Tim Balk | New York Daily News
NEW YORK — George Clooney will make his Broadway debut next spring in a stage adaptation of “Good Night, and Good Luck,” a historical drama about the venerated broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow, producers announced this week.
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Clooney, a two-time Oscar winner and one of Hollywood’s most familiar faces, served as a writer and director on the film version of “Good Night, and Good Luck,” which was released in 2005 to rave reviews. It was nominated for six Oscars including two for Clooney’s screenplay and directorial work.
The story centers on conflict between Murrow and Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin during the Republican lawmaker’s far-reaching mid-20th century crusade against Communism and suspected Communist sympathizers.
The real-life Murrow said McCarthy’s chief achievement was “confusing the public mind as between internal and external threats of Communism.” McCarthy castigated Murrow’s network, CBS, as “dishonest” and “arrogant” when it refused to grant him air time.
In the movie version, Clooney played Fred Friendly, a leader at CBS. In the stage adaptation, the actor is to portray Murrow, the role originated by David Strathairn.
“Good Night, and Good Luck” is set to reach Broadway in spring 2025. It is not clear which theater will host the production.
In a statement, Clooney, 63, said he was “honored, 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 reach.
David Cromer, who directed “Prayer For The French Republic” this winter, has been tapped to lead the stage version of “Good Night, and Good Luck.”
“Edward R. Murrow operated from a kind of moral clarity that feels vanishingly rare in today’s media landscape,” Cromer 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.”
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