One very unlikely Oscar winner next year could be the late Joseph McCarthy, the US senator responsible for the witch-hunts in the 1950s, if George Clooney had his way.
Clooney directed the new film Good Night And Good Luck which features footage of McCarthy who attempted to rid the movie industry of those 'traitors' he deemed to be communist sympathisers. The movie, a highlight of the Venice Film Festival, focusses on McCarthy's 1954 television showdown with CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow which some believe was the beginning of the senator's fall from grace.
In an interview with Reuters, Clooney half-joked that he will start a campaign to get McCarthy nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category although a more likely nomination will be for the film's star, David Strathairn, who plays Murrow.
In the interview Clooney said about the 90-minute black and white film, "We decided to use McCarthy, the way Murrow did. If we used an actor, people would say he was too oafish or too large. It was better to let him do it in his own words and it was much cheaper," Clooney said in a recent interview with Reuters.