George Clooney has signed on to direct an adaptation of journalist Nick Davies’ expose of the phone-hacking scandal that resulted in the shuttering of Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World newspaper.

The film will be based on Davies’ book Hack Attack: The Inside Story of How the Truth Caught Up With Rupert Murdoch, which hit retail shelves this past July. The book chronicles six years of investigation into Rupert Murdoch’s vast media empire News Corp. and Davies’ uncovering of their practice of hacking into the voice mail messages of celebrities, British officials, and most appallingly, the mobile phone of a murdered schoolgirl.

Clooney will also produce the film with Grant Heslov for their shingle, Smoke House.

“This has all the elements – lying, corruption, blackmail – at the highest levels of government by the biggest newspaper in London,” said Clooney in a statement. “And the fact that it’s true is the best part. Nick is a brave and stubborn reporter and we consider it an honor to put his book to film.”

Michael de Luca, president of production for Columbia Pictures, who will oversee the film for the studio, also released a statement about the upcoming project. “As the son of a journalist, George has a sharp interest in the role journalism plays in all of our lives – whether that’s for good, as in Good Night, and Good Luck, or for bad. With Hack Attack, George will explore the dark side of that world, a business where all of the rules of journalism are broken in the race for an easy and ever-larger payday.”

This is just the latest in a string of films from Clooney where he examines historic events as they apply to politics, journalism, and heroics. He directed Good Night, and Good Luck, which depicted journalist Edward R. Murrow’s clashes with Senator Joseph McCarthy, and most recently helmed the film Monuments Men, about a World War II platoon tasked with recovering art and treasure stolen by the Nazis.