Focus Features has tapped George Clooney to star in "A Very Private Gentleman." Variety reports that Anton Corbjin will direct this feature film adaptation of the novel by Martin Booth. Rowan Joffe will script the feature film version.

Clooney will play "an assassin who hides out in an idyllic Italian town before carrying out a final assignment. He resists his usual aversion to human interaction, and his friendships and romantic entanglements complicate his mission."

Shooting will take place in Italy this fall.