George Clooney and Aaron Sorkin Love a 'Challenge'

When it comes to George Clooney's political leanings, I have to tell you, I'm a little conflicted. Does it make me a hypocrite that I cringe whenever most actors wax poetic on the state of the union, but whenever Clooney gets a little high on the horse I tend to give him a pass -- maybe it's because I usually agree with him, or maybe like most of the world, I just can't seem to say no to 'The Clooney'. So while most of Clooney's political fare has been a relatively easy sell, his latest politically charged flick definitely will not fall into that category. Luckily for him, he has found the perfect partner in crime. Variety reports that Clooney has joined forces with Liberal darling Aaron Sorkin to write a script for the film version of Jonathan Mahler's book, The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight Over Presidential Power.

Clooney is producing under his Smoke House banner, and is reportedly looking to direct and star as the Navy lawyer, Charles Swift. Along with the Georgetown U. law professor Neal Katyal, Swift worked tirelessly to ensure a fair trail for Osama bin Laden's driver, Salim Hamdan. Hamdan was captured back in 2001, and was convicted and sentenced to 5 1/2 years for providing material support to Al-Qaeda after being held at the infamous Guantanamo Bay prison. So even if you don't agree with Clooney and Sorkin's politics -- and I can guarantee that there are a lot of you out there who don't. I'll just be keeping my fingers crossed that The Challenge doesn't keep Sorkin so busy he doesn't have time for that other legal drama we have been hearing so much about.

So where does that leave me with actors and their politics? Plenty has already been said on the subject, so I won't rehash it all here. But while Iraq movies continue to crumble at the box-office, and the only presidents we are willing to dissect are the ones long past. I have to give Clooney credit for his willingness to tackle one hell of an unpopular subject -- don't you?