A working title of the film was Murrow and Me. Good Night, and Good Luck was released in black and white. Logos and onscreen credits for most of the film’s production and distribution companies appear before the title card, which precedes the film’s opening sequence. All other credits appear after the film. The first listing of onscreen cast credits ends with “and Diane Reeves,” the name of the singer who, with a jazz combo, performs musical interludes of 1950s-era standards that comment indirectly on the action of the film and occasionally continue as soundtrack under brief montages. Some sources erroneously reported the name of the character played by Jeff Daniels as “Ted Church.”
       The date of each sequence is superimposed over the action at the start of the scene, with the place occasionally added for clarity. The film commences with the beginning of a 1958 speech by broadcast journalist “Edward R. Murrow,” portrayed by actor David Strathairn, to the Radio and Television News Directors Association. After the story flashes back to 14 Oct 1953, a written prologue scrolling over the action states that Americans were concerned about the threat of Communism throughout the 1940s and 1950s, and that Senator Joseph R. McCarthy was leading a campaign to identify Communist party members. The statement ends by stating that few in the press stood up to McCarthy for fear of being targeted.
       The phrase, “Good night, and good luck,” was the real-life Murrow’s signoff on his radio and television programs, a custom he began in his early years as a CBS news correspondent. The career of Murrow (1908--1965), who is still considered the model of integrity and thoughtful broadcast journalism by current newsmen, came to prominence during World War II when, as a CBS radio correspondent, he made a series of broadcasts from England, beginning with another one of his signature phrases, “This is London.” The many reporters and producers Murrow mentored during the early days at CBS were referred to as “Murrow’s Boys” and went on to become leaders in their field. After the war, among Murrow’s many activities was the creation of spoken-word historical albums, called I Can Hear It Now, which was his first venture with producer Fred Friendly (portrayed in the film by director and co-writer George Clooney).
       In 1950, Murrow and Friendly co-produced the weekly radio show for CBS, Hear It Now, which they moved to television in 1951 and renamed See It Now. Among the topics covered on the show, in addition to Radulovich and McCarthy, which were shown in Good Night, and Good Luck, were the painter Grandma Moses, J. Robert Oppenheimer and nuclear technology, and the relationship between cigarette smoking and cancer. The series ran until 1955, when, as shown in the film, Alcoa Aluminum withdrew its sponsorship. As mentioned in the film, the show was aired irregularly during its last year. In 1953, Murrow began hosting a second weekly television show, Person to Person, which featured celebrity interviews and was a popular cultural phenomenon.
       During the early 1950s, McCarthy (1908--1957), a Republican junior senator from Wisconsin, chaired the Senate Committee on Government Operations and its Subcommittee on Investigations. In search of Communists who had infiltrated the government, as well as other positions in the nation, the committee investigated and questioned a large number of people about their political pasts, most of whom ultimately were proven to be innocent of Communist affiliation. To clear themselves, the witnesses, who often were targeted for minor events in their lives, were expected to name others they knew who had links, however tenuous, to Communist organizations. Anyone protesting the committee’s actions risked becoming a target, and a climate of fear developed.
       As depicted in the film, one of those highlighted by McCarthy’s investigations was first generation Yugoslavian-American, Air Force Reserve Lieutenant Milo Radulovich, who was discharged from the service because his sister and non-English speaking father were accused of being Communist sympathizers. These accusations were based on the family’s subscription to the American Slav Congress, a newspaper that had been designated as Communist by the U.S. Attorney General. A month after Murrow featured Radulovich’s story in an episode of See It Now and suggested that the son should not be punished for the sins of his father, the Army rescinded Radulovich’s discharge. Murrow and his colleagues became a target for McCarthy’s inquisition, which led to their decision to strike preemptively by devoting an episode entitled “A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy.” The program was positively received all over the country and one of several incidents that influenced American public opinion against McCarthy and McCarthyism.
       According to the official website for Good Night, and Good Luck, the legendary Murrow was a “hero” to the family of George Clooney, whose father Nick was a news-anchor for thirty years. Wanting to do a project about Murrow, Clooney considered writing a television movie about the reporter, which he envisioned as a live broadcast similar to one of his previous projects, Fail Safe, which aired on CBS in 2000. According to the Baseline Studio Systems website, Maysville Pictures was the production company attached to the project when it was in development as a live television movie at CBS for the 1999-2000 season. After CBS turned the project down, Clooney and co-writer Grant Heslov (who also portrayed “Don Hewitt” in the film) decided to write their homage to Murrow as a feature film, focusing on a specific period of time instead of creating a traditional biopic.
       According to an Oct 2005 LADN article, because Clooney and Heslov expected that critics would marginalize any Murrow film for the smallest inaccuracies in the story, they were as scrupulous as possible in their recreation, double-sourcing every event just as a reporter would. Several of Murrow’s See It Now telecasts and portions of his banquet speech were reproduced verbatim in the film. In an Oct 2005 Premiere interview, Clooney stated that he and Heslov interviewed Milo Radulovich and members of Murrow’s and Fred Friendly’s families. The production notes stated that Radulovich, Joe and Shirley Wershba, and members of Friendly’s family were present at the initial read-through of the script, and the Wershbas served as consultants to the film.
