LOS ANGELES — Matt Damon was taking his kids to school early last year when he got a text from George Clooney.
 

"What are you doing this spring?" Clooney asked.
 

"Nothing," Damon typed back. (He swears it's true).
 

"Want to make a movie?" Clooney asked.
 

By the time Damon got home, he had the script to The Monuments Men waiting in his e-mail. "I called George and said 'Is this your way of offering me the part?' " Damon recalls. "He said it was, and that was that. We had a movie."
 

Welcome to the Clooney clique, a circle of Hollywood power brokers that routinely works with and for the 52-year-old to engage in old-school filmmaking. Pals include Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Steven Soderbergh from the Ocean's franchise and the Coen brothers, whose three films with Clooney include O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a musical adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey.
 

His latest trek back is The Monuments Men, a true World War II story about stolen art told in the flag-waving style of John Sturges, who made his name directing screen legends in films including 1960's The Magnificent Seven and 1963's The Great Escape.
 

Clooney and friend Grant Heslov were looking for something a little more lighthearted after plumbing Washington's seedier political depths in 2011's The Ides of March.
 
Their answer: a footrace with Hitler.
 
Based on the Robert Edsel book about a real platoon tasked with going behind enemy lines to retrieve art masterpieces stolen by the Nazis, Monuments Men follows the museum directors, curators and art historians behind the mission.
 
Despite the Nazi backdrop, Clooney says, the film is an adventure and a change in tempo for the team, which produced last year's best-picture Oscar winner, Argo.
 
"Grant and I were looking to do a film that was less cynical than a lot of the films we do," says Clooney, who plays Lt. Commander George Stout, one of the nation's first art conservationists
 
"Grant had read the book at the airport," Clooney says. "He gave it to me. We went into Sony and pitched it and got greenlit right there. The story was just so compelling."
 
Clooney says the film offered something rare in the canon of World War II films: an untold story.
Hitler "perpetrated the biggest art heist in the history of the world," he says. "And almost got away with it. It's been a long time (since) you could find a new story about World War II."
 
Heslov says that while the pair wanted a break from their past work, those projects, which include 2005's Good Night, and Good Luck, opened the door to getting the A-list cast, composed mainly of Clooney’s friends. 
 
"When we write movies now, we usually have specific friends in mind," Heslov says. "It's nice to be able to call them and say, 'Hey, we have a new movie. Want to come spend a few months with us?' Usually, it works out."
 
Clooney, however, concedes that the men had to brush up on their knowledge of art, which he says began at zilch.
 
"I don't own any artwork except paintings from my godkids," he says. "Which I'm convinced are priceless."
 
Clooney also had to learn the role of casting director for Monuments, convincing friends that included Damon, John Goodman, Bob Balaban, Cate Blanchett and the notoriously elusive Bill Murray to star in roles he wrote specifically for them.

Hollywood has its Rat Pack, Brat Pack and Frat Pack. But what to call the A-listers Clooney recruits through old-fashioned wining, dining — and the occasional cross-country text?

"I guess we do have a pretty tight circle," says Clooney, who is directing his fifth film. "But we don't have a name yet. Maybe the Crack Pack?"

Sorry, George, but your entourage has more pedigree than scandal in its ranks. Among Monuments stars alone reside 17 Oscar nominations and five wins (six if you believe pundits who say Blanchett is a lock for Blue Jasmine). Today, though, they act a lot like drinking buddies as they gather at The Four Seasons hotel.

Goodman talks fatherhood with Damon; Murray and Balaban joke about Clooney's passive-aggressive directing style ("if you screw up a take, he pauses before he compliments you," Murray confides. "He paused a lot with me."). And Clooney and Blanchett could do stand-up:

"Are those new shoes?" Blanchett asks as they take a seat on a couch.

"Yes," Clooney responds. "They even come in men's styles."

"Do those come with lifts, too?"

Ego, Clooney says after calling the gang to order, is not an issue on his films. "There is never a problem getting people out of their trailers," he says.

If anything, woe be the star late leaving it. "If you were the last one on set, even if you were early, George would lead a standing ovation," Balaban says. "All day, he'd thank you for just showing up.

He's merciless."

And a legendary prankster. Clooney honed three new ones at the expense of crew and co-stars:

 

• The shrinking pants. When Damon told Clooney he wanted to lose some weight for the role, Clooney told the tailor to take Damon's costumes in by a quarter-inch at the waist each week. "Every week, I thought, 'You gotta be kidding me,' '' says Damon. "I'm getting fatter and fatter and am too embarrassed to tell George I can't fit in my pants."

• The leaking pants. "George would carry this water bottle at his side," Goodman says, standing to mimic the gesture. "People would come up to have a talk and he'd gently spray their crotch. People are excited when they walk away, having a few minutes with George, and they look like they have bladder issues."

• Dad's demise. Clooney cast his father in a movie for the first time, and recently screened the film for Nick, who appears in the film's final scene. As the movie faded to black, Clooney inserted the postscript, "In loving memory of my father, Nick Clooney."
   

"Dad said, 'I'm not dead!' " Clooney recalls. "I said, 'I know, but the film's not out yet.' "
 

Once again, the actors can't help but crack up: Blanchett covers her mouth and shakes her head, Goodman bellows and Murray gives that dry look and slow head shake.
 

Then Damon gets serious.

"I know it's become a cliche to even say it," he says. "But there really is a friendship here beyond movies. It's more than that. In the end, we do this because he makes good movies. We have faith in him."