes out on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital on May 20. The feature, based on the non-fiction book penned by Robert M. Edsel with Brett Witter, centers on the people who risked their lives to save thousands of art and treasures that were stolen by the Nazis. The all-star cast includes Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, John Goodman, and Bob Balaban.

Two featurettes are exclusive to the Blu-ray release. “George Clooney’s Mission” features interviews with the main actors involved for the project, and “Marshaling the Cast” has the cast talking about the real men and women who inspired the story.

“In Their Own Words” contains an interview with Harry Ettlinger, one of the surviving members of the group, and “A Woman Amongst the Monuments Men” has Cate Blanchett talking about the character she played in the project. Both featurettes are available on the Blu-ray and DVD versions.

Here’s the official boilerplate for the film:

Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, THE MONUMENTS MEN focuses on an unlikely World War II platoon, whose job it was to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves so they could be returned to their rightful owners.  In a seemingly impossible mission, the Monuments Men, as they were called, find themselves risking their lives in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1,000 years of culture.

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George Clooney Sees Directing & Writing As “Infinitely More Creative”

Opening February 7, The Monuments Men is the true story of how a group of art historians and museum curators risked their lives to rescue masterpieces that were in the hands of the Nazis. The project stars and was directed by George Clooney, who assembles an all-star cast (Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Cate Blanchett) for his latest venture.

During a recent press conference to promote the film, Mr. Clooney talked about how he has evolved as a filmmaker since his 2002 debut effort Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.

“Directing and writing, they seem to be infinitely more creative,” says Clooney, whose last directing endeavor was the 2011 release The Ides of March. “As far as how I’ve changed, all you’re trying to do is learn from people that you’ve worked with. I’ve worked with the Coen Bros., Steven Soderbergh, Alexander Payne…I’ve worked with really great directors over the years, see what they’re doing, and just steal it.”

The “steal it” comment was obviously in jest, but one of the reasons why I’m pretty psyched for The Monuments Men lies in Clooney’s description of the film as a “mix between Kelly’sHeroesand The Train.” Clooney also cited the films of director John Sturges (The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven) as an influence, and hopefully this new film reaches those stratospheric heights.

To hear George Clooney talk about how his directing has evolved over the years, click on the SoundCloud bar media: