The stars may have finally aligned for Ben Affleck and George Clooney to work together as star and director. What will these two former Bat-men be teaming up for? An adaptation of The Tender Bar for Amazon Studios.
Deadline reports Affleck is in talks to star in The Tender Bar adaptation, which Clooney has been attached to direct since last summer. The film is based on J.R. Moehringer’s memoir about growing up in Long Island and seeking various father figures at his uncle’s bar. William Monahan (The Departed) will adapt the screenplay.
Hidden Figures director Ted Melfi had previously been attached to direct when set-up at Sony Pictures. That fell through and Amazon picked up the rights for Clooney to make his next gig behind the camera. His latest, The Midnight Sky, opens in theaters this Friday and on Netflix later in the month.
Affleck and Clooney have worked together before, but not in the same context. Both were producers on the Oscar-winning thriller Argo, with Affleck also as director and star.
Next up for Affleck is a slew of projects, including Adrian Lyne’s Deep Water, Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, and Robert Rodriguez’s Hypnotic. He’ll also direct The Big Goodbye, a film about the making of Chinatown. Oh, and there was something about him suiting up as Batman again for The Flash, and coming back to do reshoots for Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Finally, Affleck has received the best reviews of his career for The Way Back, and might find himself in the Best Actor field as a result.
