While TV helped kick-start his career, George Clooney is more normally seen on the big screen these days, though he does produce a lot of small screen content. He's now attached to star in and direct a miniseries version of Catch-22.
Joseph Heller's 1961 novel has hit the screen before, via Mike Nichols' 1970 film. Now Clooney has his own plans. The story focuses on Captain John Yossarian, a US Air Force bombardier who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy; it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to avoid the perilous missions he’s assigned, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a bureaucratic rule which specifies that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers which are real and immediate is the process of a rational mind; a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but a request to be removed from duty is evidence of sanity and therefore makes him ineligible to be relieved from duty.
Clooney is taking the role of Colonel Cathcart in the film, and has a script for six episodes in hand from Luke Davies and David Michôd. He's aiming to start shooting early next year. There's no network attached yet, but with Clooney involved, you know the various channels and streaming services will be interested. As for his big screen work, Clooney's most recent film as a director, Suburbicon, arrives in the UK on 24 November.
Matt Damon, Julianne Moore and Josh Brolin in talks for George Clooney's Suburbicon