Clooney and costar Adam Sandler explain their reaction to filmmaker Noah Baumbach’s big surprise.

George Clooney was ‘surprised’ by Jay Kelly scene that director kept secret from him

Clooney and costar Adam Sandler explain their reaction to filmmaker Noah Baumbach's big surprise.

By Gerrad Hall

Gerrad Hall is an editorial director at **, overseeing movie, awards, and music coverage. He is also host of *The Awardist* podcast, and has cohosted EW's live Oscars, Emmys, SAG, and Grammys red carpet shows. He has appeared on *Good Morning America*, *The Talk*, *Access Hollywood*, *Extra!*, and other talk shows, delivering the latest news on pop culture and entertainment.

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December 27, 2025 11:00 a.m. ET

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When George Clooney took a seat in a theater to prepare for a scene in *Jay Kelly* where his character, the titular movie star, is about to receive a life achievement award, he wasn't prepared for what was about to happen.

As is tradition during such an honor, a video plays that includes clips from the honoree's various film projects. In this case, director Noah Baumbach had secretly assembled a reel featuring clips of Clooney's work — and when the director called action on the scene, the reel played for the crowd to capture Clooney's genuine reaction.

"Oh, it was a surprise all right. I was surprised," Clooney says, above, during **'s *Around the Table* video series, joined by Baumbach and costars Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, and Emily Mortimer (the latter of whom co-wrote the script with Baumbach).

"We were both surprised," adds Sandler, who was also kept in the dark about the clip reel. "We felt things that we didn't expect to feel."

Adam Sandler and George Clooney in 'Jay Kelly'.

"We held hands," says Clooney, and Baumbach used it in the film. "No, I didn't know he was going to use sort of clips from my own actual career, which was a surprise. And you get to look at a lot of bad haircuts over the… mullets. Don't you laugh," he says to Sandler. "You had a mullet."

"My mullet was fluffy," the *Saturday Night Live* veteran quips. "Mine wasn't as good as yours. Yours laid there nicely."

"I had a good mullet… Full party in the back," Clooney jokes. "Who would put it up on a screen that people could see now with a beautiful score?"

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"So that's why you were so emotional," Dern says.

Clooney adds, "Well, Adam just kept saying, 'How do you still have a career?' That's what he kept saying to me, which was painful. It's painful."

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As for that clip reel, it features Clooney's movies *The American*, *Burn After Reading*, *Combat Academy*, *From Dusk Till Dawn*, *The Good German*, *Intolerable Cruelty*, *Leatherheads*, *Michael Clayton*, *Oceans 11*, *Out of Sight*, *The Peacemaker*, *Sunset Beat*, *Syriana*, *The Thin Red Line*, *Three Kings*, and *Up in the Air*, and as well as a bit of his breakout role on the TV series *ER*.

The scene comes at the conclusion of a whirlwind trip for Jay Kelly, who didn't originally want the award, but when his daughter leaves L.A. for a European vacation with friends, he tells his manager and publicist, played by Sandler and Dern, that he will, in fact, accept the award — all an excuse for him to also conveniently be in Italy at the same time as his daughter, who he just wants to spend some time with.**

Watch the full *Around the Table* with Baumbach, Clooney, Sandler, Dern, and Mortimer above. *Jay Kelly* is available to stream on Netflix.

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