TriStar Pictures will finance and distribute Jodie Foster’s latest directorial effort Money Monster, a project that was sought after by many studios. The film will be made for $30 million and will star George Clooney in the lead.

Clooney will play the host of a TV money program who is kidnapped on air and held hostage by a man who lost all his money following a bad tip from the stock guru. With his family in a desperate position and the entire country watching, the kidnapper threatens to kill the host if he is unable to get the stock up before the market closes.

Money Monster is the latest high-profile acquisition in a TriStar lineup that includes Robert Zemeckis’ The Walk, Ricki and the Flash, and an untitled comedy from the writers of Bridesmaids. 

Jamie Linden wrote the script for the film, which will be produced by The Allegiance Theater along with Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures.