George Clooney's play 'Good Night, and Good Luck' is set to air live on CNN…so, The Hollywood Reporter is breaking down how the Broadway production is preparing to do it.
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00:00George Clooney's play, Good Night and Good Luck, is set to air live on CNN.
00:04Here's how the Broadway production is preparing to do it.
00:08The idea for the live broadcast originated with Clooney,
00:12who co-wrote the play and is starring in it as legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow.
00:16The play follows Murrow as he pursues reporting exposing the tactics of Senator Joseph McCarthy
00:21and stands up to pushback from McCarthy as well as CBS station heads.
00:25The play is set to air on CNN and CNN International at 7 p.m. Eastern on Saturday,
00:31as well as stream on CNN's website and live on Mac's.
00:34If you're brave enough to stand up to the forces determined to keep you silent,
00:37no matter the consequences.
00:41CNN is also airing a pre-show outside the theater hosted by anchor Pamela Brown
00:46and a post-show discussion with Anderson Cooper about the play and the state of journalism.
00:50Den of Thieves is executive producing the live broadcast
00:53and plans to use 20 cameras with 14 camera operators positioned in the aisles
00:58and around the live audience that will be sitting in the 1,500-seat theater Saturday night.
01:03The idea is to film the production as it appears on stage rather than in a stylized broadcast,
01:08which also means sometimes showing the audience.
01:11The co-founder of Den of Thieves told The Hollywood Reporter,
01:14it was very critical for George that we capture this as a theater experience.
01:18CNN will also be airing the production without commercials in keeping with the Broadway experience.
01:23The team plans to shoot the Friday evening show and the Saturday matinee as a rehearsal,
01:27which will then be reviewed before the live broadcast.
01:30The production team's director has already seen the show 12 times in preparation.
01:34The executive VP of talent at CNN Originals and Creative Development told THR,
01:39this was a great idea in the sense that, obviously, the theme of the play is what was happening to the press in the 1950s
01:45and very much relevant to what people talk about today in our audience, what we talk about sometimes.
01:50And so syncing that up just made all the sense in the world.
01:53For much more on this story, go to THR.com.
01:56This is The Hollywood Reporter News.
01:57The Hollywood Reporter News.