“You treat them like tiny adults”: George Clooney Won’t Mistreat Child Stars Due to 1 Show That Made His Career
George Clooney is regarded as one of the most talented actors and filmmakers in the entertainment industry who has had a successful career. Starting his career as Dr. Doug Ross on NBC medical drama ER, Clooney managed to impress the audience and the critics as he earned two Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
The actor swiftly made the transition into direction with 2002’s Confessions of a Dangerous Mind starring Sam Rockwell, Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore, Rutger Hauer, and himself. The movie’s success helped the actor-turned-director to keep moving forward in the direction realm. He helmed Ben Affleck’s 2021 project, The Tender Bar, and talked about how he handles working with child actors.
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George Clooney says playing Dr. Doug Ross on ER influenced his working style with child actors
George Clooney directed Ben Affleck starrer The Tender Bar in 2021, which is adapted from a 2005 memoir of the same name written by J.R. Moehringer. The movie also stars child actor Daniel Ranieri, who plays a younger version of JR Maguire. During an interview with EW, Clooney was asked about his experience of working with child actors. He said,
“You treat them like tiny adults. I played pediatrician on ER, so I worked with kid actors every single day for five years, and a different one a day. They’re so much smarter than we give them credit for, they know exactly what’s going on. And with Daniel who had never acted before, he’s 10 years old-honestly I’ve worked with a lot of great kids actors but this kid, it was just insane.”
The filmmaker-actor continued,
“We have a six page scene with his father in the car. There’s no cuts, and he did it one take. I played it back and looked at it and said, ‘We got it’. That’s unheard of.”
He also added that when John Krasinski was doing A Quiet Place and asked him about a child actor, he recommended Noah Jupe. He said he’d do the same for Daniel in a heartbeat too. Clooney always had nice words to say about Noah Jupe, who starred in his 2017’s directed movie, Suburbicon, as Nicky Lodge.
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George Clooney on why Ben Affleck was right for the part in The Tender Bar
Clooney, in his interview, was asked about casting Ben Affleck as Uncle Charlie in the movie and explained,
“This is a character that when Grand Heslov and I read it, we were liked, ‘Well, who’s going to play that part?’ And both of us at the same time thought Ben. We’ve worked with Ben before, we like him a lot. He’s very smart, which this character has to be. He’s well-read, as Ben is. And he’s also the guy who works at a bar, a working-class guy, and Ben has the ability to do that.”
George Clooney further mentioned that
“To me, it was like listening to the Sopranos doing Shakespeare. So when we sent it to Ben, we didn’t know what he was doing. Didn’t know what his world was like. And he sent back like a two-page email that went on forever about why he’s exactly the right guy and how he’s going to kick a** and he’ll do it for nothing.”
The movie had a limited release before its premiere on Amazon Prime Video. It received mixed reviews from the audience and critics, but Ben Affleck managed to earn a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nomination for his portrayal of Charlie Maguire.
The Tender Bar is streaming on Prime Video.
