Kyle Chandler Will Take on The Lead Role in George Clooney's WWII Series CATCH-22
George Clooney was originally supposed to star in his upcoming six-episode World War 2 Hulu series Catch-22. THR is now reporting that there's a little change. Kyle Chandler (Bloodline, Friday Night Lights) will take on the lead role and Clooney, who is also directing the series, will take on the smaller role previously held by Chandler.
The series will be an adaptation of 1961 Joseph Heller novel. For those of you not familiar with the what the story deals with, here's a description:
Catch-22 is the story of an artful dodger, Yossarian (to be played by Christopher Abbott, taking on the role played by Alan Arkin in the 1970 feature), 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. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to avoid his military assignments, he’ll be in violation of "Catch-22," a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule that 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.
Chandler will now take on the role of Colonel Cathcart. Here's a little background on the character:
He is a group commander at a U.S. Army Air Corps base in Pianosa and is obsessed with becoming a general. As such, he does whatever it takes to please his superiors—in particular, by repeatedly raising the number of missions the men have to fly to complete a tour of duty, beyond that normally ordered by other outfits. This becomes the bane of Yossarian's life, as every time he comes close to obtaining the target number of missions for being sent home, Colonel Cathcart raises the required number again. Ironically, Cathcart himself has only flown in two missions, one of which was accidental.
Clooney will now play a character Scheisskopf, who is a training commander at cadet school in California.
He's ambitious, humorless, inept, angry, sadistic — and above all else, obsessed with parades and winning parade tournaments. At cadet school he makes the men’s lives a living hell. Deep down he’s just an angry idiot, so there’s no real danger he’ll ever be sent overseas. And then: he is sent overseas. As the head of operations for the entire Mediterranean Theater. And straight back into Yossarian’s life.
The series also co-stars Hugh Laurie as Major de Coverley. There's a lot of great talent attached to this film! I especially enjoy Chandler's work and it great to see that he'll be taking on the lead role in the show.