George Clooney Directs The Boys in the Boat in First Look Photos and Behind-the-Scenes Video (Exclusive)

George Clooney brings an inspiring true story to light.

PEOPLE has an exclusive first look Boys in a boat, directed by Clooney (62) and adapted from the book of the same name by Daniel James Brown.

The film, starring Joel Edgerton and Callum Turner among the ensemble cast, follows the true story of the University of Washington rowing team in 1936 and their journey to the Summer Olympics in Berlin.

“Rowing, especially in the 1920s, was the No. 1 sport attended in the United States,” Clooney says in a behind-the-scenes video. “Boys in a boat is about strong, tough children, but they were poor and hungry. They row because it was the only way they could stay in college.”

He adds: “The stakes were much higher for them and that gave them an advantage.”

George Clooney.

Laurie Sparham

The group of students that made up the University of Washington rowing team that year started out as the college’s second-tier rowing team, but worked their way up to represent the U.S. in the Olympics, according to a 2012 Slate article about the team.

They ended up winning the gold medal in Berlin, narrowly beating Italy and Germany for first place at an event attended by Adolf Hitler, the paper reported.

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George Clooney.

Laurie Sparham

“These guys from the University of Washington deal with seniors, then frat kids, then Nazis,” Clooney says in the video. “Every movie we’ve ever seen that has an underdog in it, you’re always rooting for them, that you can pull yourself out of anything and make it.”

Laurie Sparham

Writer Brown, 72, tells PEOPLE he found the real story behind it Boys in a boat “one of those rare stories that just got better, more complex, and more useful,” as he originally researched for his book, published in 2013.

Brown said he and Clooney talked about Clooney’s upbringing in Kentucky and the actor-director’s struggles to make money early in his career.

Laurie Sparham

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“That experience, [Clooney] said, helped him understand [the movie’s central character] Joe Rantz, and everything else [the] the difficulties he was going through in the 1930s,” Brown says. “I think that understanding really shines through in the film.”

Laurie Sparham

“In essence, this is not just a story about a rowing team, but about a generation of Americans who learned to put aside their differences and come together in very difficult times to achieve great things,” adds Brown.

“The young men at the center of the story personify what is best about Americans—our perseverance, our optimism, our sense of justice, our ability to face adversity together.”

Laurie Sparham

In addition to Edgerton (49) and Turner (33), the cast includes Peter Guinness, Jack Mulhern, James Wolk, Hadley Robinson, Courtney Henggeler, Sam Strike, Thomas Elms, Luke Slattery, Bruce Herbelin-Earle, Wil Coban, Thomas Stephen Varey and Chris Diamantopoulos.

The screenplay was written by Mark L. Smith, and the music was composed by Alexandre Desplat. The Amazon MGM Studios film was produced by Clooney and Grant Heslov.

Boys in a boat it’s in theaters on December 25.

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Source: HIS Education