By Helen Barlow
Director Noah Baumbach and actor Adam Sandler were on hand at The 82nd Venice Film Festival for their warmly received comedy drama Jay Kelly, the story of a fading movie star played by George Clooney.
The combination of George Clooney and Adam Sandler in Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly was always bound to be one of the most covered films at the 82nd Venice Film Festival. And indeed, the paparazzi were hot on the heels of the stars as they arrived in Venice. Clooney looked glamorous with his wife Amal, while Sandler was more casually dressed as usual. Still, Sandler wore a suit for the film’s press conference, but there was unfortunately no sign of George Clooney, who had come down with a sinus infection.
In the widely praised, heartwarming dramedy, written by Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story, Frances Ha) and actress/writer Emily Mortimer, Clooney is a famous movie star who has dedicated himself to his career, to the detriment of his family, namely two adult daughters that he rarely sees. Sandler is his manager Ron and essentially his only friend, though unlike Jay, he has managed to make time for his family, his wife (played by Greta Gerwig, Baumbach’s wife) and we see him playing tennis with his adult daughter.
The story follows Jay and Ron embarking on a trip to Europe and ultimately Italy where Jay will receive a career tribute. Jay invites his family in an effort to make amends. Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly is highly commercial, and strong awards contender Adam Sandler steals the film from George Clooney. The film is funny as well as poignant.
“I’ve always appreciated my manager, my agent, my publicist and I know how hard they work and how difficult it is through my ups and downs to back me up even if I can be a little loud at times,” Adam Sandler says at Venice Film Festival. “But I was very excited to play someone who gives his heart to Jay. People who work with me feel I do the same. If you work hard like all of us do, you’re writing and you lock yourself in a room, but I always try to find time for my family. I try to bring them wherever I go but it can’t happen every time and your heart’s broken, you miss them. But FaceTime is nice too.”
Baumbach recalls becoming very close with Sandler on 2017’s The Meyerowitz Stories, their previous film together. “Adam does have such grace, loyalty, generosity and heart around the people he works with and with his family. He really does make an effort to involve everyone and has found a way to successfully navigate this whole thing and do it so beautifully. It was exciting for me to have him play someone who represents Adam and that generosity of spirit, in the love that he feels for Jay.”
Sandler admits that being in the movie was not about constantly trying to find jokes and laugh moments, as he does with his comedies. “I’ve done two movies with Noah, and I could not be more proud, the feeling it gives you — you lock in, you’re invested, your heart gets broken, you get relief and there’s tension. He knows how to do everything and finds places with all the characters to make you laugh and to feel pain. When you read a script like this, you go, ‘Holy shit, I can’t believe I’m getting this gift.’”
Baumbach wrote the movie for Clooney. “I’ve known George over the years, and I’ve been wanting to find something to do with him,” the director explains. “Early on, we said that this is going to be George. In some sense, I felt it was important that the audience watching the movie had a relationship with the actors playing the characters. It’s interesting because the character is running from himself for so much of the movie, deflecting and trying to hide. Essentially, I was asking George to put more of himself, and he does that. I’m not one to get emotional on set, but I really did on this movie.”
Jay Kelly is released in cinemas on November 20.
