Clooney and Sandler do awards season

The Venice Film Festival starts in a couple weeks, which officially kicks off the 2025 awards season (threat). One film premiering at that fest—and then playing again at the New York Film Festival in October—is Jay Kelly, a new film from Noah Baumbach, starring George Clooney and Adam Sandler. This is the acting matchup I never knew I needed.

Clooney stars as Jay Kelly, a super famous movie star—big stretch—and Sandler plays his longtime manager, Ron. Laura Dern also stars as his publicist; Billy Crudup plays an actor friend who didn’t make it; and Stacy Keach, Riley Keough, and Grace Edwards star as various members of Jay’s family, while Greta Gerwig appears as Ron’s wife. The cast is insanely stacked, unconfirmed roles belong to Patrick Wilson, Eve Hewson, Alba Rohrwacher, Jamie Demetriou (my love!), Giancarlo Esposito, Kyle Soller (Andor’s notable twerp), and Emily Mortimer, who, interestingly, also co-wrote the script with Baumbach. 

Emily Mortimer has previously written for television (Doll & Em and The Pursuit of Love), but this is her first writing credit on a feature film. She met Baumbach while he was making White Noise, in which both of her children, Sam and May, appear, and she was there as their chaperone on set, as they were both underage at the time. Mortimer and Baumbach hit it off, and of their collaboration, Baumbach says, “I liked myself with her. I liked how I felt inspired. She brought so much of herself to this, but I also felt that I was funnier and more charming and more profound than I might be without her.”

The matchup of Clooney and Sandler is already a huge point of interest for the film, which has a splashy Vanity Fair feature to go with the trailer.

Clooney apparently got protective of Sandler’s reputation as a “beautiful, wonderful actor”, asking people on set not to treat Sandler like the “Sand Man”, the goofy, funny guy who makes silly comedies everyone loves. Punch-Drunk Love was over 20 years ago, I think everyone is well aware of Sandler’s ability to focus in when he wants to, and Sandler himself encourages the “Sand Man” thing, but okay. Clooney and Sandler got along well is the point. I am also SUPER stuck on the detail that Clooney’s friends—which includes some legendary actors, other movie stars, and Rande Gerber—got along with Sandler’s friends, which includes some of the stupidest people on the planet (Rob Schneider). I would actually pay money to see those friend groups hang out. Make THAT movie.

The trailer for Jay Kelly dropped yesterday, featuring Clooney as Jay meandering through life, divorced from the humanity he portrays. It looks fine. It will live and die by the central actors’ chemistry, not unlike last year’s A Real Pain. Certainly, Clooney and Sandler are an unexpected, potentially very fun pairing. I can’t wait for them to do press events together, too. Will Adam Sandler actually dress appropriately for red carpet events when paired with the ever-dapper George Clooney, or will he continue his unbroken streak of showing up to premieres dressed like he just came in from the garage?