[confessions of a dangerous mind]

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when: starts filming in montreal mid-january, 2002, with additional shooting in los angeles.
who?: directorial debut by George Clooney, screenwriter is Charlie Kaufman (Being John malkovich!), based on chuck barris book.

the cast: Sam Rockwell (Chuck Barris), George Clooney (CIA Agent Jim Byrd), Drew Barrymore (Penny), Julia Roberts, Rutger Hauer. Also rumours that Matt Damon and Brad Pitt will appear in cameo roles as Gong Show contestants.

plot: the movie is based on gameshow creator and host Chuck Barris early 80s memoir where he claims to have lived a double life as a CIA hit man. Drew Barrymore (who also worked with Sam in Charlie's Angels) is set to play Barris girlfriend. this is George Clooney's first movie as a director!

more: from an msnbc clooney interview we learn the following--

"Confessions has been one of Hollywood's most alluring vehicles to a whole slew of actors ever since producer Andrew Lazar bought film rights to the 1984 memoir by "The Newlywed Game" creator Chuck Barris, who purports to have led a double life as a CIA hit man. Mike Myers, Russell Crowe, Sean Penn, Johnny Depp and Ben Stiller all expressed interest in playing Barris, thanks in part to a script by "Being John Malkovich" scribe Charlie Kaufman.

But it wasn't until Clooney agreed to direct and costar for a modest $500,000 in the financially risky project that "Confessions" moved forward. To keep costs down, Clooney is filming in the dead of winter in Canada, which will somehow double for New York, Philadelphia, Berlin and Helsinki.

For the lead role of Barris, Clooney decided to forgo marquee names. Miramax repeatedly gonged his choice of the unfamiliar Sam Rockwell ("Galaxy Quest"), but Clooney was wowed by the actor's dead-ringer Barris audition and prevailed after four months of haggling with the studio. He had to promise Miramax an acting cameo in "Spy Kids II" and rights to several future films in exchange for casting Rockwell."

link: chuck barris fan page