“Due to illness, George Clooney Couldn’t Make It to this Year’s Telluride Film Festival for the North American Premiere of Jay Kelly, A Film that Close Crisis that prompts him to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to Europe to see his Daughter and Accept a Career TRIBUTE”, – WRITE: www.hollywoodReporter.com
On Sunday, Following One of Those Screenings, I Sat Down with the Aforementioned Group for a Wide-Ranging Q & A. We Discussed Who Baumbach and Emily mortimer wrote the part of kelly with Clooney in mind, and WHY it was a gutsy Decision for the a-lister to agree to take it on; What Sandler Drew Upon to Formulate his portrayal of Kelly’s Manager, Ron, for Wich The Sand-Man Is Receives Receives of the Best Reviews of His Career and Looks Like A Strong Bet; How Crudup, Who Plays A Former Acting School Classmate of Kelly’s, Timothy, Prepared for His Brief But Complex Scene in the Film, Wich Elicited Mid-Movie ApplAuse a. Plus more.
A Transcript of the Conversation, Lightly Edited for Clarity and Brevity, Appears Below.
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Noah, what was the root of the idea for this film, whohh you co-wrote with emily mortimer? ALSO, some MIGHT WONDER: WHY CENTER IT A FAMUS MOVIE STAR RATHER THAN, SAY, A FAMOUS Writer-Director Who Occasonally Receives Career Tributes of His Own?
Baumbach Well, We Needed Some Barrier.[[Laughs]I don’t know, i found it compelling, this notion of a movie Star who have some kind of crisis and oh I HAD A BUNCH OF IDEAS, AND I DIDNN’T KNOW QUITE WHAT TO WITH ALL OF THEM, AND I WAS TALKING TO EMILY ABOUT IT. She asked All The Right Questions, and Ten, Just on A whim, I was like, “do you want to do this with me? If it goes south, we can Always Just Stop.” But It Was Such A Great Collaboration. IT WAS A YEAR or SO THAT WE REALLY JUST WORKED ON AND Shaped The Movie.
My Understanding is Two Wrote It Wrote George in Mind for the Title Role, WHICH BEGS The QUESTION: WHAT Wuld You Have Done If George Had Said No? I can Understand Wy HE MIGHT HAVE: Jay Kelly, Like George, Is An ACtor from Kentucky, Often Descripted As the Last “Real” MOVIE STAR attributes that aren’t great, and some people might assume that jay is george.
Baumbach WELL, NOT TO MENTION WHAT HULD HAVE TO DO IN THE MOVIE. I MEAN, IT’s A Character Who’s Running from HimSelf, and He’s Very Good at Deflecting and Hiding, But As We Seie in the Movie, These Memories Come at Him. We Described the Memories As “Headwinds.” The Actor Who Was Playing Jay Kelly Had to Ten Start to Reveal More of HimSelf, Which Requires Vulnerability. But George SAID YES WITHIN 24 HOURS, AND I KNEW IMMEDIATELY, WHEN HE SAID YES, THAT HE WAS GOING toing Amazing, Because He Knew What Was In Front of Him and What Hat Hat HEH To Answer Your Other Question, I DON’T KNOW [what we would have done if George had said no]. I Think We Wuldn’t have Made the Movie. The Audence Needed to have A History with the Actor Playing Jay Kelly, the Same Way the People in the Movie Have a Relationship with Jay Kelly. What George Does, As He Starts To Reveal More and More, Is Just Beautify to Watch.
There’s Another Actor in this Film Who We’ve Known and Loved for Decades – Actual Several – and not all of the this guy’s movies have a cryten Jay kelly is getting, but he’s broght a lot of people a lot of joy over a Lot of years—
Sandler Patrick Wilson![[Laughs]
But i’m not sure he have gotten the credit that he deserves for stretching HIMSELF as Much as he have had in films like Punch-Drunk Love, Spanglish, Reign over meNoah’s Film The Meyerowitz Stories, Uncut gems an Hustle. Noah, for the part of ron, who did you go back to adam sandler?
