Warner
Independent Pictures
2929
Entertainment
Participant
Productions
In
Association with Davis Films
Redbus
Pictures and Tohokushinsha
Present
A
Section Eight Production
Running
Time: 90 minutes
Rating:
PG
Format:
35 mm, black & white
Aspect
Ratio: 1:85
Sound:
Dolby SR www.goodnightandgoodluck.com
www.report-it-now.com
Soundtrack
Available on Concord Jazz
SHORT
SYNOPSIS
“GOOD
NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.” takes place during the early days of broadcast
journalism in 1950’s America.
It chronicles the real-life conflict between television news man
Edward R. Murrow (DAVID STRATHAIRN) and Senator Joseph McCarthy and the
Permanent Sub-committee on Investigations (Government Operations
Committee). With
a desire to report the facts and enlighten the public, Murrow, and his
dedicated staff - headed by his producer Fred Friendly (GEORGE CLOONEY)
and Joe Wershba (ROBERT DOWNEY JR.) in the CBS newsroom - defy corporate
and sponsorship pressures to examine the lies and scaremongering tactics
perpetrated by McCarthy during his communist ‘witch-hunts.’
A very public feud develops when the Senator responds by accusing
the anchor of being a communist. In
this climate of fear and reprisal, the CBS crew carries on regardless and
their tenacity eventually pays off when McCarthy is brought before the
Senate and made powerless as his lies and bullying tactics are finally
uncovered.
Directed
by George Clooney, who co-wrote the script with the film's producer Grant
Heslov, “GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.” stars David Strathairn as Murrow, Clooney as Fred Friendly,
Robert Downey, Jr. and Patricia Clarkson as Joe and Shirley Wershba, Frank
Langella as Bill Paley, Ray Wise as Don Hollenbeck, Heslov as Don Hewitt,
and Jeff Daniels as Sig Mickelson.
GRAMMY® Award-winner Dianne Reeves appears and performs in the
film as well.
A
Section Eight, 2929 Entertainment, and Participant Productions
production, “GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.” was executive produced by
Todd Wagner, Mark Cuban, Marc Butan, Steven Soderbergh, Jennifer Fox, Ben
Cosgrove, Jeff Skoll and Chris Salvaterra.
SYNOPSIS
The
year is 1953, television is still in its infancy and the esteemed
broadcast journalist, Edward R. Murrow (DAVID STRATHAIRN), anchors the
popular news documentary show, “See
it Now,”
on CBS. Murrow, alongside producer Fred Friendly (GEORGE CLOONEY),
oversees a show that reports on the news items of the day. He also hosts
the talk show “Person to Person,” yet “the face of television” is
happiest as a news reporter.
The
CBS TV newsroom is a constant hive of activity with secretaries typing, AP
and UPI wires clicking away and the bustling of camera crews. Murrow has a
dedicated crew of reporters that includes Don Hewitt (GRANT HESLOV), Joe
Wershba (ROBERT DOWNEY JR.), Palmer Williams (TOM MCCARTHY), Jesse Zousmer
(TATE DONOVAN), John Aaron (REED DIAMOND), Charlie Mack (ROBERT JOHN
BURKE) and Eddie Scott (MATT ROSS). All these men will become broadcast
legends, but right now, their careers are just beginning. They get
together to screen the various topics of the day and discuss potential
stories.
One
such story is that of a U.S. Air Force reservist, Lieutenant Milo
Radulovich, who was kicked out of the U.S. Air Force for being
a security risk. Declared guilty without a trial, he had been asked to
denounce his father and sister to stay on, but he refused. All charges
against him have been kept sealed. Murrow reports this on the show despite
opposition from the number two at CBS, Sig Mickelson (JEFF DANIELS), who
fears he may be getting the show into hot water. Murrow and Friendly are
so committed to the program they even decide to pay for the advertising
revenue lost from the show’s sponsors that have military contacts.
A
powerful figure at the time is Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, on a
singular crusade to rid the country of communists. His relentless pursuit
of anyone he feels may have connections to the communist party has allowed
a sense of paranoia to seep into the public consciousness. Such is the
reach of his power that people from the armed services to the creative
community are forced to quit their jobs and go into exile based on his
attacks.
Murrow
suspects that McCarthy may have had something to do with Radulovich’s
dismissal and worries that his closed hearings and theatrical vitriol both
hide the fact that he has no real proof and are eroding people’s civil
liberties. The Radulovich show airs and prompts an indirect response from
McCarthy. Sure enough, because of Murrow’s questioning and probing of
the case, he is accused of being a communist sympathizer. The anchor knows
in his heart that it is all lies purely designed to scare his team away.
The
attack only prompts the news crew into further action, and after a meeting
with the supportive CBS boss William Paley (FRANK LANGELLA), Murrow
decides to fight fire with fire and report on what he feels are all the
inadequacies and lies perpetrated by the McCarthy hearings.
The
McCarthy show airs and Murrow’s editorial both at the beginning and the
end of the show is nothing short of brilliant. He manages to highlight the
serious issues involved in the McCarthy hearings: namely, the line between
investigation and ‘persecution’; that dissent is not disloyalty;
accusation is not proof; conviction depends upon evidence and due
process of law; and finally, as defenders of freedom abroad, the US
cannot desert it at home. What’s more, rather than direct attack,
McCarthy is only seen and heard in the context of using his own words, all
of which seems
to exemplify all of the above problems. Critics hail it as a masterpiece
of crusading journalism and high responsibility not often found in
television. For now, the knowledge of McCarthy’s tactics is out in the
public domain and Murrow is safe.
Suddenly,
Radulovich is reinstated yet McCarthy’s theatrical hearings continue,
still spouting accusations at people based on hearsay. The show reports on
the hearings of Annie Lee Moss whereby Senator McClellan insists they,
McCarthy and aide Roy Cohn, supply him the corroborative evidence labeled
against her. The public gets to witness how secretive, even flimsy, the
accusations are.
Murrow
invites McCarthy onto the show to respond. The Senator agrees but his
rebuttal will be pre-filmed and he will need time to prepare. Eventually
it airs, and predictably, he continues to accuse Murrow of communist ties
without addressing any of the accusations leveled against him. Evidently,
if he were to take issue with the factual content of the show itself, he
would undermine his own words. Murrow details this in the following
week’s broadcast and clears his character, once again denying any
involvement with the communist party, feeling that his search for the
truth, even if it means the attentions
of McCarthy, is worth it. Again, the Senator gets a critical drubbing from
the press and sees favorable opinion polls waver.
The
show has captured, in the mind of the public, the spite of McCarthy
highlighted by the insidiousness of his investigative tactics.
With this spotlight in place, the Senate begins to take steps to
censure the senator and vote him off as chairman of the committee.
For
Murrow, his pioneering show and its news department, was what defined CBS.
Yet, the show was moved out of its weekly slot to Sunday and only five
more episodes were ordered. Paley sited the changing of the times and how
it was entertainment that people wanted from their TV those days. Still,
the legacy of Murrow’s show is one of pioneering investigative
journalism. Whether it was an exposé on such topics as segregation,
apartheid, the exploitation of migrant workers or the famous conflict with
Senator Joseph McCarthy, Murrow would go on to influence generations to
come.
"We
will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into
an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine; and
remember that we are not descended from fearful men. Not from men who
feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were
for the moment unpopular.
This
is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent,
or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we
cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen
of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come
into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as
indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in
the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and
dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our
enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this
situation of fear; he merely exploited it — and rather successfully.
Cassius was right. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in
ourselves." Good night, and good luck."
– See it
Now broadcast, March 9,
1954
BACKGROUND
EDWARD
R. MURROW
A
legendary figure whose impact on electronic newsgathering is still felt to
this day, Edward R. Murrow did not merely influence the development of
broadcast journalism, he helped invent the form.
His shortwave radio broadcasts from Europe in the days leading up
to World War II brought a new immediacy to coverage of foreign news, his
live reports from the war’s frontlines made his distinctive voice
universally recognizable, and his television documentaries set the
standard for illustrating social and political issues by putting a human
face on them. He helped shape
television journalism during its infancy with his passion for the truth
and his tireless efforts to advance democratic ideals, not the least of
which he is frequently associated with in the mind of the public: free
speech.
Murrow
was born Egbert Roscoe Murrow in Polecat Creek in Guilford County, North
Carolina on April 25, 1908. He grew up in a Quaker abolitionist household -- one which
provided him with a conscience which would later fuel his fearless pursuit
of the truth. He graduated
from Washington State College in 1930 with a degree in speech and moved to
New York City to work for the National Student Federation.
He then served as assistant director of the Institute of
International Education from 1932 to 1935, during which time he married
Janet Huntington Brewster. They
had one son.
In
1935, Murrow began his career at CBS as director of talks and education.
Two years
later, he became the director of their European Bureau in London, where he
assembled a group of reporters, including William Shirer, Charles
Collingwood, Eric Sevaried, Bill Shael, and Howard K. Smith, whose reports
of the war from the front lines made them popular back in the states.
After
the war, Murrow returned to the United States as CBS Vvice
Ppresident
and Ddirector
of Ppublic
Aaffairs
but resigned to return to radio broadcasting.
With Fred Friendly, Murrow produced the series Hear It Now from 1950 to 1951, serving as the show’s host, as
well. The popularity of the
show brought Murrow back to television; the team adapted their program for
TV, calling it See It Now.
The show opened with the first live simultaneous transmission from
both the East Coast and the West Coast.
Murrow’s program on Milo Radulovich, which ultimately led up to
the legendary telecast focusing on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy in 1954, is
considered by many as not only marking the turning point in the
Senator’s campaign against communist sympathizers, but a turning point
in the history of television, as well.
During
the same time period, Murrow hosted Person
To Person, which featured informal chats with celebrities such as
Marilyn Monroe and John Steinbeck. While
less controversial, the show and its format continue to influence
today’s celebrity interviewers. He
continued with that program for a year after See
It Now ended in 1958, the same year Murrow began moderating and
producing Small World, another innovative program which featured discussions
among international political figures.
Although
Murrow won five Emmys and five Peabody Awards for his work over the years,
he continued to demand more from himself and his colleagues, as
demonstrated by a speech given at the Radio and Television News Directors
Association convention in 1958. “This
just might do nobody any good,” the speech began grimly, and in it,
Murrow described the untenable position of the journalist broadcasting on
instruments whose development had been shaped by – and would continue to
grow as -- an impossible combination of news, show business and
advertising. Murrow only
mentioned his employer a few times in his speech, but it was clear that he
included CBS in his criticism of the networks and the effect their
unchecked competition for ratings had on news programs.
He
left CBS in 1961 when he was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to
head U.S. Information Agency, a post he remained at until 1964.
Murrow
died of lung cancer in New York on April 27, 1965.
SEE IT NOW
Network
television’s first news magazine,
See It Now aired on CBS for six years, starting in 1951, and quickly
set a standard for televised news and journalism as a whole.
Born from the Murrow/Friendly produced CBS radio show Hear
It Now, See It Now did more
than just report the news, it engaged in intellectual discussions and
analysis of the issues of the day, oftentimes leading into political and
social commentaries. Murrow
and his team covered hot topics, often political in nature, ranging from
life in the nuclear age to our countries’ calls to war.
Reporting the anti-Communist rage sweeping the nation required more
delicate dealings, and in October 1953, See
It Now found and
aired an episode which lead to two more in 1954 focusing on Senator
McCarthy, exposing his tyrannical behavior and putting an end to his
witch-hunt of communists. See It Now continued to air as specials until 1957, though as a
result of their most provocative and ground-breaking broadcasts involving
McCarthy, those that followed were relatively tame in tone.
FRED
FRIENDLY (George Clooney)
Fred
Friendly co-produced See It Now along
side Edward R. Murrow. Their
partnership started in a series of records covering news stories from the
war front, I Can Hear It Now, which they adapted into a radio show,
Hear It Now, the basis for what would be network televisions first
news magazine show, See It Now. Friendly
went on to become the president of the CBS News Division in 1964, and
resigned two years later after disagreeing with the network’s decision
to air an “I Love Lucy” rerun instead of broadcasting live coverage of
the Senate’s hearings on America’s involvement in Vietnam.
Upon leaving CBS, Friendly took the Edward R. Murrow seat as a
professor of Journalism at Columbia University. Throughout his
distinguished career, Friendly received a total of ten Peabody Awards.
DON
HEWITT (Grant Heslov)
Don
Hewitt directed See It Now which first aired in 1951. He has spent his entire career at CBS. In addition to producing and directing the first ever
televised presidential debate in 1960, he produced and directed the
inaugural year of the CBS Evening
News with Walter Cronkite in 1963, and created 60
Minutes which premiered in 1968.
CBS notes that between September 1968 and 2003, there have been
over three thousand original stories on 60
Minutes, nearly every one of which has had to meet with Hewitt’s
approval.
SIGFRIED
“SIG” MICKELSON (Jeff Daniels)
Sig
Mickelson, head of the CBS Network News and Public Affairs division,
helped develop the format of Hear It Now with Fred Friendly in anticipation of growing into See
It Now. Abandoning the reliance on newsreel companies, Mickelson was
instrumental in building an
in-house department of camera crews to document footage.
WILLIAM
S. PALEY (Frank Langella)
William
S. Paley ran the CBS radio and television networks for more than half a
century. He served as
president of the network until 1946, when he became chairman of the CBS
Board. Paley established the
radio network’s first programming department in the late 1940’s, and
went on to promote the development of the news division which gave birth
to See It Now in 1951. Paley
retained his chairmanship of CBS until his death in 1990. His was the
primary donation in 1976 that helped create what is now the Museum of
Television and Radio in New York City.
JOE
WERSHBA (Robert Downey Jr.)
Joe
Wershba started his career in radio before moving into television
journalism. A producer on See
It Now, he captured the Milo J. Radulovich footage and was part of the
team that broadcast the brave shows challenging Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Wershba continued to work at CBS and became one of the original
producers of 60 Minutes alongside
Don Hewitt. Upon retiring,
Wershba hads
worked on film documentaries in the United States and Asia, and
contributed to Walter Cronkite’s memoirs.
He is the recipient of the highly-prized Silurian award for
lifetime excellence in journalism, and has been nominated for a Pulitzer
Prize in addition to receiving two Emmy awards.
SHIRLEY
WERSHBA (Patricia Clarkson)
Shirley
Wershba helped develop one of the first radio shows devoted to womens
issues, Dimensions of a Woman’s
World. Married to Joseph
Wershba, the two had to keep their marriage secret due to network rules.
In 1965, her focus returned to television and she contributed to CBS
News, ABC Evening News with
Peter Jennings and as producer-writer on the Morning
News for CBS. In 1975, sShe
was one of the three original producers of the MacNeil/Lehrer Report on PBS and also produced for
60 Minutes. In 1983, she was nominated for an Emmy for producing Diane
Sawyer’s Morning News interview
with Richard Nixon.
SENATOR
JOSEPH P. McCARTHY
As
a Senator in the post-WWII era, McCarthy devoted much time to exposing
subversives (communists or their sympathizers), a mission sparked when he
claimed to have a list of such subversives working in the State
Department. For this, or any
of his accusations, McCarthy failed to ever provide hard evidence.
In early 1954, McCarthy’s hearings of accused subversives were
broadcast, the first ever televised hearings.
See It Now reported on
these hearings and the misuse and abuse of legislative power on the part
of the Senator. The program
allowed a rebuttal from the junior senator whose appearance on See
It Now exposed McCarthy’s tyrannical, one-sided motivations, leading
to his being censured by the Senate.
LT.
MILO RADULOVICH
Born
in the United States to immigrant parents, Milo Radulovich was a World War
II veteran working as a meteorologist and an Air Force reservist with
top-secret clearance. In 1953, Radulovich was served with discharge papers
having been deemed a security risk, because his father and sister were
supposedly communist sympathizers. Stripped
of his commission after losing his first court case, Murrow read about
Radulovich’s experiences and found his the ideal story to expose Senator
McCarthy and his witch-
hunt. See
It Now aired Radulovich’s story on October 20, 1953, and one month
later he was reinstated to the military.
After a career as a meteorologist with the National Weather
Service, Radulovich retired and now lives in Lodi, California.
ABOUT
THE PRODUCTION
For
George Clooney, the co-writer and director of “Good Night, And Good
Luck.,” it was his fascination with the famed broadcast journalist
Edward R. Murrow, played by David Strathairn, that proved to be the
inspiration for his telling of one of the most important and political
upheavals in American history. His father had been a news-anchor for 30
years and Murrow was a hero to his family, a man every news-journalist
aspired to be.
