George Clooney Starring In Revival Of His Best Movie

Good Night, and Good Luck originally hit theaters in October 2005. The film, which was co-written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, directed by Clooney, and starred Clooney next to David Strathairn and Patricia Clarkson, was nominated for six Academy Awards. Additionally, it earned six BAFTA nominations at the 2005 BAFTA Awards and four Golden Globe nominations at the 2006 Golden Globe Awards.

The celebrated feature went on to be listed on the American Film Institute’s list of the Top Ten Movies of 2005, and it’s known as one of the best films of George Clooney’s career. With a box office score of $54.6 million, countering a low $7 million budget, and an approval rating of 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s clear the movie is a smashing success. But can it handle the pressure of the Broadway stage?

Good Night, and Good Luck will debut in New York during the spring 2025 season. It will play at one of the 17 Broadway theaters owned by the Shubert Organization where George Clooney’s name will be lit up in lights for his Broadway debut.

In the 2005 film, George Clooney played Fred W. Friendly, Edward R. Murrow’s co-producer of See It Now, an American newsmagazine and documentary series broadcast by CBS in the 1950s. Switching roles, Clooney will play Murrow on stage, taking over the role from David Strathairn, who originally played the character in the film. 

George Clooney and Heslov reunited to write the script for the stage adaptation of Good Night, and Good Luck, which follows Murrow in the early 1950s when he courageously stood against the infamous Wisconsin Senator Joseph R. McCarthy. Murrow defiantly resisted CBS executives who opposed his confrontations with McCarthy, known for intimidating allies and ruining adversaries through allegations of communist sympathies.

For George Clooney, telling the story of serious reporters is a personal passion. The actor’s father, Nick Clooney, was a TV journalist who worked in Kentucky, Ohio, Utah, and California. Clooney’s passion for journalism inspired him to revive Good Night, and Good Luck for the stage, saying it was his desire to produce “really well-written words about the Fourth Estate again.”

Good Night, and Good Luck will be directed by Tony Award-winning Broadway director David Cromer. When discussing the upcoming play and George Clooney’s character, Cromer described Murrow as someone who “operated from a kind of moral clarity that feels vanishingly rare in today’s media landscape.” Murrow, who died in 1965, was considered one of journalism’s greatest figures.

While Good Night, and Good Luck will be George Clooney’s first foray onto Broadway, it’s not unusual for Hollywood actors to swap out movie sets for New York’s theater district. Currently, you can see A-listers, including Daniel Radcliffe, Eddie Redmayne, and Rachel McAdams, on the Broadway stage.