George Clooney to Make Film About bin Laden’s Driver

AP

Based on a book penned by Jonathan Mahler, The Challenge highlights the story of Hamdan, who has been charged in the first US war-crimes court case since the second World War, now in progress at Guantanamo Bay.

Reports claim that the Ocean’s 11 star has shelled out a seven-figure sum to get the rights to the driver’s story, which follows him from a mosque in Yemen to bin Laden’s compound in Afghanistan to being imprisoned in isolated detention.

Clooney is said to have fixed his sights on playing Naval Officer Charles Swift, an associate of the legal panel that brought Hamdan’s case to the Supreme Court.

Despite winning the legal battle, the investigation, which agreed that even terrorists are also shielded by the Geneva Convention aimed to protect the human rights of prisoners of war, ultimately cost Swift his job and his marriage.

Hamdan was eventually cleared of terrorism conspiracy charges, after the panel of judges maintained that he was “a really naive, simple guy who doesn't know the first thing about jihad and was just tagging along for the job,” sparking outrage in the US.

There are reports that Clooney intends to spend around $30 million for The Challenge.