For
years, Clooney had thoughts of making something about him. He wrote a TV
movie and even considered making a live TV movie in the tradition of his
other project, “Fail Safe.” Yet, for multiple reasons, neither was
produced. Clooney was conscious that he didn’t want to make a
straightforward biopic. This was an opportunity, among other things, to
again explore the nature and power of television through one of its most
revered personalities. Eventually,
he and producer and co-writer, Grant Heslov (who also plays ‘Don
Hewitt’) decided that Murrow would best be depicted in a feature film
set during a specific time period. Specifically, they focused on the early
‘50s during Senator McCarthy’s communist witch-hunts and the televised
conflicts between the two. Says Clooney, “Tthis
incident and time has been a passion of mine because it is one of the few
times you could point to where broadcast journalism actually changed the
world and people’s minds. McCarthy was untouchable until Murrow stepped
up. It was one of those great moments where you really had to be brave.”
David
Strathairn is the exceptional actor that plays Murrow and he also sees the
film as an opportunity to both examine the man and learn about a specific
time in American history, “Edward R. Murrow
was a true American hero, a legend in his own time, although there are not
as many people around who really remember him. So, from that point of
view, it’s really informative, the facts are in there and the history is
in there too. It’s compelling.”
The
filmmakers felt that the on-air conflict between Murrow and McCarthy is,
at its heart, a great story. It’s the telling of two titans at the peak
of their powers
as they confront each other and thus ending both their careers by doing
it. Yet, it was important to make the point that Murrow is remembered, by
most, as a great American, and McCarthy is remembered as someone who used
fear to gain popularity. Murrow’s (and his
team’s) sense of moral justice and general human decency make him a hero
of the highest order.
Clooney’s
deep connection can be felt by the other actors too and Strathairn
contests that there is nothing Clooney doesn’t know about the subject
and makes this good analogy, “Hhe’s
really the Edward R. Murrow of this production and Grant is the Fred
Friendly. These guys have put together a world and a group of people and
an amazing crew where everybody’s on the same page. You feel like
there’s this momentum of energy and that we’re making something
special.”
Both
Clooney and Heslov wanted to create an accurate portrayal of the time so
verisimilitude was the key. A conscious effort was made to incorporate
many of the speeches made by the people at the time, including McCarthy
and Murrow. Although many of the real-life people played in the film are
portrayed by actors, they decided to divert from the norm and portray
McCarthy through the use of real footage. In some way, Heslov says, it was
a practical decision, “Wwe
realized that whomever we got to play McCarthy, no matter how good they
were, nobody was going to believe it. They were going to think that the
guy was over-acting, so we decided to use the real footage. In regard to
Murrow's speeches, here was all this great writing so why not use it? We
just felt very strongly that his speeches were so beautiful.” If they
could come close to delivering some of Murrow’s ideas as cleanly as
possible then it would be an accomplishment.
Strathairn
remembers how the initial script read-through was quite daunting because
of the presence of many of the real-life characters. It was at this point
that he began to feel the importance of accuracy, “Milo Radulovich was
there, Fred Friendly’s two sons and one of his wives was there, there
was the real Joe and Shirley Wershba, everybody had come in for the table
read, which is almost unheard of in film production.” He continues,
“To listen to them speak and see all the photographs; look at the
documentation of ‘See
It Now’
(Murrow’s news show) is a huge challenge to access but deserves the
attempt.”
Of
course, playing such a towering, important figure as Murrow would be a
daunting task for any actor. Clooney even considered himself for the role
at one stage. Yet, according to Heslov, he and Clooney knew it was no
contest once they had met Strathairn, “We
knew he was a great actor but you still can’t tell, particularly when
it's playing somebody as iconic as Murrow. However, the second he was in
front of the camera, and started doing some of those huge speeches, he was
transformed. I've been with a lot of actors and I'd never seen anybody as
transformed to the point where I'd look up and forget that it wasn't
Murrow. It was uncanny but he's brilliant.”
Clooney
concurs, as an established actor himself, he felt it was vital to get the
right look. Also, he didn’t just want an impersonator but someone who
captures the essence of the character, “Tthe
one thing you knew about Murrow is that he always felt like he had the
weight of the world on his shoulders. David is the kind of actor that
always feels like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, so the
minute that we realized how much he could look like him, just by looking
at old pictures and the gravitas and sadness he can carry, he was the
perfect guy to cast. We got on the set and started rehearsing and it
seemed fine. He had long hair and a beard, but then he shaved and he
slicked his hair back and started talking. We all just sat there with our
mouths open.”
