Jay Kelly had its world premiere at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, with star George Clooney in attendance.
The film, directed by Noah Baumbach and co-written by Baumbach and Emily Mortimer, also stars Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, Riley Keough, Grace Edwards, among many others.
Jay Kelly follows a friendship between a famous actor (Clooney) and his manager, played by Sandler, as they travel through Europe and reflect on life.
The cast of the comedy-drama also includes Patrick Wilson, Stacy Keach, Jim Broadbent, Greta Gerwig, Alba Rohrwacher, Josh Hamilton, Lenny Henry, Emily Mortimer, Nicôle Lecky, Thaddea Graham, Isla Fisher, Jamie Demetriou, Louis Partridge, Charlie Rowe, Parker Sawyers, Patsy Ferran, Lars Eidinger, Kyle Soller, Tom Francis, and Giovanni Esposito.
Clooney missed the press conference for Jay Kelly at the Venice Film Festival due to suffering from a “bad sinus infection” and was hopeful the actor would attend the premiere.
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Baumbach, who wrote the film specifically for Clooney, said of the motivation behind the story: “We discovered soon that if you make a movie about an actor, you’re making a movie about identity and performance and a search for self. Actors are always sort of trying to find themselves in a character, and where do I fit in this character, but it’s a character outside themselves. And I think that was something that we thought, well, this is what we’re all doing. Essentially, as we go through life, it’s trying to figure out the person I present, and is that the person I am, or am I somebody else?”
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