Good Time For 'Good Night'?

George Clooney On Latest Film 'Good Night, And Good Luck'

(CBS)  George Clooney has built an incredibly successful career by mixing commercial blockbusters with artistic risks. His latest project falls firmly into the latter category and is very close to Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith and those working at CBS News.

Clooney directed, co-wrote, and co-stars in "Good Night, And Good Luck," which looks at former CBS anchor Edward R. Murrow's challenge to communist-hunting Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

"Murrow wasn't an anti-anti-communist. He was very much against communism," Clooney noted. "What he was more against was the idea or the method which eventually the Republican Party was also against, which was to take away civil liberties to find these people.

"Yes, there were communists infiltrating some areas of government. Not many, a couple of guys. But the bigger issue was that you have to be allowed to face your accuser. That's what Murrow's argument was, the constitutional issue."

For his stand, Murrow was accused of being a communist sympathizer. But after a meeting with the CBS boss William Paley (Frank Langella), Murrow decides to fight fire with fire and report on what he believes are all the inadequacies and lies perpetrated by the McCarthy hearings.

"He eventually lost his sponsors," Clooney said. "In 1958, he did the famous or well-known speech for broadcasters. It's the same fight that you fight, that every newsman fights, which is commerce and information."

Perhaps there are no longer Murrows around to sacrifice their career in the fight to bring out the truth, Smith pointed out. Clooney disagreed.

"I think the only difference is that there aren't 40 million people watching one person anymore. So you won't have the same effect. Cronkite was the last to have that," Clooney explained. "Johnson said, 'I'm not going to run again because if I've lost Cronkite, I've lost everybody.'"

Asked why he chose this project, Clooney said, "My father was an anchorman for 30 years. Murrow was a high watermark for broadcast journalists, all of them. He was a big part of my history growing up. I thought it was an interesting time to at least have the debate again about responsibilities that he held so dear."

Clooney plays producer Fred Friendly. Actor David Strathairn is Murrow.

About George Clooney:

• Born in Lexington, Ky., on May 6, 1961, George Timothy Clooney is part of the last generation who had to register for the draft. But since he never had to serve, he went to Northern Kentucky University where he studied journalism.
  
  
• Yet he did not quite followed his father's footsteps, leaving journalism in a few years. He is the son of TV newscaster Nick Clooney.
  
  
• Instead, Clooney started acting after his cousin, Miguel Ferrer, got him a small part in a feature film that was never released. In 1982, he went to live with his famous aunt, Rosemary Clooney, in California. And in 1984, he got his big break when he joined at midseason the cast of the comedy series "E/R", not to be confused with the hospital drama of the same name which later brought him fame.
  
  
• Coming full circle 10 years later, Clooney starred as Dr. Doug Ross on the drama series of a similar title, "E.R." He was recognized with a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, People's Choice, and Emmy nomination for this role.
  
  
• In 1998, Clooney received critical acclaim for his role in the Oscar-nominated movie "Out of Sight." He made a cameo appearance as a platoon leader in Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line;" and starred in the award-winning Gulf War drama "Three Kings."
  
  
• In 2000, Clooney teamed again with "Three Kings" co-star Mark Wahlberg for Wolfgang Petersen's film adaptation of Sebastian Junger's best selling-novel "The Perfect Storm." He also starred that year as lead escaped con Ulysses Everett McGill in the Coen brothers' Depression-era jail break movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" He also produced "Rock Star," a comedy about a cover band singer drafted into the world of his heavy metal heroes starring Wahlberg.
  
  
• In 2001, he starred in Steven Soderbergh's all-star smash hit "Ocean's Eleven," opposite an all-star cast that included Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle and Bernie Mac. He took on the Frank Sinatra role as the team leader Danny Ocean, obsessed with robbing a casino heavyweight (Andy Garcia) and winning back his ex-wife (Julia Roberts). That same year, following the Sept. 11 attacks, Clooney was instrumental in rallying dozens of his Hollywood friends and colleagues to create a televised memorial to the victims of the World Trade Center, "America: A Tribute to Heroes."
  
  
• In 2002, Clooney had small, but memorable role as a crippled crook in "Welcome to Collinwood," and tried his hand behind the camera, in his directorial debut "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," based on the book by Chuck Barris, the host of TV's "The Gong Show" who claims he was a CIA hit-man. Clooney also had a supporting role in the film, which was written by Charlie Kaufman and starred Clooney pal Sam Rockwell.
  
  
• Clooney also co-starred with Natascha McElhorne in the thriller feature "Solaris," a sci-fi remake of a 1972 Russian film which reunited the actor yet again with Steven Soderbergh. Section Eight Productions, the company launched by Clooney and Soderbergh, was responsible for most of the pair's products in 2002 (including the D.C. insider HBO series "K Street" 2003).
  
  
• In 2003, the actor re-teamed with the Coen Brothers, taking the lead in the wannabe screwball comedy "Intolerable Cruelty" starring opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones.
  
  
• In 2004, Clooney recruited Zeta-Jones to join his ensemble of friends for the sequel "Ocean's Twelve." Section Eight will produce Clooney's next two projects - "Syriana" and "The Good German." In "Syriana," Clooney will play a CIA agent who fights terrorism. He also serves as one of the film's producers. "Syriana" will be released nationally in late 2005. "The Good German" started production in September 2005.