Jan. 15 (UPI) — George Clooney has signed on to star in and direct a six-part, Hulu adaptation of Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22.
The limited series is scheduled to go into production this year, with Luke Davis and David Michôd attached as co-writers and executive producers.
Clooney is to play Col. Cathcart. No other casting has been announced.
“Catch-22 is a rare story that has withstood the test of time, not only as a literary masterpiece, but as a story that still resonates in today’s political and social conversation,” Hulu Chief Content Officer Joel Stillerman said in a statement Sunday. “These are exactly the types of stories we want to be programming at Hulu, and we couldn’t be happier to partner with George Clooney, Paramount TV and this phenomenal group of creatives to bring one of the most well-known books of all time to viewers in a way that has never been seen before.”
Catch-22 is described in a news release as “the story of the incomparable, artful dodger, Yossarian, a U.S. Air Force bombardier in World War II who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him.
“But his real problem is not the enemy, but rather his own Army which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service,” the synopsis said. “Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to avoid his military assignments, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule which specifies that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers which are real and immediate is the process of a rational mind; a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but a request to be removed from duty is evidence of sanity and therefore makes him ineligible to be relieved from duty.”