       Clooney used original 1950s footage of the senator, because, according to the film’s production notes, Clooney and Heslov decided that no actor could convincingly play McCarthy without inviting criticism of a biased portrayal. In a Nov 2005 Sight&Sound interview, Clooney explained, “people would have said we were making him too harsh or too feeble,” if an actor had portrayed him. In order to match the original 1950s footage and also to capture the look of early television shows, the rest of the film, although shot in color, was converted to black and white.
       The original footage of Radulovich shown on See It Now, which was captured by the real-life reporter Joe Wershba, was intercut with modern footage of Robert Downey, Jr., who played him in the film. Original television commercials advertising Alcoa Aluminum and Kent Cigarettes are included in the film. Also included is footage of Liberace and Gina Lollobrigida from Murrow’s actual Person to Person interviews, which are intercut with shots of Strathairn portraying Murrow, who was normally in the studio while the celebrities he interviewed were seen in their homes or other remote locations. Also used in the film is original, restored footage of McCarthy’s committee hearings, including portions of an interrogation of Annie Lee Moss and footage showing Joseph Welch, the attorney for the Army, challenge McCarthy with his now famous question, “Have you no sense of decency…?” The latter, which was witnessed by millions of viewers, was originally aired on the ABC and DuMont networks on 9 Jun 1954 during the Army-McCarthy Hearings (which ran from 22 Apr—17 Jun 1954).
       Although, according to an Oct 2005 LADN article, Clooney originally considered playing the part of Murrow himself, he decided that his own wise-cracking, playboy image would tarnish his portrayal of the legendary figure, who “always looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.” Instead, the role was filled by Strathairn, who many reviewers lauded for being able to capture the essence of Murrow rather than merely imitate him. As noted in the Citybeat and other reviews, ensemble scenes set in the studio offices were portrayed “realistically chaotic” by brisk, overlapping dialogue, which the actors often improvised. Many of the characters in the film are never introduced by name, although press notes distributed at screenings included short biographies of the characters’ real-life counterparts. The official website for Good Night, and Good Luck presented the biographies, as well as supplementary background information detailing events in the story that are not explained during the film.
       The production notes reported that Murrow’s cramped See It Now set was authentically replicated. An authentic piece of 1950s ambience, as noted in several reviews, was the highly visible presence of the smoke of cigarettes, which the actors continuously inhaled. Murrow, who was rarely seen on air without a cigarette, died of lung cancer in 1965. Another atmospheric element of the film was the jazz combo featuring Dianne Reeves performing for a musical variety show, Shower of Stars (an actual monthly musical variety show on CBS between 1954 and 1958), on a soundstage down the hall from Murrow’s.
       During a conversation early in the film, Murrow and Fred mention “the Alsop Brothers” and “Block.” Joseph and Stewart Alsop were political journalists for the New York Herald Tribune, Saturday Evening Post, and Newsweek. Herbert Block, was a Washington Post editorial cartoonist who, in his now famous cartoon published in 1950, coined the phrase “McCarthyism,” a term that became synonymous with political “witch-hunts” and anti-Communist hysteria. The cartoon depicted four Republicans trying to force a balky elephant (the traditional symbol of their political party) onto a stack of buckets containing tar, which were labeled “McCarthyism.”
       According to modern sources, Murrow’s 1958 speech damaged his long friendship with CBS chairman William S. Paley (1901—1990), and in 1961 he resigned from CBS to head the United States Information Agency. Friendly was promoted to head of the CBS News Division in 1964, but resigned in 1966, after the network decided to air a rerun of the comedy, I Love Lucy, instead of broadcasting live coverage of the Senate’s hearings on the country’s involvement in Vietnam. Don Hewitt, and Joe and Shirley Wershba, the latter portrayed by Patricia Clarkson in the film, became producers of the groundbreaking CBS news magazine program, 60 Minutes, a decade later.
       According to Clooney’s website, the budget for Good Night, and Good Luck was $7.5 million and the cast and crew worked for “scale” wages. A contemporary website added to the cast Joseph Dowd (Reporter), Katharine Phillips Moser (Jesse Zousmer’s wife) and Bruna Raynaud (Sig Mickelson’s wife).
       Good Night, and Good Luck had its premiere as the opening film at the Sep 2005 Venice Film Festival, where it won five of the six awards for which it was nominated. The picture also was the closing film for the London Film Festival on 3 Nov 2005. In addition to being named one of AFI’s ten Movies of the Year for 2005, Good Night, and Good Luck received acknowledgments from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for Best Cinematography and from the National Board of Review for Best Picture. The film received Independent Spirit Award nominations for Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Male Lead and Best Cinematography.
       Good Night, and Good Luck was nominated for six Academy Awards, for Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction and Actor (Strathairn). The film also received Golden Globe nominations, for Best Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Actor in a Motion Picture--Drama and Best Screenplay—Motion Picture. Other nominations include Best Production from the Producers Guild of America, Best Original Screenplay from the Writers Guild of America, and Best Director from the Directors Guild of America. The Screen Actors Guild nominated Strathairn for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role and the ensemble for Outstanding Acting by a Cast. The Broadcast Film Critics Association awarded the picture their Freedom Award and nominated the film for Best Picture, Best Actor (Strathairn), Best Acting Ensemble, Best Director and Best Writer.