April 7, 2000
Without a safety net - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- George Clooney is back on television. After decent performances in Out of Sight, Three Kings and an absurdly silly one in Batman and Robin, Clooney has decided to make the trek back to the small screen this Sunday night in a live production of the 1964 film, Fail Safe. The original film starred Henry Fonda and Walter Matthau which was an adaptation of the 1962 best-selling novel by Harvey Wheeler and Roger Burdick. The story is about a US bomber (in this production, played by Clooney) that has been given orders (accidentally) to dispatch a nuclear strike against Moscow in the height of the Cold War.
The interesting thing about this production is that Clooney and company, a formidable one I might add, will do the entire production live on network television. Some of you in the audience are far too young to remember the legendary 1950’s live productions of Requiem For A Heavyweight and Days Of Wine And Roses, when television was teeming of dramatisations done live.
Clooney also produces this production, which is almost like trail-blazing, as he is spearheading a renaissance of live productions on television. Co-starring with Clooney are: his former ER co-star Noah Wyle, Oscar-winner Richard Dreyfuss, Emmy-winner and Mr. Helen Hunt, Hank Azaria, Tony-winner Brian Dennehy, Harvey Keitel, Don Cheadle, James Cromwell and Sam Elliott. That’s a cast that’s worth tuning into. Not only are they multiple award recipients, they are some of acting’s finest. It’s director is a pretty good one too. Stephen Frears helmed the inventive Out of Sight, as well as The Grifters. His recent picture, High Fidelity is considered to be the sleeper hit of the season.
Fail Safe is a risky project. It’s Clooney’s baby. It’s a favourite film for him and he’s wanted to do this for a long time. It’s costing CBS something like five million bucks and their expecting a hell of a lot from it. It’s scheduled opposite Regis’ Millionaire show, and CBS needs the numbers.
Speaking of The Reege, his bringing the game show back to prime time, Clooney is doing the same with live television. Dame Julie Andrews will be starring in her own live production this fall of On Golden Pond.
A lot is riding on this live deal this Sunday. I hope live television returns to television, because for one thing it’s creative and we haven’t seen that kind of trailblazing in a whole damned while.
Fail Safe airs live on Sunday night, April 9th at 9:00 PM.
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