Ben Affleck is being considered to star in George Clooney’s feature film version of J.R. Moehringer’s coming-of-age story “The Tender Bar: A Memoir” for Amazon Studios.
Affleck and Clooney worked together as producers on “Argo,” which won them and Clooney’s producing partner Grant Heslov an Academy Award for best picture.
Clooney and Heslov are producing “The Tender Bar” through their Smokehouse Pictures banner along with Ted Hope. The project was set up in July. William Monahan, who won an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay for “The Departed,” has written the script for “The Tender Bar.”
Moehringer’s book, published in 2005, centers on the author seeking a replacement for his father, a New York City disc jockey who vanished before his son spoke his first word. When he can’t find his father’s voice on the radio anymore, the boy turns in desperation to the bar on the corner, where he finds friendship from his Uncle Charlie and other adults, who take him to the beach, to ballgames, and ultimately into their circle.
Clooney’s feature directing credits include “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” “Good Night and Good Luck,” “Leatherheads,” “The Ides of March,” “The Monuments Men” and “Suburbicon.” He also directed the upcoming post-apocalyptic thriller “The Midnight Sky” for Netflix and Anonymous Content, and directed and executive produced several episodes of “Catch 22” for Hulu.
Affleck starred as a recovering alcoholic earlier this year in the sports drama “The Way Back.” In August, director Andy Muschietti revealed that Affleck would return as Batman in Ezra Miller’s “The Flash” for Warner Bros., with Miller’s Barry Allen appearing in parallel dimensions and meeting different versions of DC’s heroes.
Affleck has also been in production on the New Regency thriller “Deep Water” and Ridley Scott’s drama “The Last Duel.” He is also on board to write and direct an upcoming adaptation of “The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood.”
Affleck is repped by WME. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.