The Midnight Sky, adapted from Lily Brooks-Dalton's novel Good Morning, Midnight, is so much more
than a post-apocalyptic story.
It's a movie about loneliness, sacrifice, and coming to grips with big decisions as
the end draws nearer.
But more than anything, The Midnight Sky is a movie about hope.
Augustine is an aging scientist in a remote Arctic research center.
Sully is a young astronaut returning home from an outer space discovery mission.
What could they possibly have in common?
As it turns out, quite a bit.
Both Augustine and Sully turned their backs on traditional familial bliss in order to
explore the great unknown.
They're both stranded in vast, inhospitable spaces.
When communication systems around the world mysteriously stop working, both must reckon
with the knowledge that the world as we know it may be coming to a swift and definitive
end.
But neither is going to take the apocalypse lying down.
As Sully's ship rockets towards Earth, Augustine embarks on a journey across the unforgiving
Arctic landscape, hoping to warn Sully and her crew about the catastrophe waiting for
them on the ground.
Here's everything you should know before you watch The Midnight Sky.
George Clooney, who stars in The Midnight Sky, needs no introduction.
Clooney has long been one of the most popular, talented, and versatile actors in the entire
world.
He's not afraid to take on thoughtful and challenging parts, and he's able to bring
out the innate humanity in any character he plays.
Just look at his work in Syriana, which earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, legal
thriller Michael Clayton, and the Coen Brothers comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Clooney has the range and the depth to give Augustine's journey through the cold the gravitas
it deserves.
Audiences are in for a real treat.
Of course, Clooney is also a very talented director, and he brings his keen eye behind
the camera to The Midnight Sky as well.
Clooney's directorial debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, is a zany mashup of biopic
and over-the-top spy thriller.
His next, Good Night, and Good Luck is a black-and-white drama about the McCarthy era.
He's made a football comedy, a war film, and a racially fraught satire.
That's the filmography of a director who's drawn to one-of-a-kind scripts, and who pushes
himself as a filmmaker with every project.
The Midnight Sky may be new territory for Clooney, but that's only to be expected.
At least he has some help.
Producer Grant Heslov has been working with Clooney for over 15 years, and is an accomplished
writer and director in his own right.
Meanwhile, screenwriter Mark L. Smith, who adapted The Midnight Sky from Lily Brooks-Dalton's
book, Good Morning Midnight, also co-wrote The Revenant, so he knows a little something
about men fighting to survive in cold, inhospitable climates.
Finally, the film features a score from French composer Alexandre Desplat, who's taken home
Oscar gold for his scores to The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Shape of Water.
George Clooney isn't the only big name on The Midnight Sky's cast list.
Lots of other A-list talent helps him bring this unique take on the apocalypse to life.
First up is Felicity Jones, who plays Sully, and who you probably know as the lead of another,
very different space-based adventure: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
However, as far as Jones is concerned, Jyn Erso is really the tip of the iceberg.
Jones' breakthrough role as a British exchange student who falls in love with an American
in Like Crazy earned her a Special Jury Prize.
Her performance in The Theory of Everything, in which she plays Stephen Hawking's wife
Jane, scored her an Oscar nomination.
In 2016, she co-starred in the Da Vinci Code sequel Inferno, and in 2018 she starred as
legendary Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in On the Basis of Sex.
That's not all.
The Midnight Sky also features Friday Night Lights, Argo, and Bloodline leading man Kyle
Chandler; Selma's Golden Globe-nominated lead David Oyelowo; and Academy Award nominee Demián
Bichir.
Hunters' Tiffany Boone and Star Trek: Discovery's Spock, a.k.a. Ethan Peck, also appear in major
roles.
Finally, you haven't heard much about Clooney's youngest co-star, but you're about to.
The Midnight Sky is Caoilinn Springall's very first film.
If there's one thing you take away from The Midnight Sky it's this: It's always darkest
before the dawn — and even during the end of the world, there's still hope to be found.
Thanks for watching.
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