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The first trailer for Jay Kelly is here, and it’s giving midlife crisis, film festival chaos, and unexpected bromance, starring none other than George Clooney and Adam Sandler. The trailer cracks open a velvet-curtained world of fading fame and festering doubt, with Clooney playing a once-revered actor who’s finally asking himself the one question no celebrity wants to: Who even am I anymore? Enter Adam Sandler, equal parts manager, babysitter, and emotional support human, as they embark on a surreal tour through Europe.
In the trailer, a passenger challenges Kelly for always playing himself. He replies with a smile, “You know how difficult it is to be yourself? You try it.”
Directed by Noah Baumbach and co-written with Emily Mortimer, Jay Kelly features an all-star lineup including Laura Dern, Patrick Wilson, Riley Keough, Isla Fisher, Louis Partridge, Jim Broadbent, and Greta Gerwig.
What George Clooney has said about Jay Kelly
For Clooney, playing a superstar on screen comes naturally, given his years of stardom and dominance in Hollywood. Like Kelly in the film, the Syriana actor too has faced his share of battles as an actor who has had to deal with aging in the industry. Talking about this, Clooney told Vanity Fair,
“When you’re an actor in my position, at my age, finding roles like this aren’t all that common. 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.”
The film's cast and crew revealed more details about the project, giving us a lens into the film's process and the story that's at the heart of it.
Jay Kelly is less about a man losing his grip on fame and more about the memories that stalk you, the apologies you never send, and the ache of being seen by the wrong people for too long. As a once-iconic actor now drifting through interviews, half-empty hotel rooms, and a family he no longer knows how to reach. He’s on his way to accept a lifetime achievement award at a European film festival, but the real journey’s happening inside his head. Riley Keough plays his estranged daughter, Grace Edwards, his youngest, and the ghost of a late mentor played by Jim Broadbent lingers in every quiet moment.
Baumbach and co-writer Emily Mortimer write with knives; scenes bleed into each other, thanks to Linus Sandgren’s cinematography that bends time and memory until past and present blur. But the heart of it all? Adam Sandler as Ron, Jay’s manager, emotional punching bag, and reluctant best friend. Sandler plays it soft and honest, building a character whose silence hits louder than most speeches. Their codependent, decades-deep bond becomes the anchor of this fading star’s spiral.
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Laura Dern sharpens the edges as Jay’s no-nonsense publicist. Stacy Keach plays his cold father. And Greta Gerwig plays Ron’s wife. With a star-studded cast including George Clooney, the film is all set to give us an inside peek at a Hollywood story.
Jay Kelly will be released in select theaters on November 14, 2025, and will be available to stream on Netflix from December 5, 2026.
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