How Jay Kelly Was Shaped in the Edit, According to Co-Editor Rachel Durance

jay kelly This is not a romantic Hollywood movie. There’s glitz and glamour, but Noah Baumbach’s film is mostly smoke and mirrors. The titular character – a movie star played by George Clooney – doesn’t shine as bright off-screen. Life is not as grand as movies.

which is one of the funniest ironies jay kelly – a film that is as contradictory as its hero. Italy is all about dreamy scenery, gorgeous locations, wine and food. Is it beauty or creation? The question of living life with authenticity is one of the central questions of the film, which was co-edited Rachel Durance,

This is a film that’s largely in character, scale, and even dialogue – all of which Durance handles with grace. Recently, he spoke with What’s on Netflix about crafting something jay kellyGreat views of.

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Were you involved in pre-production? When it came to featuring Jay on set in J Kelly’s initial one-shot, did you and Noah have a conversation about what would work and what wouldn’t?

Yes definitely. I was part of the rehearsal period, so they rehearsed that scene for a long time. And then during shooting, I would get video tape of the take and then watch it in my edit suite and come back and give notes. Then I’ll work with the choreographer to speed it up or slow it down, or wherever it’s needed.

It was just about making sure there were no interruptions. The script was so clear about what it was supposed to be with a lot of overlapping, you’re not really sure what’s going on, and then obviously once you get to George, it slows down.

How satisfying was it to see it come together?

Wonderful. It was quite a process because they started with a slightly different blocking and then it changed. it wasn’t like 30 [takes] Exactly the same scene, but it was really cool how they did it because the writing that comes up is actually on a glass sheet, and the smoke shows you what it is. This is real smoke they used.

There’s a big difference between that opening shot, in which Jai is shown acting, and the first time we see him alone in the trailer. Does George Clooney do much editing? Does he give a lot of options?

He does, yes. His trailer had a lot of his own takes in it. He does a lot of different things. I also think because he’s a director, he knows what you need, what you don’t need. So he gives a lot of variations, and then obviously he and Noah talk about it.

You want to linger on it long enough to realize there’s something else going on here, or that Jay is going through something, but you’re not sure what it is.

When Jay meets his old acting school enemy, Timothy (Billy Crudup), it creates tension between them at the bar. How would you like to control that growth?

They were both incredible, but it was just about making it. The way Billy does it, it feels like something is going on, but you’re not really sure what it is. Jai is unaware of this. He’s just like, “Oh, it’s so good to reconnect.” And then he just says, “I can’t stand you.” We build this thing, and then it cuts really fast at the end when he gets up to go. It was just about creating that kind of surprise element.

That was my favorite scene to cut. There’s nothing better than a dialogue scene with two incredible actors. That’s just a dream. It was all on the page. I think I laughed out loud when I read Timothy reading the menu. Just a genius way to do it.

Train Ride stars Jay Kelly, who basically enters the torture chamber. How long has he been on the train?

Quite late.

How was finding the right pace for that chapter?

Yes, it was shot quite early in the shooting. They built a whole kind of train set, so the way they shot was with these cranes, they’d shoot one side of the coverage one day, and then they’d shoot the other side of the coverage the next day.

It was quite difficult to put it together this way because I didn’t have anything to cut until the next day. I just have to go through it and pick out the best bits.

But yes, he’s been working on it for quite a while, but at the same time it’s one of those great sequences with throwbacks to Preston Sturges and Hitchcock, all those kinds of movies.

Like celebrities on the train,

Yes. This is where it really starts to unravel and prepare for the end. Memories are coming again and again. Also, when he is on the train, that moment is again quite introspective about being among people, because he is not doing that.

It also has to do with the pace of the story, right? Because these are his memories in the same order. It’s quite difficult to pace it because you are in the present moment, and then you go into the past. The emotions of the film almost overwhelm you with these memories. You’re not really sure how you’ll feel about it.

It almost feels like Noah Baumbach Christmas CarolHow present did he want J Kelly to be in those scenes when Kelly experiences his past?

We shot every single one of those scenes with and without him.

Why so?

It is possible that we may not have it somewhere. Those scenes with them are quite intriguing editorially, especially the audition scene, because I think those two young actors are amazing, and you’re really invested in that story. It was a lot of trial and error when we reached out to him, and the most immediate moment it felt like was when he decided to ask if he could audition.

It’s all about thinking about it in terms of emotions – what part of it will he feel most guilty about? And it felt like that was a good place to put him. And then, obviously, we switched to the older Timothy (Billy Crudup) at the end of that, which was always scripted, but still, we had the option not to do that if we wanted to.

What about Jay and his daughter, Jess (Riley Keough) in the woods? What was your reaction to that scene?

Riley is absolutely amazing. In a way it was a pretty easy thing to put together because she was so heartbreaking in that scene again. There are no visual effects. She was literally hiding behind a tree. You just don’t see him. I think this was a genius idea because if he’s just on the phone, you’ll never get the same feeling. This is also the emotional crux of the film – his daughters.

Whatever the case, it’s a heartbreaking scene. I remember when I was in a rush I felt like I needed to go for a walk, I needed a break. I was like, oh, this is heavy.

Where did you originate the J Kelly montage shown at the end of the film?

Obviously, his movies are very iconic, but Noah didn’t want things that were too iconic. batmanIt seemed like a long time ago, well, no batmanI kind of looked at his filmography, and the main thing we wanted to do was showcase a movie star, because they don’t really exist anymore in the way that George Clooney has movie stardom, This is what we wanted to show, And then I made a few different versions, and then the shooting started, Once we had the general idea of ​​the clips we wanted to put in, a trailer editor came in, created it and finished it, Actually, the shooting was starting and I had to cut scenes,

What was Clooney’s reaction to this?

Noah and I talked about making sure he didn’t see it until we shot it that day. His reaction in the film is the first take where he saw it for the first time. It’s in the movie – the first scene of that reaction. Whenever there’s a cut for him to see, that’s the first take.

he poses a lot jay kelly Question: Is that George Clooney’s honest reaction or the character’s honest reaction?

no it’s true. When I got the take, it was amazing to watch. It was like he was Jay, and then at other moments he felt like George, but it was amazing. And then that last line, that’s from that first take. Destructive.