Hollywood actor George Clooney is embarking on a new journey. The actor will be making his Broadway acting and playwriting debut in a stage adaptation of his 2005 film about journalist Edward R. Murrow. The play is slated to premiere on Broadway in New York in the spring of 2025, per Variety. Clooney will also contribute to the play's script alongside his long-time collaborator Grant Heslov.
George Clooney is ready to showcase his acting prowess on Broadway, in the play adaptation of the 2005 drama ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’. The Hollywood icon will step into the shoes of the legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow, the role originally portrayed by David Strathairn in the film. Clooney had played Fred W Friendly in the original.
“I am honoured, after all these years, to be coming back to the stage, and especially to Broadway, the art form and the venue that every actor aspires to,” Clooney said in a statement.
It will be directed by the Tony award-winner David Cromer of 'The Band’s Visit' and 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. “Edward R Murrow operated from a kind of moral clarity that feels vanishingly rare in today’s media landscape,” he said in a statement. “There was an immediacy in those early live television broadcasts that today can only be effectively captured on stage, in front of a live audience.”
The 2005 film bagged five Oscar nominations, including Best Film, Director and Actor for David Strathairn for his role as Edward Murrow. The story, set during the tense times of Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-Communist campaign, centres on CBS News head Edward R. Murrow as he pursues executives of the network to allow him to deliver critical reporting on McCarthy's controversial tactics.
“When Senator Joseph McCarthy begins his foolhardy campaign to root out Communists in America, CBS News impresario Edward R. Murrow dedicates himself to exposing the atrocities being committed by McCarthy’s Senate ‘investigation.’ Edward is supported by a news team that includes long-time friend and producer Fred Friendly ( George). The CBS team does its best to point out the senator’s lies and excesses, despite pressure from CBS’ corporate sponsors to desist," the logline of the film reads.
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