George Clooney, gearing up to play Edward R. Murrow on Broadway, defends freedom of the press
George Clooney always meant for "Good Night, and Good Luck," the story of pioneering CBS News reporter Edward R. Murrow, to echo today, but he didn't realize how loudly it would.
He co-wrote the original screenplay in the early 2000s, when the U.S. went to war in Iraq because he wanted to remind people about a time "when the press held government to account," Clooney told 60 Minutes. The two-time Oscar winner also co-wrote the adaptation for Broadway and makes his debut at the Winter Garden Theater this month.
During a table reading for the play, Clooney met the cast and wasted no time addressing what he sees as parallels between the climate of fear and intimidation Murrow overcame in the 1950s and chilling times for the news media today.
"When the other three estates fail, when the judiciary and the executive and the legislative branches fail us, the fourth estate has to succeed," Clooney said.
Journalism under fire
The actor pointed to an ABC News decision to contribute $15 million to then President-elect Trump's presidential foundation and museum to settle a defamation lawsuit. Clooney also pointed to CBS News, which is confronting a $20 billion lawsuit filed by Mr. Trump making the unfounded allegation that 60 Minutes engaged in election interference.
CBS has since filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The legal case has unfolded as CBS' parent company, Paramount, works to close a merger deal, which requires approval from the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission.
Clooney, a lifelong Democrat and the son of a journalist, said the government is being used to scare journalists.
"Governments don't like the freedom of the press. They never have," he said. "And that goes for whether you are a conservative or a liberal or whatever side you're on. They don't like the press."
Clooney wrote "Good Night, and Good Luck" with his longtime friend and creative partner, Grant Heslov.
"Originally it wasn't for today," Heslov said. "This is a story that stands the test of time. I think it's a story that you can keep telling over and over. I don't think it will ever thematically get old."
Good Night, and Good Luck
The plot revolves around themes of truth, intimidation, and courage in the face of corporate media. The play brings to life the humming CBS newsroom of the 1950s — all typewriters and smoldering cigarettes.
In the film, Clooney played Fred Friendly, Murrow's producer. Now, he's playing Murrow.
"Murrow had a gravitas to him that at 42 years old I didn't, I wasn't able to pull off," Clooney said.
Murrow earned his gravitas during World War II, with eyewitness radio dispatches from London amid the Blitz. His trademark signoff during those broadcasts, "good night, and good luck," doubles as the play's title.
"Good Night, and Good Luck" recreates the historic television faceoff between Murrow and Sen. Joseph McCarthy, with McCarthy essentially playing himself in the play production through archival footage.
At the height of the Red Scare, the Wisconsin senator led a crusade to weed out supposed communist infiltration of the U.S. government.
Murrow and his team used measured, fact-based editorials to expose and ultimately help take down McCarthy.
Finally on Broadway after decades as an A-lister
Director David Cromer said Clooney's star power helps in the production because of who Murrow was in his time — a star and the most trusted man in America.
"He's a great man who's playing a great man," Cromer said of Clooney.
Comedian, writer, and producer Ilana Glazer, who plays CBS news writer Shirley Wershba, says Clooney knows how to put everyone at ease in rehearsals.
"We're all, like, so focused on this material, and it's serious, and we're trying to make it as honest as possible. So George really, like, will let the tension release and break the tension with a joke at the right time," she said.
Now 63, Clooney's Broadway debut comes after decades as a Hollywood A-lister. In 2003, he was a bachelor living with a pet pig when 60 Minutes profiled him. He's married now. His wife and their two kids left the home they keep in Europe to spend this spring run with him in New York.
The actor is also in a different phase of his life professionally than he was in 2003.
"I'm not doing romantic films anymore," he said.
Despite a lengthy career with dozens of acting credits to his name, Clooney said he doesn't know if he could have been on Broadway earlier in his life.
"I didn't do the work required to get there," he said.
He feels ready, and excited, now though.
"There isn't a single actor alive that wouldn't have loved to have, you know, been on Broadway. So that's the fun of it," Clooney said. "It's trickier the older you get. But why not?"