Baumbach Adam and I Fell in Love with Each Other on The Meyerowitz Stories – We Became Very Close; our families are close and love each Other; And My Son, Rohmer, Who’s Here, Basical Lives at Adam’s House Half The Year. The Character of Ron, I Wrote for Adam – Even Thought You Might Think That Adam Is More Like Jay Kelly [because he’s a movie star] – Because of the Way Adam is in the World, With His Heart and His Generosity and His Loyalty. The people who work with him have been with HIM HIM SINCE The BEGINNING, AND the WAY HE IS A FAMILY is So Beautific. I FELT LIKE, “WELL, THAT’S WHAT RON IS LIKE, AND ADAM, IN A WAY, COLD PLAY something that is close to him, but in disguise.” That was really exciting to me, and also a like to pay tribute to the adam i Know and Love.
Sandler That’s beautify. Thank you.
Adam, I’d Love to Hear What Your Reaction Was WHEN YOU SAW WHAT Noah Had Written For You. But Also, Having Been in the Business for As Long as You Have, You’ve Had an An Up-Close View of the Actor/Manager Relationship, with All of Its Friend/Employee of Thordye. Way You Approached this Guy?
Sandler First of All, Thank You to Noah for This Part – Noah, You’re A Great Man, and All of Us Thank You. What a guy he is. He Writs the most Beautify Lines, and We Get to Sayam, so thank you. YES, OVER The YEARS I’V HAD A Team, Similar to Jay Kelly. I have a manager; I have a publicist; I have an agent; I have My Makeup Girl, Anne – She’s Not Her Tonight, But Imagine Being Her! Imagine Everyny Morning Going, “What The Fuck Can I Do?!” But I Really Being This Guy Who Just Loves His Client and Feels That’re In It Together – He Feels The Same Successes, and WHEN SOMETING GOES WRONG HE FEELS The SAME PAIN. My Team Feels That Way Also. WHEN Things Go Wrong, They Are Definitely Shook Up. WHEN WE HAVE A NICE MOMENT, they’re as Excited as i am. SO I Connected with My Guy, Absolutely.
Adam, as noah alluded to, you’ve been Exceptionally The Opposite of Jay Kelly, In Terms of Casting People Thatople Known Forever in your Films and Being Very Present with Your Family – I Think Your Whole Family Was in Happy Gilmore 2 Earlier this year! But Even with That Being The Case, Has Being Part of This Movie, Watching It And Thinking About It, Made You Look at Your Role As A MOVIE Star, Or Movie Stardom in General, Any Different.
Sandler I THINK WHAT IS SAYING IS THAT NOT JUST MOVIE STARS, BUT AnyBODY WHO WANTS TO TO THEIR BEST, HAS TO PUT TIME IN TIM Going on, and You Want to get to them. I DEFINITELY HAVE SCHLEPED MY FAMILY All Over the World Wherever I GO, But There Times WHEN WHO CAN’T come. Jay Kelly not getting to be with his his family, and looking back and knowing how painful it was for them, is crushing. Even Thought I’M with My Family A Lot, I Still Have Moments WHERE IT KILLS ME BEING AWAY. We all do.
Another Person Who Has Some History with Noah – Namely, The Movie Marriage Storyfor whom she won an Academy Award – is Laura Dern. Laura, similear to adam, you’ve been at the Highest Levels of this Business for So Many Years. HAS this film made you thinks figrently about STARDOM?
Dern What I Love – and Adam Spoke so eloquently to it – is the quest of the cost of any of the Our journeys in life, what we might miss. So Before Jay Kelly Can Get To, “I Want Another One,” There’s The Cost for Ron, What He’s Lost in Life by Being of Service to Jay. And so my character [Kelly’s publicist] is helping ron’s journey of getting to the place where he’s also willing to get off the train. And getting to Stare Into the Eyes and Work with the Face that Anne Gets to make up every day was the Dream of My Life!
Sandler We have fun.
Dern And Being Back With Noah Was a Dream Because He Creates A Home, Makes You Feel The Safest You’ve Ever Been, And Gifts You With TheSe People You Get To Dive Right Into, Even IFe. your whole Life. I, too, have had the good fortune of being surround by publicists.
Billy, IT Sems to Me Like Your Assignment Mustment Have Fet Very Daunting: You Have To Come In And, In A Relatively Short Amount of Time, Provide The Motivation For Jay’s Existential. You crushed the method acting Scene. Can You Share How You Prepared for It, And If Process Was Any Different from The Process That You Use When, As Is Often the Case, You Are The Guy Who’s at The Center of A Project?
