THE TERM ‘catch-22’ is used fast and loose these days, but not many know of its origins.
The term originated from Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel Catch-22, and refers to a paradoxical situation encountered by the protagonist John Yossarian, a US Air Force captain and B-25 bombardier serving in Italy during WWII.
Yossarian is told by an army psychiatrist that any pilot who pleads insanity as a reason for getting out of dangerous missions cannot really be considered insane, as only a sane man who is aware of the danger to himself would make the plea in the first place.
Conversely, any man who actually wants to fly dangerous missions must be insane.
The celebrated novel is a satirical view of army life, and focuses on attempts by Yossarian and other airmen in his camp to hold on to their sanity while fulfilling their tour of duty so that they may return home.
It was first adapted for the silver screen in 1970, starring Alan Arkin as Yossarian and Martin Balsam as his commanding officer, Colonel Cathcart, who thwarts all of Yossarian’s attempts to return home early.
Now, the book has been adapted for the small screen, as a six-episode limited series, which is executive-produced by Academy Award-winner George Clooney, who also stars as General Scheisskopf.
Playing Yossarian is Christopher Abbott (It Comes at Night; First Man), with Kyle Chandler taking on the role of his arch nemesis, Colonel Cathcart.
During a recent tele-conference interview with Chandler, he described his character as being obsessed with becoming a general and does what he can to please his superiors, including raising the number of missions his men have to fly to complete a tour of duty.
Every time Yossarian comes close to hitting his target and getting an automatic ticket home, Cathcart raises the number.
Chandler admitted that he was initially shocked that they were going to do a mini-series based on the novel, because he thought Catch-22 was a classic that would be hard to recreate or re-imagine.
Once he got over that initial shock, he was drawn to the script, saying: “It was so well put together, so interesting, so full of wit, and I loved the time period.
“I don’t remember reading the book as a kid, but I remember watching the movie when I was younger.”
Chandler also realised the series was going to be fun to work on: “There were a lot of opportunities [to explore] with the material.”
He was also excited to work with everyone involved in the production, saying “it was hard to say ‘no’ to”.
Speaking about the efforts of writers Luke Davies and David Michôd to adapt the book, Chandler said: “It took a year to bring down over 100 characters in the book to 10 or 12 main characters in this production.”
After being cast, he did his best to prepare for his role, having been given the script before travelling to the Italian island of Sardinia to shoot the series.
Aside from the script, Chandler also referred to the book and the 1970 film in order to get under the skin of his character.
He described Colonel Cathcart as one of the more enjoyable characters he has played, as well as one of the more difficult ones.
To get into character, Chandler said he thought of how Cathcart must have been like before the war, and after the war.
“My main goal was to make him as human as possible. I did not want him to be a stereotype.I worked very diligently. I had very large pieces of dialogue throughout.
“I wanted to make sure that when the directors asked me to tweak something in the middle of [the scene], I was able to do so without having to worry about the rest of the material.
“That was my major goal – that I could bend and twist the material any way they wanted to.”
Catch Catch-22 on June 4 at 9.15pm on HBO (Astro channel 411/ 431 HD).
