Clooney’s first answer for my interview began, “It was fun because I always loved Alexander—I’m sorry, I was just talking to Alexander. I always love
Clooney’s first answer for my interview began, “It was fun because I always loved Alexander—I’m sorry, I was just talking to Alexander. I always loved Noah.” An innocent mistake, referring to filmmaker Alexander Payne instead of Baumbach—but perhaps a telling one. Clooney got his last acting Oscar nomination nearly 15 years ago, for Payne’s The Descendants—and this modern film will surely put him back in the awards conversation. Until our chat, the actor didn’t know that Payne is also presiding over the competition jury for this year’s Venice Film Festival, where Jay Kelly will make its world premiere later this month. “I’d do a movie with that guy any day of the week,” he says with a smile. “I’m not buttering up.”
You can count the movies Clooney has appeared in since 2017 on one hand. And while Baumbach may not have been running dozens of takes with Clooney, the director did find the actor willing—even eager—to sync up with his methods. “George really was, like, ‘I’m here for you to work the way you feel we should work,’” Baumbach says. “Within a scene, you can feel this dashing, debonair movie star—and then you can see an older father, or a son who’s trying to get the approval of his father, or a friend in terms of Ron. He is able to make all these transformations invisibly.”
Clooney is too much of a pro to not make it look simple, and he speaks of making Jay Kelly like a family affair. He’s been genial with Sandler for decades. He’s had costar Isla Fisher over to his home a bunch. He appeared in his first-ever movie, the misbegotten Grizzly II: Revenge, alongside Laura Dern more than 40 years ago, and she’s been like his “little sister” ever since. Clooney is our assured guide into this tartly amusing, carefully nostalgic portrait of Hollywood. He may never have been this comfortable onscreen; he’s maybe never before been pushed to look inward like this.
“Part of being 64 and having been in the business for a long time now—you do get to know people, right?” he says. “What a treat. I got to be along for the ride.”
Jay Kelly will premiere at the Venice Film Festival before it’s released in US theaters on November 14. Netflix will then stream the film beginning December 5. This feature is part of Awards Insider’s exclusive fall film festival coverage, including first looks and exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names set to hit Venice, Telluride, and Toronto.
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