BE YOURSELF

George Clooney’s Career Is in Crisis in New Film ‘Jay Kelly’

He plays a movie star criticized for always portraying himself in Noah Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly.”

It’s really hard to just be yourself. Just ask...George Clooney???

Netflix just released the first trailer for Noah Baumbach’s newest film, Jay Kelly, which follows a famous aging movie star, Jay Kelly (Clooney), and his loyal manager Ron (Adam Sandler) as the pair embark on a journey of self-discovery.

“What do you say to people who say you only play yourself?” a train passenger asks Kelly in the trailer.

He grimaces slightly before plastering a smile on his face and responding, “You know how difficult it is to be yourself? You try it.”

Directed by Baumbach, known for his work on Marriage Story and Frances Ha, who also co-wrote the script with Emily Mortimer, the film boasts an impressive cast of stars, including Laura Dern, Patrick Wilson, Riley Keough, Isla Fisher, Louis Partridge, Jim Broadbent, and Greta Gerwig.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Clooney says Jay Kelly is the most vulnerable work of his career. While the film may be fictional, the protagonist’s personal and career struggles as an aging actor mirror Clooney’s own journey in Hollywood at the moment.

“When you’re an actor in my position, at my age, finding roles like this aren’t all that common,” he said. “If you can’t make peace with aging, then you’ve got to get out of the business and just disappear. I’m now the guy that, when I go running after a bad guy, it’s funny—it’s not suspenseful. That’s okay. I embrace all of that.”

Even the criticism Kelly faces about “only playing himself” is something Clooney is very familiar with.

“I don’t give a s--t,” Clooney said in response to his haters, one of whom is, bizarrely enough, Hunter Biden.

Jay Kelly will hit theaters on Nov. 14, before coming to Netflix on Dec. 5.

Clare DonaldsonEditorial Intern

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