Catch-22 Trivia | 70 facts about the Hulu miniseries

Catch-22 is a popular miniseries aires on Hulu, that has tones of dark and satirical humour in it.

Let’s find out more about it!

1. Catch-22 is a satirical dark comedy miniseries.
2. It was based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Joseph Heller.
3. It premiered on May 17, 2019, on Hulu in the United States.
4. The series stars Christopher Abbott, Kyle Chandler, Hugh Laurie, and George Clooney.
5. George Clooney is also one of the executive producers.
6. Grant Heslov, Luke Davies, David Michôd, Richard Brown, Steve Golin, and Ellen Kuras also serve as executice producers.
7. The series was written by Davies and Michôd.
8. It was directed by Clooney, Heslov, and Kuras.
9. Actually, each one of the directed two episodes.
10. According to the IMDB synopsis Captain John Yossarian, a World War II bombardier, is stationed on the island of Pianosa. He is an individualist who seeks to protect his own life by fleeing to the hospital, since a “catch-22” in the Air Force regulations prevents him from being grounded for illness or obtaining a leave.
11. The name of George Clooney’s character is Scheisskopf. In German, “kopf” means “head” (in both the anatomical and hierarchical senses) and “scheiss” is a vulgarism meaning “feces” (and having the same colloquial meaning as the English word “shit”). So translated literally, “Scheisskopf” means “shithead,” though that exact insult doesn’t exist in German.
12. George Clooney claimed that all three directors including himself were present on set every day of filming every episode.
13. He laso claimed that they were together every day of post-production.
14. When asked about filming the sex scenes, Julie Ann Emery said “The sex scenes and nudity in Catch-22 were handled better than on any other set I have ever been on. And I think that is owed entirely to the #MeToo movement and awareness being raised. The inner set was shut down to a degree that I have seldom seen, and we could see where the monitors were so we could tell who was watching the screens. I also found out later that the producers requested that as many women working on production as possible be present on the larger sound stage to try to balance out the gender numbers, which definitely had a psychologically positive effect on me. Think of it this way, most sets are 75%-80% male. If you are a woman being asked to disrobe in an environment where there are so few women, it can begin by feeling like a hostile environment just by the sheer numbers alone… I was massively empowered by directors George Clooney and Grant Heslov. I was given great agency over my choices and my body. That was new for me. I was accustomed to a more aggressive environment on scenes of that nature. This felt more like, ‘let’s figure out what the shot is and what is physically happening so we can get down to the scene work.’ It blew my mind a little bit. The scene work became much more interesting because the physical aspects were handled well and we were comfortable.”
15. George Clooney was originally supposed to be playing Colonel Cathcart.
16. Some commitments though prevented him from taking on such a prominent role.
17. Instead, he took on the smaller supporting part of General Scheisskopf with Kyle Chandler taking on the role of Cathcart
18. Most of the bombers shown are B-25’s
19. Two functioning B-25 aircraft were brought from the U.S. to Sardinia to be used in aerial scenes.
20. More planes were added digitally in post production.
21. “Catch-22” was a book (written by Joseph Heller, pub 1961) and then a 1970 movie starring Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam (George Clooney’s ex father in law, the character played by Kyle Chandler), Richard Benjamin, Orson Welles, Art Garfunkel et al.
22. After his experience producing True Detective (2014), Richard Brown was interested in similar properties that would work well in a mini-series format.
23. His discussions with Luke Davies brought up the subject of Joseph Heller’s novel which he, Davies and David Michôd all agreed would benefit from expansion from the 2 hour running time of Mike Nichols’ film.
24. Having fallen in love with the novel when he first read it in high school, Luke Davies was determined to bring a new adaptation to the screen.
25. Perhaps confusingly, the Channel Four (UK) version of the end titles references Filmways Inc amongst the other co-production companies.
26. The 1970 Mike Nichols film version was produced by Filmways, and bank-rolled by Paramount Pictures, which is how by various legacy arrangements, some of the Rights for this Hulu streaming/traditional broadcast Television version ended up making it a co-production with Paramount Television in 2018-19. The rights to most other (non-feature) Filmways properties, were acquired by Orion Pictures and then in turn ultimately by MGM, which doesn’t appear to have an interest in this series apart from their defunct Filmways label.
