UPDATED THURSDAY NIGHT: After I published this scoop at 1:18pm Thursday, it turned into chum in the water. Four hours later, “exclusives” were claimed everywhere about Clooney and Baumbach making a film for Netflix with Adam Sandler. You’re welcome, everyone!

1:15pm Thursday: The splashiest deal in New York last night?

An exclusive A list premiere at the Museum of Modern Art for George Clooney’s new film, “The Boys in the Boat.”

The screening was followed by a swanky party at the Polo restaurant, where corned beef sandwiches cost about 40 bucks at a regular dinner. The In Crowd loves it there.

Among the guests (besides George’s smart, glamorous wife Amal) were “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig with husband, director-writer Noah Baumbach (who also co-wrote the massive “Barbie” hit movie.)

I can tell that this hot filmdom couple’s presence was not only because they like George. Clooney will star in Baumbach’s next film, maybe for Netflix, where Baumbach previously had his great “Meyerowitz Stories.”

Amazon is very high on Clooney with “The Boys in Boat” and rightly so. The story of the American rowing team winning the 1936 Olympics in Berlin is a superbly exciting sports film, and Clooney’s best directing effort in some time. I thought it was outstanding. “The Boys in the Boat” opens wide Christmas Day, and it’s a great entertainment you can take the whole family to without fear of inappropriate material.

Amazon Studios are so keen on George that no less than their president, Jennifer Salke, came cross country for the event. That’s a big deal. Also spotted: CAA co-chief Bryan Lourd.

Other guests included “Elvis” star Austin Butler with his girlfriend, Kaia Gerber — she’s like Clooney’s god-daughter (her parents are Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber), plus Katie Couric, a sunglassed Anna Wintour, producer Jean Doumanian, and journalist Jill Brooke, from flowerpowerdaily.com.

You could tell “The Boys in the Boat” was going to be good because George did not give a long, windy introduction. He just welcomed the crowd, and said Let’s see it. Afterwards we met his sizzling young cast including Callum Turner, Jack Mulhern, Luke Slattery, and the Grace Kelly-like Hadley Robinson (who’d be great in a remake of “Chinatown” with Kirsten Dunst).

What makes “The Boys in the Boat” so timely is that the American Olympic team went to Berlin at a time when Hitler was securing his power. The sight of him being defeated by Americans is very satisfying. The swastikas adoring pillars at the Olympic site should be a warning to us all right now: if we’re not careful, this can happen again.

Meanwhile, Clooney revels in the training of the rowers– all of whom are actors who had to go through the whole process. How good are they now? George told me when I caught up with him: “They were posting such good numbers in training and rehearsal, the guys were looking around to compete for real. They found a race near us, but I persuaded them not to try it!”

I first saw Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction” at the Hamptons Film Festival and was knocked out. It opens this Friday and is a sleeper hit that I hope will resonate at the box office.

Jefferson, who used to write for the defunct Gawker website, has come up with a trenchant satire along the lines of “Wag the Dog.” Like this year’s “The Holdovers,” “American Fiction” is also a personal statement with well drawn characters portrayed by top actors.

Chief among them is Thelonious “Monk” Ellison played in a career defining moment by Jeffrey Wright. Monk is a college professor who’s fighting with his students and hasn’t published a book in eons. His school puts him on leave, so he heads home to Boston and family. That includes his sister, Lisa — the charming Tracee Ellis Ross — his newly gay brother (a muscular and funny Sterling K. Brown) and his mom, played by the legendary Leslie Uggams. Monk also gets a girlfriend in the form of Erika Alexander, who should be in more movies. (She was a TV star in the 90s.)

At the same time, Monk — who publishes esoteric books and is a snob — is frustrated by new, hot Black writers who are pretending to be “ghetto” to get attention. One in particular, Sintara (that’s Issa Rae) is winning awards and getting attention for her book, which just makes Monk irate. Suddenly strapped with expenses from his mother’s dementia, Monk sets out to write a junk book under a pseudonym — Stagg R. Leigh — to make money and make fools of publishing and academia.

What unravels is Jefferson’s brilliant send up of the literary world and culture in general. Monk sells his book for a fortune and demands of the cluesless white publisher that it be titled “Fuck.” The publisher– who is led to believe Monk is an ex con on the run– agrees. And the rest is mayhem as Monk has to keep lying and covering up what he’s done. The book is (implausibly) rushed to publication, which it means it qualifies for a Literary Award both Monk and Sintara are judging. (This is a fable.) So now two different paths for lying have been set, and you know they will converge with a bang.

Jefferson is clever. He’s made the Ellisons debt heavy but still upper class, with a beautiful home in the Boston suburbs and a beach house on the city’s south shore. They are the opposite of what Monk is angry about in current Black movies and books. He comes from a good family that has nothing to do with pimps, gang bangers, and so on. The point is made precisely. Meanwhile, the music of the real Thelonious Monk plays in the background. (So does an obscure Joe Simon sounding R&B band called Ace Spectrum circa 1975.)

