Most of us don’t parent exactly according to the parenting books
Oscar winners Ben Affleck and George Clooney reunite for new film, The Tender Bar. KERRI-ANN ROPER finds out more from the pair and co-star Tye Sheridan
WHEN George Clooney needed to cast one of the main characters for his film The Tender Bar, he knew exactly who would fit the bill.
His friend and previous collaborator, and one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Ben Affleck.
“Once we told Amazon we wanted to do The Tender Bar, the question was who was going to play Uncle Charlie,” says George of the coming-of-age film, which he directs and which is based on a book of the same name by JR Moehringer. It tells the story of a boy, JR, who seeks father figures at a bar called the Dickens, run by his Uncle Charlie.
George and Ben worked together previously on Argo, the 2012 film which won them both Oscars as producers when it took home the best picture gong.
“The character had to have two specific qualities. You have to believe he’s really smart and really well-read. That is a no-brainer with Ben Affleck. He’s a really smart actor and a smart man,” George, 60, explains of casting Ben as Charlie.
“And then he has to be a little worn down. He needs a bit of gravitas. Ben is a different actor now than he was 15 years ago. With age comes a little bit of grey in the hair and a little bit of crinkle in his eye.
“Ben couldn’t have played this part five or 10 years ago. Now he is exactly right for it. As soon as we read the script, we thought of him.”
Ben’s star power is matched by the rest of the cast, with names like Lily Rabe (who plays JR’S overprotective mother Dorothy) and Back
L-R: The Tender Bar stars Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Daniel Ranieri, director George Clooney, and Christopher Lloyd promoting the film
To The Future’s Christopher Lloyd.
We meet main character JR, played by Daniel Ranieri, as a child whose radio DJ father abandons him and his mother. Then Mud star Tye Sheridan takes on the role of the grown-up JR.
Good Will Hunting star Ben, who turns 50 this year and whose personal life has grabbed headlines lately after a romantic reunion with actress and singer Jennifer Lopez, was happy to take on the role of Charlie.
He says: “George put the story together in a beautifully intelligent way and there’s a lot of wisdom that comes across in this character, but also a sense, not that life is perfect, or things work out exactly the way we want, or that it’s going to meet the expectations of whatever fantasies we have.
“It’s about making the best of life as it is, and infusing it with as much goodness and integrity as you can, even though none of us are perfect.
“And also, honestly, I have three kids and that’s really what I care most about, and so for me to even leave my kids for seven weeks... it has to be a really meaningful, important role.”
Ben agrees with George that being a bit older helped him play Uncle Charlie.
He says: “I do feel as though I’m not one of these actors who at 20 is able to conjure up the incredibly detailed life experience, that they’re able to just use their imagination.
“I’m very rooted in my own experiences or research or finding out kind of what’s true, what’s real. And I’m about to turn 50, you know, in August and it turns out [you] live enough years, you start to learn a few things, whether you like it or not.”
For 25-year-old American star Tye, whose credits also include the X-men films, The Tender Bar prompted him to think about the relationships in his life.
He says: “It made me think about what it might be like to not have my dad around, because my dad was a big part of my life growing up. He’s a baseball coach and he was always there and so was my mom.
“And this especially made me think about my relationship with my mom, because I spent a lot of time with my mom, just the two of us, because I was getting into film at such an early age when I was 15, 16.
“And she would come along with me and travel with me and be there to support this crazy dream of mine.
“So it definitely brought me back to that and defi- nitely made me think about my own relationships with my parents.”
Shining a light on the value of imperfect role models and their role in relationships, is Uncle Charlie, who is Dorothy’s brother and a real man’s man who becomes a cornerstone in JR’S life.
That Charlie is not a traditional role model is something Ben found appealing.
He explains: “It’s not about the family model or the role model, the father figure, the mother figure, the parental figure fitting into any specific box.
“I see [that in] this movie, although it’s set at a time when we had slightly more traditional ideas about what family was supposed to look like, that’s largely meaningless.
“And that what is really meaningful, is to have people who are around children who love them, and take care of them and appreciate them and value them and are kind to them.
“That really is what you need as a young person in order to grow up to have a healthy sense of yourself, that you’re worth something, that you’re meaningful and valuable, and you have something to give.
“And it doesn’t have to take any specific form,” he adds, pointing out: “Most of us don’t parent exactly according to the parenting books and the exact ways that we’re told to do it.
“We try our best, we fail often, we also succeed, but what’s really important is how much love and time you’re able to give, and that’s the most valuable commodity of all.”
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The Tender Bar streams on Amazon Prime Video from Friday