This November, Noah Baumbach’s latest film, Jay Kelly, will hit theaters in an awards-contending window that will likely see it competing in some of the major categories. Yesterday, Vanity Fair provided some more first look images of the film and today we have a teaser – which is embedded above!
Jay Kelly finds George Clooney playing the titular famous actor, who heads to Europe with his manager Ron (Sandler) as he is about to accept a lifetime achievement award. It’s there that he comes to terms with his successes, failures, regrets, and more. The film will hit theaters on November 14th after it debuts at this year’s 82nd Venice International Film Festival, competing for the Golden Lion. It hits Netflix on December 5th!
Here’s the premise – released by Netflix today:
JAY KELLY, the new film from Academy Award nominee Noah Baumbach, follows famous movie actor Jay Kelly (George Clooney) and his devoted manager Ron (Adam Sandler) as they embark on a whirlwind and unexpectedly profound journey through Europe. Along the way, both men are forced to confront the choices they’ve made, the relationships with their loved ones, and the legacies they’ll leave behind.
In the Vanity Fair article, Clooney defended Sandler, who we all know has a certain reputation as an actor despite some genuinely terrific performances in films like Uncut Gems, Punch-Drunk Love and The Meyerowitz Stories, his first pairing with Baumbach. “This film, more than any film Adam has done, shows what a beautiful, heartfelt, soulful actor he is—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.” If I had to predict, Jay Kelly will earn Sandler his first Academy Award nomination, which he deserved for Uncut Gems but a Best Supporting Actor nod will probably fare better on Oscar voters’ conscience.
On his own pursuit through the character, Sandler said, “Some of these scenes were so heavy that I would say, ‘I’ve got to sit and concentrate. I can’t pick up the phone for a little bit.’ And when you do that, your family is definitely, like, ‘What’s happening right now?’ It’s an odd feeling. Everyone gets affected.”
With these images, teaser, the chance for Clooney to reflect on his career, and what could be the most important performance of Sandler’s career – not to mention being a huge Baumbach fan – Jay Kelly has reemerged on my list of must-see movies of the year.
Are you going to check out Jay Kelly? What do you expect from the teaming of George Clooney and Adam Sandler?
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