We suspect that usually George Clooney's stare only makes him a ladykiller, but today, he's signing on for a different task: killing goats with only the power of his mind. Yes, he'll be starring in The Men Who Stare At Goats, to be directed by his producing partner and Good Night, And Good Luck co-writer Grant Heslov.
The story's based around the US Army's semi-mythical First Earth Battalion, which apparently investigated psychic powers and non-lethal weapons during the late 1970s and 1980s, after Lt. Col. Jim Channon went on a fact-finding mission through the hippy communes of California and came back advocating ginseng regulators, divining tools, omni-directional thought and colourful uniforms so that "individuals will shine through the conformity. Groovy dude. They also had a goat lab at Fort Bragg, where for 25 years soldiers tried to kill goats by staring at them. Allegedly, it worked once, but we suspect that had more to do with the goats by that point probably being quite old.
The film's based on the book all about the events by journalist Jon Ronson, with a script by How To Lose Friends and Alienate People's Peter Straughan. While Heslov's directed before, this is his highest profile film to date, what with bestest bud the Cloonster starring. And also staring. So fingers crossed for something truly groovy, man.