George Clooney is adding another directorial project to his slate.  Focus Features has optioned David Grann’s New Yorker article The Yankee Comandante with Clooney attached to direct.  The project is, unsurprisingly, political in nature and tells the true story of an American named William Alexander Morgan who helped Fidel Castro and the Cuban rebels overthrow Fulgencio Batista.  Morgan became only the second foreigner to land the highly regarded title of Comandante, and throughout the struggle to overthrow Batista he maintained his anti-communist views and remained convinced that Castro was not a communist.  Hit the jump for more.

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Once Castro gained power and began showing his true socialist colors, Morgan was imprisoned and questioned about possibly working for U.S. intelligence.  At the same time, gaining a reputation as a rebel soldier rubbed the notoriously paranoid J. Edgar Hoover the wrong way and Hoover began trying to sort out Morgan’s true motives.  The story is utterly fascinating and it’s definitely the kind of material that’s right up Clooney’s alley.  He's also developing an adaptation of Monuments Men to write, direct and star in, but it’s unclear how far long that project is.

Per Deadline, Clooney will be producing The Yankee Comandante alongside Grant Heslov.  The duo are just coming off of producing Ben Affleck's highly promising directorial feature Argo, which opens later this year.  Acting-wise, we'll next see Clooney in Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity, which is set for release sometime next year.