Venice 2025: George Clooney absent from ‘Jay Kelly’ press conference due to illness
The Venice Film Festival is in full swing, but one thing is missing: George Clooney. The high-profile actor has missed the official press conference for his upcoming movie, Jay Kelly, due to illness.
The upcoming Netflix movie, featuring an all-star cast comprising Laura Dern, Adam Sandler, Billy Crudup, Riley Keough, Jim Broadbent, and Greta Gerwig, will premiere at the festival in competition on August 28th.
Clooney is integral to the press circuit as he plays the titular character, a movie star who travels to Italy to receive a tribute award at a film festival while his life is falling apart around him.
Despite arriving in Italy earlier this week, the actor has scaled back his commitments due to his health. In a statement to Variety, his team revealed, “George has been diagnosed with a sinus infection and is under doctors orders to cut back all activities today.”
His co-stars will speak in his absence at the press conference. Clooney is still expected on the red carpet on the evening of August 28th.
As filmmaker Noah Baumbach put it, “Even movie stars get sick!”. Baumbach wrote the film with Emily Mortimer, who will also speak at the press conference.
Speaking previously about his role in the movie, Clooney claimed that he informed Baumbach about his acting limitations on set. He shared, “I literally said to him, ‘Noah, look, I love the script. I love you as a director, but I’m 63 years old, dude — I can’t do 50 takes. ‘I don’t have it in me. I’ve got the acting range from A to B.”
Jay Kelly is one of three movies that Netflix is presenting for competition at this year’s festival. The other two movies are Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, starring Jacob Elordi, Oscar Isaac, and Mia Goth.
The movie will arrive on Netflix on December 5th, following a cinematic release on November 14th. Watch the official teaser trailer below.
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