27. In season 1 episode 5 the young mechanic is shown with an electric welding machine from behind, which makes no sense in a wreck. In closeup you see him with an acetylene cutting torch, which makes much more sense.
28. George Clooney’s first foray in television as an actor since he quit appeared in the closing episodes of ER ten years earlier. However, George Clooney had appeared in the live TV performance of “Fail Safe” in 2000.
29. David Michôd was originally set to direct but was too busy as his film The King (2019) went into production.
30. In the novel, Yossarian’s first name, John, is not revealed until the very end of the book, despite him being the main character.
31. On November 16, 2017, the production was officially announced
32. But a network had yet to be determined
33. On January 12, 2018, it was announced that Hulu was in negotiations for the series
34. Two days later, it was officially confirmed that the production had been given a six episode order
35. On March 16, 2018, it was announced that Ellen Kuras was joining Clooney and Heslov in directing the limited series
36. The trio is set to direct all six episodes
37. With each one directing two apiece
38. Kuras is also expected to serve as an executive producer for the miniseries as well
39. On May 7, 2018, it was announced that Italy’s Sky Italia was joining the production as a co-producer
40. Alongside the series order announcement, it was reported that in addition to directing the series George Clooney had been cast in the role of Colonel Cathcart
41. On March 9, 2018, it was announced that Christopher Abbott had been cast in the lead role of John Yossarian
42. On April 3, 2018, it was announced that Hugh Laurie had joined the main cast in the role of Major de Coverley
43. On April 13, 2018, it was announced that Clooney would no longer be playing the role of Colonel Cathcart
44. And would instead assume the smaller supporting role of Lieutenant, Scheisskopf
45. It was simultaneously announced that Kyle Chandler would be replacing him in the role
46. On May 3, 2018, it was reported that Daniel David Stewart, Austin Stowell, Rafi Gavron, Graham Patrick Martin, Pico Alexander, Jon Rudnitsky, Gerran Howell, and Lewis Pullman had joined the supporting cast
47. As members of the “Merry Band”
48. A few days later, it was announced that Tessa Ferrer and Jay Paulson had been cast as Nurse Duckett and The Chaplain, respectively
49. Towards the end of the month, it was reported that Giancarlo Giannini had been cast in the role of Marcello
50. On June 13, 2018, it was announced that Harrison Osterfield had been cast in the role of Snowden
51. On July 9, 2018, it was reported that Julie Ann Emery had been cast in the recurring role of Marion Scheisskopf
52. Principal photography was scheduled to commence at the end of May 2018 in Sardinia and Rome in Italy
53. On July 10, 2018, George Clooney was struck by a car while riding a motorcycle to the set of the series
54. He was taken to a hospital in Olbia
55. There he was later released that same day
56. Clooney was expected to spend a few days recovering from the accident before resuming filming
57. Filming for the series concluded on September 4, 2018, in Santa Teresa Gallura, Italy
58. On December 19, 2018, a series of images from the series were released
59. On February 11, 2019, the first teaser for the series was released
60. The series will premier on May 17, 2019
61. In the United Kingdom, the series is set to air on Channel 4
62. In France, the series is set to air on Canal+
63. Joseph Heller sketched out “Catch-22″‘s concept and characters in about 90 minutes.
64. Heller recalled the birth of his most famous novel as if it were a classic movie scene. While lying in bed in his apartment on the West Side of Manhattan in the early 1950s.
65. Heller was struck with what would become the iconic opening line of the story: “It was love at first sight. The first time he saw the chaplain, ‘Someone’ fell madly in love with him,” with “he” and “someone” holding the place for Heller’s protagonist’s eventual name, Yossarian.
66. Over the course of an hour and a half, he developed the basic plot and collection of characters that he’d ultimately pour into his novel.
67. Joseph Heller wrote the first chapter of “Catch-22” at work the following day.
68. Joseph Heller went through four numbers for the book’s title before landing on 22.
69. The original title of the story, as published in “New World Writing,” was “Catch-18.”
70. “Catch-22” as a book was initially only popular on the East Coast.