George Clooney plays a successful, charming, and beloved leading man in director Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone more suited to the role than Clooney, who’s been winning over audiences since he broke out in the ’90s playing Dr. Doug Ross on ER.
But, as Clooney told Tudum, he feels fortunate that fame didn’t find him until later in life, unlike the fictional Jay Kelly — and his aunt, the singer and actor Rosemary Clooney. “I’ve met some people who got famous really early in life,” Clooney said. “My aunt was one of them, actually. She was a famous singer. She acted in a couple of movies, like White Christmas. Because she was so famous at 19 years old, she hadn’t really been in the world long enough, and so, she didn’t handle fame very well, particularly when it started going away. I’ve always felt, again, very lucky that it took such a long time for me, but also it gave me a chance to learn how not to be Jay Kelly in real life.”
Clooney was 33 when ER premiered in 1994, and he quickly went on to leading roles in From Dusk Till Dawn, Out of Sight, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? The Kentucky-born actor, director, and producer has since won numerous awards, including two Oscars and four Golden Globes, and received nominations for three Emmys and a Tony. He led an ensemble cast of hypercapable thieves in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s trilogy, voiced the eponymous stop-motion character in Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, and played an astronaut stranded in space in Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity. He has also sat in the director’s chair nine times, helming movies like Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, The Ides of March, The Monuments Men, and The Midnight Sky (more on that below).
He’ll be in front of the camera again in Jay Kelly — premiering on Netflix Dec. 5 — which tells the story of a marquee actor who has a late-in-life epiphany that he’s missed out on real, meaningful experiences outside his idyllic Hollywood bubble. Before Clooney goes on his next adventure, watch these performances below.
The Midnight Sky
Clooney directed and starred in this sci-fi movie based on Lily Brooks-Dalton’s 2016 novel Good Morning, Midnight. In it, he plays an aging scientist, Augustine Lofthouse, who has to travel across the Arctic Circle to stop a manned spaceship from returning to Earth after an apocalyptic event wiped out most of the population. His failure could mean death for the crew, played by Felicity Jones (Train Dreams), David Oyelowo (The After), and Kyle Chandler (Bloodline).
Money Monster
Julia Roberts (Leave the World Behind) and Clooney lead this crime thriller directed by Jodie Foster (NYAD). Ostentatious TV personality and financial expert Lee Gates (Clooney) gets taken hostage by a furious fan, Kyle (Jack O’Connell), who took Gates’s investment advice and lost his life savings after a financial crash. Gates’s producer, Patty (Roberts), works with the authorities to talk Kyle down, save Gates, and seek out the corrupt CEO who’s really responsible. Dominic West (The Crown), Caitríona Balfe (Outlander), and Giancarlo Esposito (The Residence) co-star.
A Very Murray Christmas
Bill Murray (Groundhog Day) plays an exaggerated, fictionalized version of himself in this 2015 Christmas musical comedy directed by Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation). It’s Christmas Eve, and a nasty storm has caused most of the guests Murray booked for his elaborate Christmas special to cancel at the last minute. Lo and behold, he stumbles on a host of Hollywood stars who join him for a few songs, a couple of drinks, and some good laughs. A tuxedo-clad Clooney — one of the few guests playing himself — enters the fray alongside Miley Cyrus (Black Mirror) and sings a comical rendition of Albert King’s “Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’ ” with Murray. Michael Cera (Arrested Development), Chris Rock (The Week Of), Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation), Maya Rudolph (Wine Country), and more make guest appearances.
