Catch-22: How it was shot

Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel Catch-22 is set in World War Two, but it’s clear that the makers of the first television adaptation - including series executive producer, director and star George Clooney - believe its satirical take on the insanity of war is just as relevant today.

It follows a US bombing squadron whose leaders continually raise the number of missions their men are required to fly before being sent home, resulting in no one being sent home.

The only way out is to claim insanity, but a request to be removed from duty is proof of sanity, hence the bureaucratic rule Catch-22.

“The very idea of war is absurd,” says cinematographer Martin Ruhe, ASC. “For anti-hero Yossarian this is simply about life and death. The stakes could not be higher. But for characters like Milo, war is a huge business opportunity. This is not just absurd; this is how war is.”

While Yossarian (Christopher Abbott) rages at the sheer insanity of it all, his problems are compounded by characters in his own army including the profiteering Milo Minderbender (Daniel Stewart), mediocre commander Major de Coverly (Hugh Laurie) and parade loving Lieutenant Scheisskopf (Clooney).

Ruhe had previously lensed The American, a taut thriller set in Italy starring Clooney and produced by Grant Heslov. It was Heslov and Clooney who approached Ruhe to photograph Catch 22.

“They wanted it to look like…