George Clooney plays a movie star embarking on a journey through self discovery in his latest film Jay Kelly, and though he may seem similar to the character, Clooney said it was the differences between them that drew him in.
“When I read the script, the two things I thought of were I knew how to play the guy, but I was also so thrilled that in real life I hadn’t lived a life of regret, which is what this guy is dealing with at 64 years old,” the star told The Hollywood Reporter at the project’s New York Film Festival premiere on Monday. “So I was thrilled that I was going to get a chance to explore it, but I was also thrilled that I wasn’t actually living that life.”
The film was co-written and directed by Noah Baumbach, who revealed during the post-screening Q&A that he and Clooney had met 20 years ago and the latter had offered himself up if the filmmaker “ever needed an actor.”
Clooney teased that “Tom Cruise was busy” and he was the cheaper option, as Baumbach explained that when he gave Clooney the script, “He said, ‘You’re lucky I’m saying yes because there’s only about three people on Earth who can play this part.’ But I felt it was important that this audience have a history and relationship with the actor who was playing Jay Kelly, the same way that the people in the movie have that.”
The star-studded supporting cast includes Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson and Riley Keough, with Sandler as Jay’s devoted manager and Dern as his publicist.
“Adam and I are very close and I felt like I wanted to write something for him that captured the sort of generosity and sweetness and loyalty that Adam has to the people in his life,” Baumbach explained, acknowledging, “I thought it would be a nice match even though he’s actually more Jay Kelly in real life.”
Sandler replied that he loved “being this man that you wrote — it’s nice to be someone selfless who only cares about someone else and I care deeply about Jay Kelly.” He also teased, “I have a bunch of people who work with me too that I can steal stuff from: managers, agents, publicists, and the pain they have to feel every time they talk to me, I brought that into the part.”
On the carpet, Darn also pointed to “the loyalty of one’s publicist, because I’ve had the same one since I was 19,” as her rep Annette Wolf hid behind her. “She has stood beside me since I was 19 years old, right after Blue Velvet, and it’s another mother, sister, best friend figure that kind of carries you through the journey.”
Jay Kelly hits theaters Nov. 14 and starts streaming on Netflix Dec. 5.
Hilary Lewis contributed to this report.