It’s a shame George Clooney has yet to direct another film as great as 2005’s “Good Night, And Good Luck.” That film, about the 1953 conflict between journalist Edward R. Murrow and US Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare, was a coup for Clooney on every level. It received six Academy Awards noms that year, including Best Picture, and made nearly $55 million on a $7 million budget. It’s easily one of the high marks of Clooney’s career.
So, good news “Good Night, And Good Luck” fans: The Hollywood Reporter has a scoop that AMC will give Clooney’s film the TV treatment. While the project is still early in its script-to-series development, AMC eyes it as a six-episode limited series. And as showrunner? AMC taps Jonathan Glatzer, whose credits include “Better Call Saul” and HBO‘s “Succession,” to lead the series and serve as co-executive producer with Clooney and Grant Heslov, the film’s co-writer and actor.
With Glatzer on board, expect this upcoming series to be a doozy. If the project moves beyond the development stage, Heslov will also stick around to direct the show’s pilot. As for other executive producers, Mark Cuban, Todd Wagner, and Haley Jones do so through 2929 Productions, and Jeff Skoll and Miura Kite are also on board through Participant.
AMC doesn’t envision the potential series as a remake of Clooney’s film, but an adjacent story to the original. The series follows Sy Steingartner, a cameraman on Edward R. Murrow’s “See It Now” TV program, as CBS executives push an anti-Communist Loyalty Oath on Murrow and his staff. Sy sees an opportunity to excel in his career, but only if he betrays his mentor. Will he succumb to his amoral ambitions, or will his values, and Murrow’s, beat them out?
“As a massive fan of the movie, I didn’t want to copy it, or just do a facsimile of it,” Glatzer said of the project in a statement. “So, we’ve expanded the world to show how the division and hysteria of the times seeped into every aspect of daily life. I suppose it’s more of an origin story of where we are today.” No word yet on if David Strathairn will reprise his role as Murrow for the series. But don’t expect too many of the original cast back for the series, like Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels, Robert Downey Jr., and Frank Langella. It looks like Glatzer wants this project to be distinct from Clooney’s film, even if it occupies the same setting.
With any luck, “Good Night, And Good Luck” gets the greenlight at AMC. Clooney’s film felt timely in 2005, but it’s hard not think this follow-up being just as suitable for the 2020s.