George Clooney is returning to television as the star of the dramatic limited series Catch-22. Hulu is moving forward with the six-part limited series based on the bestselling, critically acclaimed novel by Joseph Heller. Clooney will not only star in the limited series but will also direct along with Grant Heslov, his partner at Smokehouse Pictures.
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Richard Brown, Steve Golin, Luke Davis, and David Michôd are on board as executive producers. In addition, Michôd and Davis will adapt Heller’s book for the limited series. Catch-22 is set up as a Hulu, Paramount Television, and Anonymous Content production.
“Catch-22 is a rare story that has withstood the test of time, not only as a literary masterpiece, but as a story that still resonates in today’s political and social conversation,” said Hulu Chief Content Officer Joel Stillerman. “These are exactly the types of stories we want to be programming at Hulu, and we couldn’t be happier to partner with George Clooney, Paramount TV and this phenomenal group of creatives to bring one of the most well-known books of all time to viewers in a way that has never been seen before.”
The Plot: Based on Joseph Heller’s seminal novel of the same name, Catch-22 is the story of the incomparable, artful dodger, Yossarian, a US Air Force bombardier in World War II who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy, but rather 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 his military assignments, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister 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.
Although the original novel was published over 50 years ago, Catch-22 has continued to be regarded as the origin story of the geopolitical here-and-now.
