Keswick Film Festival

Synopsis

Clooney's second feature as director (after Confessions of a Dangerous Mind) sees him exploring the political atmosphere of the 50s. CBS reporter and anchorman Ed Murrow (David Strathairn), one of the legendary figures of US journalism, challenges Senator Joe McCarthys' bullyboy tactics on air, jeopardising his career and the network.

Clooney, whose father was an anchorman, works from his own script and shoots in lustrous black and white which enables him to cast the real Joe McCarthy as himself by intercutting archive footage. The result is a powerful period piece on the power of journalism to confront societies iniquities.

BEST SCREENPLAY & ACTOR (David Strathairn)
Venice Film Festival 2005