Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1152740
C A T C H - 2 2 | P E R S P E C T I V E 3 9 To begin with, find a location to stand in for the WWII home of the US Army/Air Force Base, the 356th Bomb Squadron, on an island in the Mediterranean. By today's aviation standards, one would need a mile of runway to land a vintage aircraft and approximately ten acres of land on which to create the base. The location does not have to be in Italy, where the story takes place, or even on an actual island. In addition, sets and locations will need to be created that represent WWII Rome, Bologna, Palermo, various small Italian villages, Malta, Algiers and an additional USAAF base in Santa Ana, California. And add to the list a squadron of vintage, working WWII planes. Almost all of this sounds too familiar. It was that damn runway that was the tricky part. At the end of November 2017, I had a call from my agent to tell me that George Clooney and Grant Heslov were producing and directing a six- part miniseries based on Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22. Their longtime collaborator, Jim Bissell, was not available and would I be interested? Being familiar with the novel, Mike Nichols' 1970 film, and having recently worked with George and Grant as producers, I was very interested. That interest increased tenfold when I read Luke Davies and David Michôd's beautifully crafted, incredibly moving scripts. Although filming would not begin until May 2018, there was a tremendous amount of work to do in order to determine where to film. Producing partners Paramount TV and Anonymous had a wish list that included the United Kingdom, Malta, mainland Spain, the Canary Islands and Italy. I spent all of December trading emails and Skype calls with all the countries concerned and poured over hundreds of location photos. Simultaneously, I had put together images to share with George and Grant (Ellen Kuras joined the project as producer and director just shortly before shooting began) as inspiration for the base and each of the multitude of countries, cities, interiors and exteriors depicted in the screenplay. At the same time, I began conversations with the two aerial coordinators, Mike Woodley and David Paris, to understand all the necessary requirements for each of the aircraft that would be employed. In my first conversation with George and Grant, we agreed that although we wanted to be absolutely accurate with period detail and historical fact, we also wanted to look at the story with modern eyes. We didn't want the audience to be overwhelmed by period details, but more importantly, overwhelmed by the texture, emotion, light and air these character breathed. I know that sounds awfully esoteric, but I think that's what lets the audience in. That's what lets them be more than just observers. With all this in mind, I set out for Europe and the UK on January 1, with a plan that George and Grant would join me at the end of the January to make a final determination on where we would land our film. In order to cover as much ground as possible, I enlisted a favorite collaborator, location manager Charlie Harrington, to take on Malta and the Ask me the biggest challenge in designing Catch-22. A. PRODUCTION STILL OF THE AIRFIELD. B. ILLUSTRATION BY MARCO TORRESIN OF THE ROME AIRPORT.