George Clooney Brings Star Power (and a 10-Minute Ovation) to Venice with ‘Jay Kelly’

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Aug 29

George Clooney and Amal Clooney at The Premiere of ‘Jay Kelly’ at the 82nd Venice Film Festival - **CREDIT: THEO WARGO**

George Clooney fought through illness to walk the Venice red carpet, joining Noah Baumbach for the world premiere of Jay Kelly, greeted with thunderous applause.

The 82nd Venice International Film Festival offered up its first true starry spectacle Thursday night when George Clooney arrived — against the odds — for the world premiere of Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly. The Netflix-backed dramedy, one of three competition titles from the streamer this year, was met with a rousing 10-minute ovation that underscored Clooney’s enduring stature as both leading man and festival favorite.

Despite battling a sinus infection that forced him to skip press commitments and cancel private appearances earlier in the week, Clooney made a dramatic entrance arm-in-arm with his wife, Amal, before settling into the Sala Grande alongside Baumbach, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, and Emily Mortimer. The actor’s perseverance instantly became part of the night’s narrative — a reminder that Venice thrives on the mythmaking of Hollywood glamour colliding with European prestige.

On screen, Clooney plays the title character in a role Baumbach crafted expressly for him: a world-famous actor grappling with a late-career identity crisis. His odyssey across Europe, with his beleaguered manager Ron Sukenick (played with surprising tenderness by Sandler), threads Baumbach’s signature neuroses through a more accessible, audience-friendly package. While early critical reaction has been mixed, with some calling it “mid-tier Baumbach,” there’s near-universal praise for Sandler’s understated performance, which brings a quiet emotional charge to the film.

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The project, co-written by Baumbach and Mortimer, carries clear awards ambitions. Netflix is already positioning both Clooney and Sandler for major Oscar runs, with supporting turns from Dern, Crudup, and Mortimer further bolstering the campaign. But for Venice, the highlight was less about predictions and more about the moment: the sight of Clooney, visibly unwell but resolutely present, soaking up waves of applause in a city that has long celebrated him.

Jay Kelly screens in competition through the festival, adding another layer of star power to a lineup already brimming with heavyweights. Whether or not the film proves to be a major player this awards season, its Venice debut reaffirmed a simple truth: no one galvanizes a festival crowd quite like George Clooney.