There are still surprises in store for the cavalcade of 2025 movies. Were the schedule of the year to come laid out on a bingo card, I’d say that the “Free” space would be Tron: Ares, and various titles I’m hyped up about would naturally fill in the rest of the board. And yet, I think I have to make some room on my card now, as a surprise project teaming Adam Sandler and George Clooney together for the first time has just been announced.
I’m sure a lot of you out there are as curious as I am about the venue that's making this happen, a movie simply titled Jay Kelly. Directed and co-written by Barbie co-writer Noah Baumbach, we don't know much about this freshly announced Netflix original.
The only details we really have from the official press release are that the picture has been announced for an unspecified release at some point this fall, along with this very cryptic logline:
It’s a heartbreaking comedy from Noah Baumbach starring George Clooney, Adam Sandler, and Laura Dern.
Co-written by Emily Mortimer, who will next be seen as part of Paddington in Peru’s cast, that’s about all we know about Adam Sandler and George Clooney’s mythic pairing. So in the absence of definite details, I think there’s two specific movies that might inform the tone of potential Netflix subscription driver.
For Clooney fans, it seems like the obvious choice to keep in mind is director Jason Reitman’s 2009 adaptation of Up in the Air. Meanwhile Sandler devotees have an easier choice to make during their emotional preparations, as Noah Baumbach’s latest reunites these collaborators for the first time since 2017.
Working together on making one of Adam Sandler's Best movies, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), seems to indicate that these two parties jumped at the chance to re-team. Should these assumptions be correct, it would only heighten my anticipation for Jay Kelly stands to grow quite a bit.
That line of thinking also applies to the inclusion of the ever iconic Laura Dern on the Jay Kelly team. I can’t sign off on this enough, especially when enough, especially when Ms. Dern’s work in Baumbach’s Marriage Story was among the 2020 Oscar winners.
Come to think of it, the entire extended roster that Netflix provided for this flick is a pretty solid bench:
- Billy Crudup
- Grace Edwards
- Stacy Keach
- Riley Keough
- Patrick Wilson
- Jim Broadbent
- Eve Hewson
- Alba Rohrwacher
- Greta Gerwig
Whoever formatted that cast list should get some sort of reward, because putting Greta Gerwig in as the last entry was genius. Acting as the sort of cherry on top of the Jay Kelly sundae, having the married writing team who gave us Barbie working together again is quite something.
Though given that Gerwig’s teaseworthy Narnia adaptation for Netflix is also in play, one has to wonder how much of a role the multiple Oscar nominee will be playing? Which is the question that brings me back around to the fact that we're living in a universe where George Clooney, Adam Sandler, and Laura Dern are headlining a "heartbreaking comedy" like Jay Kelly.
With such an array of talent present in this mysterious picture, there’s so much fun and emotion one can picture for any given scene. Keeping an eye on this project will be something, if only to keep an ear out for any potential stories involving Mr. Sandler getting to know the history of Clooney’s legendary set pranks first hand.
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