Justice for movie stars. We are just a few months shy of when Noah Baumbach‘s ode to a fictional movie star is released, with one of our starriest film stars at its center playing said fictional movie star — George Clooney — and plenty more playing less famous characters. “Jay Kelly” will present a modern day Cary Grant (who is even referenced in the teaser trailer) as he struggles to juggle his life as a mega famous actor. As the teaser previews, Jay Kelly is accused of just playing himself — a criticism that has been levied, too, on Clooney, as well as the Netflix movie’s co-star Adam Sandler. And Clooney said he doesn’t “give a shit” if people do think that.
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“Have you ever tried playing yourself? It’s hard to do,” Clooney told Vanity Fair, co-opting a line from “Jay Kelly.”
The “Ocean’s Eleven” star pointed out that, “There aren’t that many guys in my age group that are allowed to do both broad comedies like ‘O Brother [Where Art Thou?]’ and then do ‘Michael Clayton’ or ‘Syriana.’ So if that means I’m playing myself all the time, I don’t give a shit.”
Clooney also defended Sandler, who he called a “beautiful, heartfelt, soulful actor.” “I kept telling the cast, ‘Don’t call him ‘Sand Man.’ Don’t talk to him like he’s just some goofy comedian. He’s actually a really beautiful, wonderful actor… Because of what his paycheck is, which is doing big goofy comedies, when he does these other, beautiful, ‘Uncut Gems’ kinds of movies, it reminds people of that. He’s not just a good comedian.”
In the movie, Sandler is Jay Kelly’s manager Ron. Explaining his role to Vanity Fair, Sandler said, “My character loves George’s character so much, and I thought that would be fun to do and easy to do with George. And as a guy who’s an actor who’d live a similar life to Jay Kelly, it’s a crazy depiction — how accurate a lot of it is.”
The film showcases Jay and Ron going on an “unexpectedly profound journey through Europe,” or so Netflix’s official synopsis reads. This seems to be a journey full of big names. The movie, co-written by Baumbach with actress Emily Mortimer, also features Mortimer with… big breath… Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, Riley Keough, Grace Edwards, Stacy Keach, Jim Broadbent, Patrick Wilson, Eve Hewson, Greta Gerwid, Alba Rohurwacher, Josh Hamilton, Lenny Henry, Nicôle Lecky, Thedda Graham, and Isla Fisher. Phew.
To compare Jay Kelly to Cary Grant is astute, considering that the legendary Old Hollywood actor — who spent the better part of three decades as a top box office star and continued to be a well-known personality through retirement — was on the record saying, “Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant. I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be until finally I became that person. Or he became me. Or we met at some point.”
Grant’s persona ended up being, like Clooney’s, versatile across a wide variety of genres, from action flicks like “North by Northwest” and screwball comedies like “Bringing Up Baby,” to epics like “The Pride and the Passion” and heartfelt dramas like “None but the Lonely Heart.” Clooney, similarly, has stretched his charm across every type of film and has even bridged into the theater. Last spring, Clooney was Tony-nominated for his stage adaptation of “Good Night, and Good Luck.”
Netflix will give the movie an awards-qualifying limited release November 14 before releasing it on the streamer December 5.
