"The Men Who Stare at Goats," a new comedy about a secret American army of psychics, starts with this declaration: "More of this is true than you would believe."

But how true is "true"?

In a recent interview, director Grant Heslov said, "If I had to quantify, I'd say 60 percent.

"Jim Channon, the basis for Jeff Bridges' character, was a real guy who fought in Vietnam, was disturbed by what he saw and got the government to pay for a project about alternative combat techniques. That unit of army psychics existed. You can go online and find the field manual for the First Earth Battalion. And it's true that some of the psychological techniques they developed got hijacked, like using Barney music to break a prisoner's will."

This is Heslov's second high-profile movie about government secrecy. He is the Oscar-nominated co-writer of "Good Night, and Good Luck," based on journalist Edward R. Murrow's public feud with anti-communist crusader Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

That movie was co-written and directed by Heslov's business partner and the star of "The Men Who Stare at Goats," George Clooney.

"With 'Good Night and Good Luck,' we knew that people would come after us if we got the facts wrong, especially in a film about journalism," Heslov said.

"Good Night, and Good Luck" was a financial and artistic success. Heslov got to walk the red carpet with his wife, Lysa Hayland. For 20 years before that, Heslov toiled as a character actor, largely consigned to playing swarthy Arabs and-or terrorists in brain-dead blockbusters. He had small roles in "The Scorpion King," the cable series "Sleeper Cell" and, appropriately, "True Lies."

Here's the thing: Heslov isn't an Arab. He's Jewish. I know, because he and I were acquaintances at the University of Southern California in the early '80s. One of his heroes is Woody Allen, about whom Heslov made his first short movie, "Waiting for Woody."

In a class, Heslov met an aspiring actor from Cincinnati named George Clooney. They later co-starred in an episode of the sitcom "Facts of Life," on which Clooney became a regular. They remained friends and brainstormed potential projects. With director Steven Soderbergh, they formed a company called Section 8, which produced the pseudo-documentary series "K Street," about Washington lobbyists, and "Unscripted," about Hollywood hopefuls.

Of course, Clooney hasn't been an aspiring actor for years, and teaming with his superstar friend in a new company called Smokehouse, Heslov finally landed a feature-length directing gig with "The Men Who Stare at Goats."

The script was written by Peter Straughan, loosely adapted from a nonfiction book by Jon Ronson. But Heslov said he already had an affinity for the material from sleepless nights listening to Art Bell discuss the paranormal on his radio show.

"I didn't necessarily buy everything that I heard, but I'm fascinated by people who believe something strongly enough that it becomes true for them," he said.