The first trailer for actor/writer/director George Clooney's The Monuments Men shines a spotlight on an incredible true story that unfolds towards the end of World War II. Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, John Goodman, Hugh Bonneville and Bob Balaban round out an all-star cast in this drama about a group of historians tasked with recovering numerous artifacts that were set to be destroyed by Adolf Hitler as the Third Reich began to crumble. Plus, on top of the first photo released yesterday, we have five more photos showcasing this diverse ensemble cast.

Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action-thriller focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys - seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 - possibly hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind's greatest achievements.