Good Luck and Good Night

[ah schucks]

"Good Luck and Good Night," The latest political satire from forme E.R. actor turned director, George Clooney, is already receiving Oscar-worthy buzz for his self writen tale of Edward Murrow, a CBS evening anchor who attempted to take down Senator Joesph McCarthy in the hay day of the Red Scare. Leading the cast is vetern actor David Stratharin, a shoe in for a best actor nod in January.

The film is being called a jab by Clooney at reflecting his view of the current quagmire of media versus the government. Clooney who had been outspoken in his support for various chartable causes has come under fire from Fox Host Bill O Reilly and the two have shared hitted words over the last 3 or 4 years since 2001 when O Reilly accused the actor of mismanaging funds collected for 9/11. Clooney has also been increasingly critical of the President's performance up until a year ago when he disappeared off the public radar to create this film.

"Good Luck and Good Night" is being hailed as an artisitcally stunning film, intercutting original news footage of McCarthy against David Stratharin's performance. Clooney plays the producer who supported Murrow's in his case against McCarthy. "Good Luck and Good Night" opens today nationwide.

[Gemini Cricket]

We're going to see it tonight. I can't wait.

[Alchimedes]

Im really kind of curious about this movie as well because of Edward Murrow. I think I will check it out this weekend. Interesting info about Clooney and OReilly.

[Gemini Cricket]

It has been getting great reviews!
Source

[sediment]

1. I didn't know it was satire. I thought it was a re-creation of part of Edward R Murrow's life involving Senator McCarthy.
2. I've heard it gives way more credit to Murrow in bringing McCarthy down than it does the newspaper reporters. (TV had more restrictions back then in what they could show and how they could show it.)

See msn slate for an interesting counterpoint. I'll try to provide the link.

[ah schucks]

It's a satire in as much as the story is aimed to the reflect Clooney's feeling about the same or similar situations being created here in our time between the governement and the media.

[sediment]

Still doesn't sound like "satire" to me.

[ALIASd]

from a recent L.A. Weekly cover story:
Instead of the more conventional biopic he’d originally envisioned, Good Night, and Good Luck* would narrow its focus to the Murrow-McCarthy contretemps. And rather than cast an actor to play McCarthy (and thereby open the door to accusations of a biased portrayal), Clooney would use existing archival footage of the HUAC hearings and other public McCarthy appearances, integrating it seamlessly into re-creations of Murrow’s original broadcasts. In short, he would do exactly what Murrow had done five decades earlier — he’d use McCarthy’s own words to back the junior senator from Wisconsin into an inescapable corner. “I had to deal straight with it,” he says, crediting his father’s own journalistic integrity as a guiding influence. “We double-sourced every single scene in the movie. We couldn’t play loose with any of the facts or we’d be marginalized, because if you find one thing that’s wrong, you can say the whole thing is b******t.”

If he was aiming for a satire, he'd have cast Will Ferrell as McCarthy...

*the actual title of the film