George Clooney To Direct & Star In ‘Good Morning, Midnight’ Adaptation From Mark L. Smith For Netflix
Now that George Clooney has finished adapting ‘Catch-22’, he has teamed up with Netflix for another book adaptation in which he will both star and direct.
Clooney is in pre-production on an untitled feature film project which is an adaptation of ‘Good Morning, Midnight’ by Lily Brooks-Dalton. This post-apocalyptic tale follows the parallel stories of Augustine (Clooney), a lonely scientist in the Arctic, as he races to make contact with the crew of the Aether spacecraft as they try to return home to Earth. Brooks-Dalton’s novel was met with critical acclaim and was named one of the best books of the year by Shelf Awareness and the Chicago Review of Books. The film will begin production in October.
Mark L. Smith is set to adapt the screenplay with Smokehouse Pictures’ Grant Heslov (Academy Award Winner) and Clooney producing alongside Anonymous Content and Syndicate Entertainment, who sourced the material.
“Grant and I couldn’t be more excited to be involved with this incredible project,” commented Clooney. “Mark is a writer we’ve long admired and his script is haunting. We’re thrilled to be working with our friends at Netflix as well.”
Smokehouse Pictures, the production company set up by Clooney & Heslov, has a string of award-winning and critically-acclaimed films and shows to their name. Most recently they produced ‘Catch-22’, a six-part limited series for Hulu based on the Joseph Heller novel, which is currently airing on Channel 4 in the UK. Smokehouse’s other work includes ‘Good Night and Good Luck’, for which Clooney was nominated for Best Director and Heslov and Clooney were nominated for Best Original Screenplay. The film garnered a total of six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. They also produced the Academy Award-winning Best Picture ‘Argo’ along with ‘The Ides of March’, for which the partners were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. Other Smokehouse films include ‘Suburbicon’, ‘Money Monster’, ‘The Monuments Men’, ‘August: Osage County’, ‘The American’, and ‘The Men Who Stare at Goats’.
“Having known and worked with George for over two decades, I can’t think of anyone better to bring this amazing story to life,” adds Scott Stuber, head of Netflix’s film division. “The book is powerful and moving, and Mark’s adaptation is beautifully written. At its core, this is a story about human nature, and one that I know our global audiences will fall in love with, just like I did when I read it.”
No news on when the ‘Good Morning, Midnight’ adaptation will premiere, but we’ll let you know when we hear more.
