There's a line in George Clooney's new film where one character tells him: "You're the American dream, the last of the great movie stars."
It's a comment which could easily apply to Clooney in real life, and one of several parallels between the US actor and the ageing movie star he plays in Netflix's Jay Kelly, which has just launched at the Venice Film Festival.
A hugely successful actor playing a hugely successful actor may not sound like much of a stretch. But Clooney's performance goes much deeper than that, portraying an actor who finds himself feeling strangely empty as he reflects on his life choices.
The fictional Kelly may be adored by everyone and greeted with a slice of cheesecake wherever he goes (a stipulation of his rider), but as he reflects on his career and legacy, he begins to grapple with how much family life he missed out on.
"There was something compelling to us about the premise of a movie star going through a crisis and going on a journey that was a physical journey, but also an interior, psychological journey," explains director Noah Baumbach.
