George Clooney to direct and star in Catch 22 limited series

Despite its all-star cast, which included Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, and Oscar Isaac, plus a script from Joel and Ethan Coen, the recently released SUBURBICON was not embraced by critics, but George Clooney isn't letting that stop him from returning to the directors chair, although his next effort will be seen on the small-screen.

THR reports that George Clooney is set to star in and direct a six-part limited TV series based upon Joseph Heller's "Catch-22" for Paramount Television and Anonymous Content. The adaptation will be set in Italy during World War II and will tell the story of Yossarian, a US Air Force bombardier who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy—it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. If Yossarian makes any attempt to avoid the perilous missions he’s assigned, 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.

Scripted by Luke Davies (LION) and David Michôd (ANIMAL KINGDOM), production on the series is looking to begin in early 2018. As for which role George Clooney will fill, he's set to play Colonel Cathcart, Yossarian's commander and the antagonist of the story who is desperate to please his superiors and repeatedly raises the number of missions the men have to fly in order to complete a tour of duty. Clooney's producing partner, Grant Heslov, is also set to direct several episodes of the series.