‘Jay Kelly’ director Noah Baumbach on George Clooney: ‘He could have been a movie star in any era’

George Clooney could have been a movie star in any era, according to director Noah Baumbach, whose latest film Jay Kelly stars the actor – as a movie star.

Baumbach was speaking during a Masterclass at the Zurich Film Festival, where he is being honoured with its A Tribute to … Award for his contribution to film history.

Jay Kelly, which makes its German-speaking market premiere at Zurich ahead of its launch on Netflix later this year, sees movie star Jay Kelly (Clooney) travel with his devoted manager Ron (Adam Sandler) to Tuscany to accept an honorary award at a film festival. However, the glamorous jaunt quickly turns into a turbulent, unexpectedly profound journey. The comedy world premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival.

Baumbach, whose credits include The Squid And The Whale (2005), Frances Ha (2012) and Marriage Story (2019), said that Jay Kelly needed a movie star like Clooney to play the titular role because he and co-writer Emily Mortimer wanted the audience to “feel a history with the character they are watching.”

“George seemed like a great one to do it because…George feels like he could be a movie star in any time period. There is something kind of timeless about him.”

He described the film as the story of a person who starts as a movie star and ends as a human being. “He has a crisis early on in the movie, and he’s sort of on this journey – but the journey is fuelled by a kind of excitable, somewhat manic energy. It’s essentially like you are trying to watch someone outrun himself – and he is quite good at it because he is very charming, and has a lot of people to enable him and to keep him protected from the world.”

“But as he gets out in the world, his past starts to come to him, but also the world starts to expand for him…he’s kind of forced to meet and re-meet himself. I think his energy and charisma makes for a joyous experience.”

Baumbach cited inspirations such as 1930s and 40s classic comedies, by directors like Howard Hawks, Preston Sturges, Ernst Lubitsch and George Cukor “that have lots of characters and people talking all the time and talking over each other.”

Baumbach was asked about his reputation for shooting lots of takes of scenes. A recurring joke in Jay Kelly is that Clooney’s character always wants to shoot one more take. Was Clooney ok with multiple takes on set?

“George told me from the beginning…’I’m too old, I can’t do all the takes – really, you don’t want more takes from me.’ And then he just did everything I asked.”

Baumbach also addressed the impact of streaming on the film industry, and the challenges facing theatrical. Jay Kelly is scheduled to be released in select theaters in November before being released on Netflix on December 5.

“I love seeing movies in the theatre. It’s just a different experience. I think we have to go and blame the internet ultimately. But it is why it’s so important to support the theatres that are there,” said Baumbach.

”[But] then you ask somebody when was the last time they saw a movie in a theatre. And it’s like six months. We’ve got to do a better job, we have to go [to the cinema]. But I think they can live happily together. I have to believe that.”

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