By LILY TINOCO | Reporter
Palisadian Ben Affleck can be seen in the coming-of-age drama “The Tender Bar,” which became available for streaming Friday, January 7, on Amazon Prime Video.
The film, based on author and journalist J.R. Moehringer’s 2005 eponymous memoir, is directed by George Clooney. Affleck takes on the role of Charlie Moehringer, uncle of young J.R. Moehringer.
“‘The Tender Bar’ follows an aspiring writer (Tye Sheridan) pursuing his romantic and professional dreams,” according to Amazon Studios. “From a stool in his uncle’s (Affleck) bar, he learns what it means to grow up from a colorful group of local characters.”
With the film starting to stream on January 7 after a December theatrical release, Affleck has received high praise for his performance on the big screen since its launch.
“The truth is, as an actor, you get a sense of what the good parts are and they’re the parts that are well-written and afford you the opportunity to play a character that’s interesting, contradictory, flawed, and real,” Affleck said in an interview with the Boston Globe. “And also opportunities to play meaningful human moments that, hopefully, generate empathy in the audience. Those are the parts that, as actors, we’re always chasing.
“I’m no different than anybody else. It’s auditioning, reading scripts. It’s not mysterious when one comes along … an actor benefits from a great script. You can’t get blood from a stone. So there are two criteria for me: Is the material interesting and who’s the director?”
Affleck also discussed the ways his life experiences prepared him to take on the role of Uncle Charlie.
“I’ve just lived life, gotten to know a lot of different people, had different relationships, done a lot of therapy, and gone through a process of really trying to change myself and grow,” he said. “If you’re not living in a way that’s honest and connected to who you really are, you don’t know what makes you sad or resentful or happy because you’ve built a whole elaborate story internally to mask what’s really going on.
“When you pull that all away, I’ve found I know where sadness is, where pain is, where joy and love are.”
“The Tender Bar,” which has been rated R for some strong language and sexual references and with a runtime of 1 hour and 46 minutes, is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
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