While
shooting in black and white was a choice they made, it also proved, in
terms of production design, a lot more forgiving than color. Clooney says,
“We had to film Joe Wershba, played by Robert Downey Jr., and then play
that back on a TV screen and then film that. We basically took the Joe
Wershba from the ‘50s and replaced him with the Robert Downey Jr. of
2005 and then intercut that with the old footage back and forth.” For
his part, Downey Jr. got to meet the real thing. “He’s
just a great guy. He really only had one note for me and just said, ‘We
were really aggressive. Don't forget that, kid, we really loved what we
were doing.’”
During
the shoot, the “See it Now” set was authentically replicated and
designed so the camera could move freely in any direction. It was almost
like going back in time to the CBS studios of the ‘50s. Detail was
paramount as the props department even delivered newspapers from the early
‘50s with their headlines corresponding to the script day.
According to Production Designer, Jim Bissell, Clooney wanted a way to
create a space that would incorporate three different locations in order
to follow the actors around from one place to another. “The other
mandate was to try to create depth to the sets with very little money,
make it feel big without really spending anything because we had strict
budget limitations. One way was by incorporating the glass end so you
could see through and you would have the depth and be able to rack focus
to see different activities going on at the same time.”
The
focus on the reality of the events as they played out is exemplified
through the use of actual footage and documented speeches. For Clooney,
the focal point wasn’t on the characters personal lives because it
wasn’t relevant, “this is specifically about a television event. And I
wanted only the moments that played out on television. We stayed away
from most of the exploitative facts, and we just tried to stick with
basics.”
The
writers also wanted to capture that frenetic, live energy feeling the show
used to have when it was broadcast. They decided to foster improvised
situations on set. “People
don't wait, in general, for other people to talk,” says Clooney, “and
that happens a lot in movies. Grant and I (after making the improvised HBO
series “Unscripted”) really fell in love with multiple cameras and
people talking on top of each other and all the things that I liked from
the films of the ‘70s. It's a very tricky thing, though, because we're
playing in 1953 and 1954, and it's a very different aesthetic and we had
to find that happy medium of feeling. People don't improvise the way they
talked in 1953, so we’d give actors newspapers and everything they could
possibly need to get prepared to shoot for 30 minutes for a minute and a
half scene. That, to me, was the exciting part.”
Yet,
Clooney was very specific about boundaries too. A lot of people in the
movie were on hand during the shoot to act as a witness and a reference.
“We asked Joe and Shirley Wershba every day, Where are we wrong? What
are we missing in this? That was what was important to us because we had
to treat these questions in many ways the same way that Murrow treated
things, which was that we had to double source our material.”
The
film has an impressive array of top quality actors that includes Patricia
Clarkson, Jeff Daniels, Tate Donovan, Frank Langella and Ray Wise. They
all relished the idea of joining an ensemble piece. Actor
Jeff,
Daniels, who plays Sig Mickelson, says, “After 40 films, you want to do
stuff that matters and this is a good project with good people. It's
timely and I liked being part of that.” Actress Patricia Clarkson, who
plays Shirley Wershba and the only main female character, quickly began to
trust and feel confident in her director, “he’s always right on. The
improv is always exactly the idea of the concept. And he only says
something when he has to and his direction is incredibly eloquent and
succinct.”
Downey
Jr. says it’s been rewarding to watch Clooney and Heslov work as a team,
“At the end of the day you can't really care too much or you're going to
blow it. They’re very close to the material but also have a healthy dose
of detachment and levity considering the subject matter is not light.”
Clooney
found the experience of directing this much different that his debut
effort, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.”
His first movie had the luxury of shooting three times longer. This
was a quick shoot that took six weeks and was shot on a low budget. Also,
having undergone back and neck surgery at Christmas, he almost pulled the
plug.
Daniels
says, “Everything's so cyclical. Everything comes back and history
sometimes does repeat itself if we allow it. I think it's good to remind
everyone, on both sides of the aisle that we've been through this already
and we should learn from that. America wants to be nothing but safe, we
also want our art and our culture to be safe. We want everything to be
safe. This story speaks volumes to me.”
Finally,
Clooney has this to say, “Tthere's
an opportunity that one in a hundred young kids actually might learn who
Murrow is and have some discussion and have some understanding of what and
how dangerous a democracy can be if fear is used as a weapon.”
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As
North America's largest auto and leisure travel organization, AAA provides
nearly 49 million members with travel, insurance, financial and auto
services, as well as member-exclusive savings. Since its founding in 1902,
the not-for-profit, fully taxpaying AAA has been a leader and advocate for
the safety and security of all travelers.
