George Clooney jokes that he destroyed the Batman franchise

Don’t look for George Clooney to reprise his role as Batman in the upcoming movie “The Flash”, as Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton will.

“They didn’t ask me,” Clooney told me Sunday night at a special screening of “The Tender Bar,” the coming-of-age drama he directed and which stars Affleck, Lily Rabe and Tye Sheridan. “When you destroy a franchise like I did, they usually look the other way when ‘The Flash’ comes along.”

Clooney played the Caped Crusader in Joel Schumacher’s infamous 1997 film “Batman & Robin” opposite Chris O’Donnell and Alicia Silverstone.

“He won’t let me look at him,” Amal, Clooney’s wife, told me.

George added: “There are some movies that I just saw, ‘I want my wife to have a little respect for me.'”

When Amal commented that their twins Alexander and Ella will want to see him, George broke down, “It’s bad when your four-year-old says, ‘This sucks.’ It could be painful.

“The Tender Bar” marks a reunion for Clooney and Affleck after they teamed up to produce “Argo,” the 2012 three-Oscar-winning political thriller, including first prize for best picture. Clooney joked that it took them nine years to make another movie together because Affleck “messed up the Batman franchise that I made so solid.”

“The Tender Bar” is based on the memoir of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist of the same name JR Moehringer on his relationship with his uncle Charlie (Affleck), who became a father figure to him while growing up on Long Island. Rabe plays his mother while Christopher Lloyd is his grandfather. Newcomer Daniel Ranieri plays a young JR NS Sheridan portrayed him during his years at Yale and as a budding journalist. “It was a really nice script and Ben came very early so we thought we were going to have some fun,” Clooney said.

Sheridan said it was his first time working with a director who was also an actor. He said, “The dynamics are suddenly changing. It’s not a director talking to an actor – it is – but it’s also an actor talking to an actor. “

“The Tender Bar” hits theaters in New York and Los Angeles on December 17, followed by a nationwide rollout on December 22. The film will be available worldwide on Amazon Prime Video on January 7, 2022.