Brooklyn-born director Noah Baumbach received a hometown welcome at the New York Film Festival premiere of his latest film, Jay Kelly.
On Monday, Baumbach was joined by the film’s stars George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, Riley Keough, and Patrick Wilson for a screening at Alice Tully Hall, followed by a Q&A. Before the screening, Baumbach reflected on his early days as a filmmaker in the Big Apple when his 1996 film Kicking and Screaming was accepted into the New York Film Festival:
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“I was living down on Grove Street and I was walking in New York City thinking, ‘I have a movie in the New York Film Festival’ and I was 25 and I thought, ‘I own this town.’ Then you find out that it’s not true. I still can’t get a cab.”
In the Netflix comedy-drama, Clooney stars as an aging movie star grappling with his legacy, with Sandler playing his longtime manager.
The director of films such as Marriage Story, White Noise, Frances Ha, and Margot at the Wedding noted that Jay Kelly marks his 10th film to premiere at the festival, adding: “It never stops being a thrill.”
Baumbach also spoke of being back in New York after spending the past two years living and filming in London with his wife, filmmaker Greta Gerwig. “This feels like a real homecoming for me,” he said.
After the screening, Clooney spoke about what initially drew him to the project:
“Noah sent me this script and it’s a beautiful story and it’s beautifully written and he told me that Adam was going to be playing the manager. Adam and I have known each other for 25 years. I thought we would have a great time shooting in Italy and London,” explained Clooney.
He also shared a humorous anecdote about Grizzly II: Revenge, a 1980s film he did with Dern, when she was just 15.
“It ran out of money. We got stuck in Budapest and they couldn’t send us home because they ran out of money. The movie never came out. Then two years ago, some schmuck put it out. We get killed in the first scene and it says, ‘starring Laura Dern and George Clooney’ and we are getting terrible reviews 40 years later,” said Clooney. “I’m used to getting bad reviews. I did Bateman and Robin, I can take it.”
Meanwhile Sandler, who plays Jay Kelly’s loyal manager, said he drew inspiration from his own experience:
“I have a bunch of people that work with me that I could steal stuff from — managers, agents, publicists and the pain they have to feel every time they talk to me, so I brought that into the part.”
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