Like any layered satire, “American Fiction” benefits from a second screening because it’s full of little Easter eggs you might not get the first time. My favorite is the name Stagg R. Leigh, which no one in the movie picks up on. (The Lloyd Price hit, “Stagger Lee,” was derived from a 19th century African American pimp who became a legend in real life. Plus, the family name Ellison is a nod to Ralph, author of “Invisible Man.”)

Of course, “American Fiction” wouldn’t outdo itself without a surprise twist of an ending, very “meta,” and ironic as the whole thing maybe is an actual American fiction, but who can separate the various strands as Jefferson gives us multiple possibilities of how this will all conclude. Without doubt this screenplay will be a surprise winner at all the awards shows, and Jeffrey Wright — who I saw in “Top Dog/Underdog” on Broadway and has since become a standard bearer for great acting — will finally get his due.

The Critic Choice nominations are out. They weren’t supposed to be out until Noon Eastern time, but People magazine misread the time zone and announced them at 9am Eastern. There will be a lot of trouble right now.

The CCA Awards air Sunday, January 14th on The CW Network. They’re far more prestigious than the Golden Globes and taken a lot more seriously. They got the noms mostly right, although they snubbed both Annette Bening and Fantasia, which I’m sorry about. They also ignored new movies by George Clooney and Ava DuVernay, but that’s because they were screened so late in the schedule. Also, there was no affection for “Wonka.” Surprise Best Picture nom went to “Saltburn,” which was otherwise shut out of the main awards.

Best Picture

American Fiction
Barbie
The Color Purple
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
Saltburn

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Leonardo DiCaprio, Killers of the Flower Moon
Colman Domingo, Rustin
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction

Best Actress

Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
Greta Lee, Past Lives
Carey Mulligan, Maestro
Margot Robbie, Barbie
Emma Stone, Poor Things

Best Supporting Actor

Sterling K. Brown, American Fiction
Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling, Barbie
Charles Melton, May December
Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things

Best Supporting Actress

Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple
America Ferrera, Barbie
Jodie Foster, Nyad
Julianne Moore, May December
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

Best Young Actor/Actress

Abby Ryder Fortson, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Ariana Greenblatt, Barbie
Calah Lane, Wonka
Milo Machado Graner, Anatomy of a Fall
Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers
Madeleine Yuna Voyles, The Creator

Best Acting Ensemble

Air
Barbie
The Color Purple
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer

Best Director

Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Greta Gerwig, Barbie
Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Alexander Payne, The Holdovers
Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon

Best Adapted Screenplay

Kelly Fremon Craig, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers
Cord Jefferson, American Fiction
Tony McNamara, Poor Things
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon

Best Original Screenplay

Samy Burch, May December
Alex Convery, Air
Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer, Maestro
Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach, Barbie
David Hemingson, The Holdovers
Celine Song, Past Lives

Best Cinematography

Matthew Libatique, Maestro
Rodrigo Prieto, Barbie
Rodrigo Prieto, Killers of the Flower Moon
Robbie Ryan, Poor Things
Linus Sandgren, Saltburn
Hoyte van Hoytema, Oppenheimer

Best Production Design

Suzie Davies, Charlotte Dirickx, Saltburn
Ruth De Jong, Claire Kaufman, Oppenheimer
Jack Fisk, Adam Willis, Killers of the Flower Moon
Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer, Barbie
James Price, Shona Heath, Szusza Mihalek, Poor Things
Adam Stockhausen, Kris Moran, Asteroid City

Best Editing

William Goldenberg – Air
Nick Houy – Barbie
Jennifer Lame – Oppenheimer
Yorgos Mavropsaridis – Poor Things
Thelma Schoonmaker – Killers of the Flower Moon
Michelle Tesoro – Maestro

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran, Barbie
Lindy Hemming, Wonka
Francine Jamison-Tanchuck, The Color Purple
Holly Waddington, Poor Things
Jacqueline West, Killers of the Flower Moon
Janty Yates, David Crossman, Napoleon

Best Hair and Makeup

Barbie
The Color Purple
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Priscilla

Best Visual Effects

The Creator
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Best Comedy

American Fiction
Barbie
Bottoms
The Holdovers
No Hard Feelings
Poor Things

Best Animated Film

The Boy and the Heron
Elemental
Nimona
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Wish

Best Foreign Language Film

Anatomy of a Fall
Godzilla Minus One
Perfect Days
Society of the Snow
The Taste of Things
The Zone of Interest

Best Song

“Dance the Night,” Barbie
“I’m Just Ken,” Barbie
“Peaches,” The Super Mario Bros. Movie
“Road to Freedom,” Rustin
“This Wish,” Wish
“What Was I Made For,” Barbie

Best Score

Jerskin Fendrix, Poor Things
Michael Giacchino, Society of the Snow
Ludwig Göransson, Oppenheimer
Daniel Pemberton, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Robbie Robertson, Killers of the Flower Moon
Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt, Barbie