A World War II fighter pilot confronts the mental madness of war in the trailer for the limited series adaptation of Joseph Hellers classic novel, Catch-22, premiering May 17th on Hulu.
The six-part series stars Christopher Abbott as Yossarian, an Air Force bombardier based in Italy who is desperate to end his service. But as he learns in the opening moments of the trailer, theres a nefarious army doctrine keeping him on the front: Anytime a soldier claims theyre crazy and asks to get out of combat duty, its actually proof that theyre sane and totally fit to fight because only a truly insane person would willingly continue to fly dangerous missions.
The nonsense logic of the catch-22 permeates the whole the military bureaucracy, which keeps raising the number of missions Yossarian must fly to complete his service. The trailer boasts plenty of darkly funny moments, like George Clooneys character, Colonel Scheisskopf, arguing with a stenographer, and Hugh Lauries Major de Coverley accidentally walking into a room filled with Nazis. But as the clip progresses, the strange and surreal gets mixed with the actual chaos and horrors of war.
The all-star cast for Catch-22 also includes Kyle Chandler as Colonel Cathcart, Giancarlo Giannini as Marcello, Daniel David Stewart as Milo, Rafi Gavron as Aarfy, Graham Patrick Martin as Orr, Grant Heslov as Doc Daneeka and Tessa Ferrer as Nurse Duckett. Clooney and Heslov served as executive producers on the series and shared directing duties with producer Ellen Kuras.