George Clooney fires people for a living, and Jason Reitman wants you to like him anyway. That gamble is the whole engine of Up in the Air, the 2009 comedy-drama Reitman directed and wrote with Sheldon Turner from Walter Kirn’s 2001 novel. It works because Clooney is charming, and because Reitman knows exactly how much that charm is worth.
Trailer, via Amblin Entertainment.
Ryan Bingham’s Backpack
Ryan Bingham (Clooney) works for a human resources consultancy that handles employment-termination assistance. Companies hire him to deliver layoffs they would rather not deliver themselves. He spends his life in planes, airports, and hotels, and he gives motivational speeches built on an analogy called “What’s in Your Backpack?” — a case for living free of burdensome relationships and material possessions.
He is also chasing ten million frequent flyer miles with American Airlines. The milestone is the point of the movie’s first act, and it is a measure of how little Ryan has to show for the miles he has already logged.
Alex Goran and the Mileage Run
On the road, Ryan meets Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), a businesswoman who flies as much as he does. They start a casual relationship, meeting in whatever city their schedules allow.
Farmiga is the best thing in the film. Reitman has said he cast her for her ability to walk a fine line between aggressiveness and femininity, and that line is where Alex lives. She gives Ryan exactly what he says he wants, and she never asks him to be anyone else. The movie’s smartest move is letting her be right about him before it lets him find out what that costs.
Natalie Keener’s Video Layoffs
Back in Omaha, Ryan’s boss Craig Gregory (Jason Bateman) introduces Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), a young hire pushing a cost-cutting plan: conduct layoffs by video-conferencing instead of flying people out to do it in person.
Ryan objects. He says the system is impersonal and undignified, and that Natalie does not understand the firing process or how to handle emotionally vulnerable people. Gregory sends Natalie on the road with a reluctant Ryan to watch him work.
Ryan tutors her in the mechanics of travel — smaller luggage, faster trips through airport security. She pushes back on his philosophy of life, especially on relationships and love. Then her boyfriend dumps her by text message, and Ryan and Alex comfort her.
The test run proves Ryan right. Natalie cannot console a laid-off person who breaks down on camera. She turns on Ryan afterward, telling him he cannot commit to Alex despite how obviously compatible they are. He dismisses her.
That argument is the film’s spine, and neither of them wins it cleanly. Natalie is right about Ryan. Ryan is right about the work. Up in the Air holds both and refuses to hand either one a trophy.
Two Thousand Extras and a Real Ad
Reitman shot much of the film in St. Louis, with additional scenes in Detroit, Omaha, Las Vegas, and Miami. He cast 2,000 extras, including about 250 from the Omaha area for scenes inside and outside the terminal at Eppley Airfield. Roughly 500 people applied at an open call in Crestwood Court in St. Louis on January 24 and 25, 2009.
For the layoff scenes, Reitman placed a newspaper ad asking people who had recently lost their jobs to appear in a documentary about job loss — he used the word “documentary” so actors would not respond. He got about 100 responses. He said he was amazed that so many people of different age, race, and gender would speak frankly about what happened, and that it had been cathartic.
That choice is why the firing scenes land. They are not performances about humiliation. They are people describing it.
What Up in the Air Gets Right
The film opened at Telluride on September 5, 2009, premiered in Los Angeles at the Mann Village Theater that November, and went wide through Paramount on December 23, 2009. It grossed $166 million worldwide against a $25 million budget and won Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes, with six nominations there and six at the Oscars.
Clooney was the only real option. Reitman has said he wrote the part for him, and that if you want an audience to like a man who fires people, “that actor better be damn charming and I don’t think there’s a more charming actor alive than George Clooney.” He considered Steve Martin if Clooney passed.
The ending is the part that has aged best. Up in the Air does not reward Ryan’s conversion or punish his detachment. It just shows him holding the backpack he spent the film telling us to empty.
Key facts
- Release: December 23, 2009 (wide), Paramount Pictures
- Runtime: 110 minutes
- Budget: $25 million
- Worldwide gross: $166 million
- Critical score: 8.3/10 (Metacritic 83/100)
- Golden Globes: 6 nominations, 1 win (Best Screenplay)
- Oscars: 6 nominations
Up in the Air is a comedy about a man who has mistaken motion for a life, and it is honest enough not to pretend the miles do not add up to something. They do. It is just not enough.
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