George Clooney is attached to star in and direct a limited series based on Catch-22,. The six-episode series hails from Paramount TV and Anonymous Content. No network is currently attached. Adapted from the 1961 Joseph Heller novel, Catch-22 is set in Italy during World War II.
It focuses on Capt. John Yossarian, a US Air Force bombardier who is furious because the bureaucratic rule known as Catch-22, 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 will star in the role of Colonel Cathcart. The series is being eyed for an early 2018 shoot. Clooney’s producing partner Grant Heslov will also direct a portion of the series. The episodes were co-written by Luke Davies and David Michôd, who will also executive produce. Richard Brown and Steve Golin will executive produce for Anonymous Content along with Clooney and Heslov under their Smokehouse Pictures banner.
The role will mark Clooney’s first regular television role since he broke out on the medical drama E.R. in the early 1990s. He was nominated for two Emmys and three Golden Globes for his role on that show. Since then, Clooney has become one of the most popular film actors of his generation. He has been nominated for eight Oscars total for writing, directing, and acting, eventually winning two for his supporting role in “Syriana” and Best Picture for “Argo,” which he produced along with Heslov and Ben Affleck.
Catch-22 was previously adapted into a film in 1970 starring Alan Arkin as Yossarian and Martin Balsam as Cathcart. Mike Nichols directed the film with Buck Henry adapting the novel for the screen.
