George Clooney returning to TV

The 56-year-old actor-and-director - who became a household name playing Dr. Doug Ross in medical drama series ‘E.R.’ from 1994 to 1999 - will star in and direct an adaptation of Joseph Heller’s satirical novel ‘Catch-22’, Deadline reports. The six-part miniseries is being produced by Paramount Television and Anonymous Content, and is expected to begin production in 2018. ‘Catch-22’ - which will have a script written by Luke Davies and David Michod - follows US airman Yossarian and his attempts to avoid the fighting in Italy during World War II, as he knows the situation is likely to end in death. But he runs up against the army’s Catch-22 policy, which states that if someone is rational enough to try to evade combat, they are sane enough to continue fighting. George’s role as the malicious Colonel Cathcart marks his first acting job since his appearance as a slick TV presenter held hostage in 2016’s ‘Money Monster’. He will be joined as director on the show by his long-term collaborator Grant Heslov. The ‘Suburbicon’ filmmaker - who has five-month-old twins Alexander and Ella with wife Amal - recently admitted he isn’t as interested in acting as he used to be, and even the money doesn’t really tempt him. He said: “Look, I acted for a long time and, you know, I’m 56. I’m not the guy that gets the girl any more... I shouldn’t be the guy that gets the girl. “But, look, if somebody’s got Paul Newman in ‘The Verdict’, I’d jump. But there aren’t that many like that. “Acting used to be how I paid the rent, but I sold a tequila company for a billion f***ing dollars. I don’t need money.” — Bangshowbiz