Paul Gross, right, is currently starring in Canadian Stage’s production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in Toronto until Feb. 16.Dahlia Katz/Bluma Appel Theatre
Canadian stage and screen star Paul Gross will return to Broadway this spring, acting opposite George Clooney in a new adaptation of the film Good Night, and Good Luck.
Gross will play CBS executive William S. Paley, originally played by Frank Langella in the 2005 historical drama about American journalism.
“The play is eerily prescient, the creative team is a powerhouse and the city isn’t too shabby either,” joked Gross in an exclusive e-mailed statement to The Globe, expressing his excitement for the role.
Gross, a member of the Order of Canada, rose to prominence in Canadian television following his roles on Due South in the 1990s, Slings & Arrows in the early 2000s and Republic of Doyle in the early 2010s.
Throughout his career, he’s also spent plenty of time onstage, from his 2011 appearance in Noël Coward’s Private Lives (which transferred from Toronto to Broadway) to his time in the title role of the Stratford Festival’s 2023 production of King Lear.
“I saw the film when it first was released and thought it was not only wonderful but important,” said Gross of Good Night, and Good Luck, whose screenplay and stage adaptation were co-written by Clooney and Grant Heslov. “Its thematic subject seems even more incisive in the unstable world of today. It’s also an unusual piece of theatre that should resonate deeply with audiences.”
Gross is currently engaged as George in Canadian Stage’s production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which closes in Toronto on Feb. 16. The three-and-a-half-hour production sees him act opposite his wife, fellow actor Martha Burns, in a story that goes to fairly dark places.
“It’s been a tremendous privilege to endure,” said Gross of the experience. “Exhilaratingly punishing. It will be a nice change for Martha and I to hang out in our New York apartment without screaming at each other for three hours.”
When asked about the casting process for Good Night, and Good Luck, which begins previews at New York’s Winter Garden Theatre on March 12, Gross unleashed his legendarily dry sense of humour.
“The truth is that I lent Mr. Clooney a considerable sum of money many years ago, which he has been outrageously delinquent in repaying,” he quipped. “After tremendous pressure being applied through several acquaintances in the underworld, he finally proposed a role in the production as compensation. I now consider his debt repaid. Partially.”
