George Clooney, Filmmaking Provocateur

[Kire]

At this point he gets to act as provocateur
*Star power and lessons from dad helped George Clooney make "Good Night, and Good Luck," his film about legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow.

By Lynn Smith, Times Staff Writer

George Clooney loves to quote the lines in his new film, "Good Night, and Good Luck," that were written by Edward R. Murrow during the journalist's famed 1954 confrontation with communist hunter Sen. Joseph McCarthy: "We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty"; "Accusations are not proof"; "If we dig deep in our history and doctrine, we know we are not descended from fearful men."

The black-and-white documentary-style film, which Clooney co-wrote, produced, directed and in which he plays "See It Now" producer Fred Friendly, won best screenplay for Clooney and Grant Heslov and best actor honors for David Strathairn this month at the Venice Film Festival and will open the New York Film Festival on Friday. It will be released in the U.S. on Oct. 7.

Normally, the small, $8-million "Good Night, and Good Luck" would be the sort of politically relevant film that comes and goes and makes a paltry $500,000, Clooney said recently. But by coincidence, the film has hit at a moment when its main point — journalists need courage to combat both government officials who try to intimidate them and corporate bosses who want them to entertain viewers — is sparking in real life.

Just as CBS Chairman Les Moonves' comments about making the evening news more entertaining have reverberated through the media, broadcast reporters have been praised for holding government officials' feet to the fire after Hurricane Katrina.

More: http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/cl-ca-clooney18sep18,0,7284751.story?track=hppromobox

[henslee]

1. George is a good dude. Between his movie & Constant Garnder,

it seems political commentary is not dead in films. Anything else I left out?

[TallahasseeGrannie]

2. He's HOT

[henslee]

3. Easy there grannie.

[Mojambo]

4. I like George Clooney

Which is weird, because I really haven't cared for any of his work.

I just like George Clooney.

[peekaloo]

5. He's scheduled to be on The Daily Show this Thursday.

Can't wait to see/hear O'Shrilly's reaction to this film.
:D

[onager]

6. Remember Clooney's "Fail Safe?"

That was an interesting Clooney idea. A live TV broadcast, remaking the classic 1964 movie about nuclear war. It was an incredibly quirky thing to do, and only someone as popular as Clooney could have sold it and pushed it thru the "entertainment" system.

I normally hate Hollywood celebrities, but even I like Clooney. Even his action-adventure roles tend to be movies that are a cut above the usual Schwarzeneggar/Seagal crap. I especially liked Peacemaker and Three Kings.

Oh, and his letter to Bill O'Reilly recently, when O'Lielly got on his high horse about Liberal Hollywood Celebrities.

Part of Clooney's letter basically said: "You wear make-up and put your face on TV just like I do, Bill. You ARE one of us celebrities, so just shut your pie-hole about us."

[BuelahWitch]

7. Clooney has guts

He's not just another pretty face. I can't wait to see this movie.

[CBHagman]

8. The Washington Post just HAD to get into Coulter & O'Reilly...

...in its coverage of the movie. In other words, Ann Coulter's opinions were given space in an article about a film concerning historic events. Weren't there any actual scholars to quote, or is the Post now just giving equal weight to people on the right-wing gravy train?

I bring this up because even in obituary coverage lately, the Post has been giving space to right-wing opinions. I noticed that in the online obit of liberal columnist Judy Mann, which referred to her "rabble-rousing ways" (the print edition softened it to "outspoken ways"), and in coverage following the death of Peter Jennings, with the Post referring to right-wing criticism of Jennings's supposedly liberal angle. Say what?

Here's a link to the article, for those who are interested:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/30/AR2005093000260.html

Given the modest budget of the film and the probably limited number of theaters in which it will play, I almost feel we at DU and other like-minded people ought to make an effort to see it, and bring a friend!

The New York Times ran a very enthusiastic review of it a week ago or thereabouts.

[dryan]

9. George...

Clooney is my new favorite actor (Sorry Sean, forgive me Harrison) which is strange because I'm probably the only person in the US that has only watched ER once and that was the episode that made me a Clooney fan. It was the story about the little boy trapped in the drain. He was fantastic. "Peacemaker" is one of my favorite movies. He is not afraid to take on tough subjects though--I really like "Fail Safe" which was a live TV show. Clooney's father was a newscaster in Kentucky who was very well-respected. Can't wait to see his new movie.

[chat_noir]

10. Clooney to remake "Network"

...and no, we're not talking about Good Night, and Good Luck, which at the very least could be considered a kindred spirit of Paddy Chayefsky's big-media satire, if not its form and specific content. No, the Cloonster (I promise to never, ever type that again) is planning to follow up his 2000 live, TV remake of Fail Safe with a live, TV remake of Network. The 1976 film, starring Peter Finch and Faye Dunaway, is still considered an extraordinarily prescient indictment of contemporary news media. Clooney reportedly doesn't plan to make changes to the great Chayefsky's great script, but will update it to the current day. No word on casting, but I personally think Clooney is too lazily sexy for the Finch role. Who would you suggest?

http://www.cinematical.com/2005/10/06/clooney-to-remake-network/


Here are some quotes from "Network" (l976), courtesy of IMDb:

Nelson Chaney: All I know is that this violates every canon of respectable broadcasting.
Frank Hackett: We're not a respectable network. We're a whorehouse network, and we have to take whatever we can get.
Nelson Chaney: Well, I don't want any part of it. I don't fancy myself the president of a whorehouse.
Frank Hackett: That's very commendable of you, Nelson. Now sit down. Your indignation is duly noted; you can always resign tomorrow.


Howard Beale: I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad.
Howard Beale: You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell,

Howard Beale: 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it:
Howard Beale: "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

Arthur Jensen: It is the international system of currency which determines the vitality of life on this planet. THAT is the natural order of things today. THAT is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today. And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature. And YOU WILL ATONE. Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little 21-inch screen and howl about America, and democracy. There is no America; there is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.



Arthur Jensen: The world is a business, Mr. Beale; it has been since man crawled out of the slime. Our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality - one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock - all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused.

ant to hear, we lie like hell.


Howard Beale: This is not a psychotic breakdown; it's a cleansing moment of clarity.

“Hi. I'm Diana Christensen, a racist lackey of the imperialist ruling circles.”


“The American people want somebody to articulate their rage for them.”

“Television is not the truth! Television is a goddamned amusement park!”

[agincourt]

11. Slate's already trying to smear the film,

On the MSM website. Joe McCarthy was a blah blah good guy who blah blah brought himself down. Edward R Murrow was a blah blah partisian who blah blah advised Adalai Stevenson. There were a lot of blah blah diry communists in the blah blah USA. Guess we're all supposed to like tail gunner Joe and turn our nose at Edward R Murrow, to be "fair and balanced".