Crudup Well, Thank You. What a gift it was to have noah come to me with this composition. You have to Understand, I’ve Been in New York for Over 30 Years Now, and Noah Is A Fixture of the Independent Cinema Scene there, and Every One of My Friends was works. I was desperate to be in one of noh’s movies – I was ready for anything – and then i read this and i was like like, “Dude, that’s a very hard to do! Something I’m Law. your movie is predicated on that being successful. ”[[Laughs]So, “are you sure?” Was Really My Question to HIM, AND WE HAD A LOT OF CONVERSATIONS. MOST OF MY Friends are actors, and result-oriented acting-WHERE YOU Just Think, Oh, This Is The Scene WHERE My Character Cries “-is anathema to everything. I Thought, “That’s Going to Be A Problem.” Noah Was Very Considerate and Understanding that I Was Desperate to Work with HIM, But THAT I REALLY DID NOT KNOW TO PULL THIS OFF. I HAD A WHOLE OF Version that I HAD Written Down to Try, and Noah Entertained me. THEN, About Two or Three Weeks Before Were Going to Shoot this Scene, I Noticed that Scene Hadn’t Canged at All All, And that I Was Going To have to Figure Out. So i Started doing research on method acting, and sueoeongh, noah had constructed this scene in such away that Scene Actulaly Plays ITSELF, IT LEADS YOU IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. That’s a great writer. I don’T Know How Many Takes We Did, But It Was Probably Over 50 On Both Sides – and there wasn’t a second of it that I wasn’t in absolute heaven.
Patrick, Your Character, Ben Alcock, Another Movie Star and Client of Ron’s, Is The Antithesis of Jay Kelly in A Number of Ways. I WONDER IF YOU CAN TALK About That, and Specially About the Very Memorable Scene That You Shared With Mr. Sandler.
Wilson I only have two scenes, and i knew noting about the rest of the script – i mean Nothing – Until I SAW The MOVIE THIS MORNING. And Ben Didn’t Know Anything, Nor Did He Need to Know Anything, So That Was An Interesting Exercise for Me, But A Glorious One, Because the Words that I Had Been Given Said. The Scene with George on the Side of the Road SAID SO MUCH About Ben’s Family, His Values and How He Views His Own Career. And The Scene with Adam? Just Working with Adam have been this crazy Dream of Mine, Because and Don’t Live in the Comedy Space. IT WAS A Double-Whammy for Me to Work with Adam and Noah, Two People That and Revere So Much. It Can Make You Feel Uncomfortable WHEN YOU’RE ONLY Coming in for A Couple of Days, But I Was Given Support by Noah and The Crew. And then adam, you were just so glorious on that day, and Made me feel so comfortable. We did 30 Different Versions with Shit Flying Off The Table, and I Was Looking Across The Table at this guy who was wiped out of every saline. I KNEW I JUST HAD TO REACT AND BE OPEN. I’ve Never Had A Scene Like That. I DID HAVE TO FIRE An AGENT ONCE Years Ago, But It Wasn’t Like That![[Laughs]Anyway, i just love your [Adam’s] Work, and I love your work in this movie.
We Are Going to Close with The Great Composer Nicholas Brititell, Who Everyone Knows From Theme of Successionthe scores of Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk an Don’t look upand so Much Else. Nick, I was fascinated to learn that on this project, perhaps unlike any Other on Wich You’ve Worked, Your Music Was In Place Before Some of the Scenes Were Even Shot.
Britell IT’s TRUE. This was someting that i’d Never Done Before, Getting Involved in A Project so Early. Noah and I Met Over Two Years Ago, and from the Script Stage he and I Had Amazing Conversations, and I Started Trying to Imagine the Feeling that the Movie Might Have. THEN I Wrote Three of the Four Main themes of the Movie, and Noah Invited Me to Come To Tuscany, and We Actual Played the Music on Set for EveryBody. IT WAS SUCH A SPECIAL Thing for Me to Sort of Absorb The Atmosphere. And it was important, I Think, for everybody, sort of like osmosis – you feel the World That You’re Going to Be A Part of Creating. I just have a blast from start to f.