On Location peels back the curtain on some of your favourite films, television shows, and more. In this edition we're taking a look into the world of Jay Kelly.
“You? Alone in Europe? It’d be like a gazelle in the Serengeti. Except, you wouldn’t be a gazelle; you’d be a cocker spaniel!” This is the vote of no-confidence that Hollywood manager Ron (Adam Sandler) gives his A-list actor client Jay Kelly (George Clooney). Having spent decades in the limelight, mollycoddled Jay never has to fend for himself; he's never had to slum it and never finds himself alone.
Yet, when Jay’s daughter Daisy sets off backpacking around Europe, just as he is re-evaluating his career – a flashy one that always took priority over parenthood – he decides to follow her. Knowing Jay will handle solo travel hopelessly, Ron joins him, along with a rotating entourage (naturally) that includes a ruthless publicist (Laura Dern), a flaky make-up artist (Emily Mortimer), an inscrutable security detail, and a stylist lugging Louis Vuitton.
Jay’s grand tour ticks off California, Paris, the Alps, the Italian Riviera, and Tuscany en route, so it’s an inspirational watch for travellers. Below, production designer Mark Tildesley pinpoints how and why production chose some of our favourite locations in the movie.
Malibu, California
From the get-go, it’s clear this is a film about gloss and fantasy, where Jay’s life – both on and off camera – is a collection of flawless “scenes." His home is no exception: a spectacular Modernist house with a gorgeous swimming pool and views. “We were looking for texture and colour and things that made the house feel like it was originally a family home,” Tildesley says. “It still had to be a superstar’s house, but there was an interesting contradiction, trying to find a level where it felt homey but also slightly cold, like there was a family there at one time, and now it’s empty.” Tildesley scoured Los Angeles and found the mid-century Malibu house and pool you see on screen. Ironically, it once belonged to Jack Nicholson.
However, the house's interiors couldn’t accommodate director Noah Baumbach’s camera shots, so and had to be rebuilt on stage at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England, along with several other sets. Fun fact for hotel geeks: Adam Sandler stayed at Claridge’s in London throughout filming in England. During that time, Londoners spotted him playing basketball in the leafy neighbourhood of Clapham, watching Chelsea FC play football on their home turf, and exploring the streets of Mayfair in his signature cold-weather combo of puffer jacket and shorts.
Milano Centrale
After he touches down in Paris, Jay learns Daisy has already moved on to Italy by train. Hilarity ensues as we watch his glamorous entourage make the transition from private jet to sweaty train carriage, hot on her trail. For the busy station scenes, the crew used Milano Centrale, the city's main train station, and – on board – a mix of genuine vintage train carriages and sound stage scenes.
The train is a ravishing retro specimen. Where did they find it? Baumbach and Tildesley “stumbled across an Italian train called Arlecchino, a four-car, high-speed train designed by Gio Ponti in 1960 for the Rome Summer Olympics." Tildesley adds, “outside the windows we had a digital projection, so that you got the visual of the landscape going by."
Later in the train journey, there is a sequence when Jay chases a handbag thief, jumping off the carriage and running through fields before catching him at a rural cemetery. Tildesley couldn’t find a real graveyard near enough to the train tracks, so he built it himself. “That was horrendously difficult for a simple set,” he confides. “We carved it all in polystyrene and finished it with plaster.”
Pienza, Tuscany
If you haven’t already booked a trip to Italy by this point in the movie, then the final act will surely provoke you to pull out your laptop and credit card. Jay and his (by this point, dwindling) entourage make it to Pienza where he is to pick up an award at the Tuscan Arts Festival. Tildesley settled on Pienza, a Renaissance village south of Siena, because it “had just the right central square for the film festival’s party in honour of Jay and his tribute."
The actors Clooney and Sandler – stayed at La Bandita Townhouse in Pienza, a converted convent in the historic centre. Keep your eyes peeled for a hand-written thank-you note from Clooney to La Bandita’s team, scribbled on a page of his Jay Kelly script.
As for the pre-party dinner hosted for Jay, that was filmed at Argiano, a Tuscan wine estate in Montalcino, with acres of vineyards and olive groves, not forgetting the archetypal cypress-lined driveway. Members of the public can dine at Argiano, or book a wine tasting, even stay the night since the 16th-century stables have been converted into rooms.
“It’s all about trying to put this puzzle of a journey together with different spaces and different places, not the actual ones,” Tildesley says. “Noah is a cinephile and he loves films, but he also loves the way they’re made. Some directors just want you to get on with it and don’t want to get involved, but he is fully engaged with his design team.”
Jay Kelly is currently in theatres and streams on Netflix from December 5.