The Tender Bar is the newest film in Amazon Studios‘ ever-growing library of original films. It is a tender and warm coming-of-age tale, based on the acclaimed autobiographical book by J.R. Moehringer. The Illuminerdi had the opportunity to be a part of The Tender Bar’s Virtual press conference, in which the cast and crew answered how they got involved in the project.
What drew Greg Berlanti and William Monahan to The Tender Bar
Here is what producer Greg Berlanti had to say about how he and George Clooney got involved in the project:
“I wish it was that easy. I read the book when it came out about 15 years ago and loved it. I called George and I said well I got this book and we went after it and didn’t get it in development in various places.15 years later I got a call from Amazon and they said “Hey, we got this script based on a book and we’d like to know if you are interested.” So they sent it, we read it and that was it. It came back to us.”
Screenwriter William Monahan added:
“I thought it was remarkable in many ways most first books by first-time authors they tend to throw their backgrounds and families under the bus using from material and sort of mythologize themselves you know you can go to Hemingway, Fitzgerald or anything in the 20th century but this book by Jr it was about a guy who loved his family and his family loved him and I thought this is it. When it came around and Amazon asked me to do it, I said yes immediately and it’s just really good fortune that Greg and George won a state of readiness, you know it’s very happy circumstance and very good fortune.”
It looks like there was a lot of passion from the crew for this project and this is definitely something that translated to the screen.
About The Tender Bar
The Tender Bar tells the story of J.R. (Tye Sheridan), a fatherless boy growing up in the glow of a bar where the bartender, his Uncle Charlie (Ben Affleck), is the sharpest and most colorful of an assortment of quirky and demonstrative father figures. As the boy’s determined mother (Lily Rabe) struggles to provide her son with opportunities denied to her — and leave the dilapidated home of her outrageous if begrudgingly supportive father (Christopher Lloyd) — J.R. begins to gamely, if not always gracefully, pursue his romantic and professional dreams — with one foot persistently placed in Uncle Charlie’s bar. The Tender Bar is based on the best-selling memoir of the same name by J.R. Moehringer. [Amazon Prime Video]
Amazon has released the George Clooney directed and produced film in select theatres already and will begin streaming on Prime Video on January 7, 2022.
The Tender Bar is written by William Monahan and directed by George Clooney. It stars Tyler Sheridan, Lily Rabe, Ben Affleck, Briana Middleton, Christopher Lloyd, Max Martini and introducing Daniel Ranieri.
What do you guys think? Are you interested in the film? Have you seen it already? If so how did you like it? Let’s discuss everything in the comments down below and on our Social Media.
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