Interview with George Clooney re: "Good Night, and Good Luck"

[crispini]

Since I know he's got fans here.

The Salon Interview: George Clooney
Hollywood's favorite leading man talks to Salon about the corruption of Joe McCarthy, the courage of Edward R. Murrow, and the idiocy of Ann Coulter and his nemesis Bill O'Reilly.

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By Kerry Lauerman



Sept. 16, 2005 | Who would have expected the most compelling argument for a smarter, more aggressive news media to come from one of our few true movie stars, a man who could stay secluded from the press -- the world really -- in his Italian villa for as long as he liked, only to reappear for the occasional prestige project or "Ocean's Eleven" sequel?

But George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck," a stirring examination of CBS News legend Edward R. Murrow's historic showdown with Sen. Joseph McCarthy, is a passionate argument for a revitalized press, one that's willing to operate in pursuit of larger truths, and not just larger profits. Clooney's second turn as a director (after the underrated "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind") is a tribute to Murrow (played by a pitch-perfect David Strathairn), a man of moral certitude and great elegance. But it also memorializes a time when the media kept a higher purpose, and maintained a higher tone. Who won't rue the whiplash crudeness of TV news when watching Murrow, during the scathing report on McCarthy that helped finally make him vulnerable to public opinion, turn a clumsy Shakespearean allusion by the Wisconsin Republican against him with agility:

more....

http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2005/09/16/george_clooney/index.html

[gkhouston]

1. Great article. I definitely want to see this movie.

I hope a lot of media types watch it, too, and take the fucking hint. blivet**'s speech last night shows that the concerns floating around here about Katrina being used as a wedge to introduce a larger domestic military influence were so :tinfoilhat: after all. We could use a lot of Murrows now, in addition to KO.