George Clooney found himself blurring the line between fiction and reality while working on Jay Kelly, the Netflix film co-written and directed by Noah Baumbach. One particular sequence left both Clooney and co-star Adam Sandler genuinely taken aback.

The moment in question unfolds when Clooney’s character, a celebrated movie star, is honoured with a lifetime achievement award in a packed auditorium, complete with a montage tracing his screen legacy. What Clooney didn’t anticipate, however, was how personal that montage would turn out to be.

Speaking on Entertainment Weekly’ Clooney admitted that Baumbach’s creative choice came as a complete shock. “Oh, it was a surprise all right. I was surprised,” he said, with Sandler quickly chiming in, “We were both surprised. We felt things that we didn’t expect to feel.”

Clooney went on to explain that the footage featured moments from his real-life film career, something he had no prior knowledge of. “I didn’t know he was going to use sort of clips from my own actual career, which was a surprise,” he said, joking that it also meant revisiting some questionable style phases. “And you get to look at a lot of bad haircuts over the… mullets.”

Turning to Sandler with a grin, Clooney added, “Don’t you laugh. You had a mullet.”

Now streaming on Netflix, Jay Kelly follows the titular character as he grapples with fame, legacy, and self-reflection. As he navigates both past regrets and present realities, he is accompanied by his steadfast manager Ron, played by Sandler. The film balances emotional introspection with humour, offering a reflective look at success, memory, and the quiet reckonings that come with a life lived in the spotlight.