Ordered to Series by Hulu
Hulu has emerged as winner for George Clooney's TV return.
The streaming outlet, which recently topped 17 million subscribers, has landed Catch-22, the limited series from Paramount Television and Anonymous Content starring, written, directed and exec produced by Oscar winner Clooney. It's Clooney's first TV series regular role in nearly two decades, after NBC's beloved ER.
Clooney, who is getting in the $1 million ballpark for each of the six episodes, will co-write alongside Luke Davies (Lion) and David Michod (War Machine). Paramount Television owned the rights to Catch-22 and developed the series under head Amy Powell, who identified the book as one of the first projects she'd like to take on since being tapped to run the studio. The project, taken out in December, drew interest from multiple SVOD outlets with Hulu emerging on top. (The series is closed-ended and will tell a full story over six episodes; there will not be a second season.)
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In his first TV role since the end of ER, Clooney will play Colonel Cathcart in Catch-22, which is set in Italy during World War II. This is the story of the incomparable, artful dodger, Yossarian, a bombardier for the U.S. Air Force, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. If Yossarian makes any attempt to avoid the perilous missions he’s assigned, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule which specified that people who were crazy were not obliged to fly missions, but anyone who applied to stop flying was showing a rational concern for his safety and was, therefore, sane and had to fly. “Catch-22” is in fact the origin story of the geopolitical here-and-now.
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Catch-22 - George Clooney to Star in Limited Series in Development
Oscar winner and Emmy nominee, George Clooney, is set to star and direct a limited series based on the seminal Joseph Heller novel Catch-22.
The six-episode project, produced by Paramount Television and Anonymous Content, does not yet have a network. The package, co-written by Luke Davies (Lion) and David Michod (War Machine), will be shopped next month. With a proven star in Clooney, it is expected to land a sizable fee at a deep-pocketed outlet.
Catch-22 was originally adapted into a 1970 Paramount feature film directed by Mike Nichols and starring Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin and Bob Newhart. Richard Dreyfuss later starred in an ABC half-hour pilot produced by Paramount Television in 1973 that never went forward.
Catch-22 is set in Italy during World War II and tells the story of Yossarian, a U.S. Air Force bombardier trying to fulfill his service requirements so he can go home. The novel explored the paradox of requirements where airmen who felt mentally unfit to fly were not obligated to do so, but anyone who applied to stop flying was sane enough to fly.
Clooney will play Col. Cathcart, the role initially played by Balsam in the Nichols feature. Clooney and his Smokehouse Pictures producing partner Grant Heslov (Good Night, and Good Luck, Argo, The Ides of March) will direct and executive produce. The episodes were co-written by Davies and Michôd, who will also exec produce. Anonymous Content's Richard Brown and Steve Golin are also on board as exec producers.
The six-episode project, produced by Paramount Television and Anonymous Content, does not yet have a network. The package, co-written by Luke Davies (Lion) and David Michod (War Machine), will be shopped next month. With a proven star in Clooney, it is expected to land a sizable fee at a deep-pocketed outlet.
Catch-22 was originally adapted into a 1970 Paramount feature film directed by Mike Nichols and starring Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin and Bob Newhart. Richard Dreyfuss later starred in an ABC half-hour pilot produced by Paramount Television in 1973 that never went forward.
Catch-22 is set in Italy during World War II and tells the story of Yossarian, a U.S. Air Force bombardier trying to fulfill his service requirements so he can go home. The novel explored the paradox of requirements where airmen who felt mentally unfit to fly were not obligated to do so, but anyone who applied to stop flying was sane enough to fly.
Clooney will play Col. Cathcart, the role initially played by Balsam in the Nichols feature. Clooney and his Smokehouse Pictures producing partner Grant Heslov (Good Night, and Good Luck, Argo, The Ides of March) will direct and executive produce. The episodes were co-written by Davies and Michôd, who will also exec produce. Anonymous Content's Richard Brown and Steve Golin are also on board as exec producers.
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