I never realized this, but George Clooney is only five years older than Adam Sandler. Isn’t that crazy? They’re the same generation, they both had their big breakouts on television, and they’ve apparently known each other since the 1990s. They’ve worked together for the first time in Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, where Clooney plays a movie star having a life crisis and Sandler plays his long-time manager. The reviews I’ve seen so far have not been kind about the film. But we’ll see. Clooney is on my permanent sh-tlist, but I still f–k with Adam Sandler. The two men recently sat down with the Times of London for a joint interview. Some highlights:

Sandler & Clooney both went to acting school. Clooney remembers “tons of actors” who simply did not make it. “The best actors in class were not the ones who were most successful,” he says. “There’s no correlation between talent and success.”

Sandler on wanting to be famous: “As a kid? I 100 per cent wanted to be famous. When I was 17 and got into stand-up I wanted what Eddie Murphy had — walking down a street, people going, ‘My God!’ That would let friends at school and your parents know you had made it, and that was my first goal. So yes, I wanted fame, but a couple of years in you also want to be good. And that becomes the goal.” Clooney chimes in: “It’s also about finances. Remember, we’re doing a job we could just do for free, in little plays or open-mic nights. Then suddenly you get to that age when you are either going to succeed or do a job behind a desk — so you want a steady income. You’re chasing security.”

Clooney on when fame first starts to hit: “But then there is a moment where you go, ‘Oh, this is a little different.’ There are a lot of things that get taken away from you.” Like what? “Independence. And listen, you will never hear us complain. I hated, back when I was working, cutting tobacco in Kentucky, hearing famous people complain about their shit. But it doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges along the way.”

Sandler on his career: “Look, no part of me, zero, wakes up and says, ‘Man, I wish that this hadn’t happened,’” Sandler says of his career. “But you have a real life. You have ups and downs just like everybody. People overlook that. You can be in the room but your head is spinning in another direction because of work. But that’s the same with every job.”

On making comedies: “Is it hard to get a comedy made now?” an intrigued Clooney asks. “The enthusiasm isn’t as high as 15 years ago,” Sandler admits. “It is a numbers game and comedies just weren’t hitting as hard as they used to. Still, there are a lot in production now — they’re cheap to make. But it’s not the same as it used to be.”

Clooney on the next presidential election: “Honestly, the next election is three years away and if you look at the election cycles, two years from when Bill Clinton won we thought Paul Tsongas was going to be the nominee. We thought it would be Hillary when Barack Obama won, so we’re far away from having to home in on who could run for the Democratic Party — we’ll see, we’ll wait.” Which feels odd for Brits, who invariably know the leader of the opposition years before an election. “Yes, but sometimes people are only in charge of a party for the length of a lettuce,” Clooney replies, with a sly grin. “Look, it’s an interesting time in my country, but most people, right and left, want the same. They want a job with dignity, health for themselves and their family. And so whoever runs has to be able to articulate the common ground, because division is getting us nowhere.”

[From The Times]

“Division is getting us nowhere,” Clooney pontificates from his multiple European homes. He’s so out of touch, my god. It feels like he’s completely jumped the shark professionally, personally and politically. Were his instincts always this bad, or did something happen during the pandemic where he just lost his mojo at every level?

Re: Sandler and comedies… people don’t give Sandler the credit he deserves for starting his own production company decades ago and making all kinds of deals to keep producing light comedies with a tight-knit group of friends and colleagues. Several years ago, he won an Independent Spirit Award and he was so celebrated in that room for giving so many actors and artists a good paycheck and a chance to work on a major film.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.