George Clooney was left embarrassed after a child actor in his new film dubbed Christian Bale his favourite Batman.
Clooney was appearing on Jimmy Kimmel’s US talk show alongside 10-year-old actor Daniel Ranieri, who stars in Clooney’s new film The Tender Bar. Clooney directed the coming-of-age drama, which also stars Ben Affleck and Lily Rabe.
During one point in the conversation, Kimmel asked Ranieri who his favourite Batman was, expecting Ranieri to say Clooney – who notoriously played the Dark Knight in 1997’s Batman & Robin.
“Christian Bale!” Ranieri excitedly replied, of the actor who played Batman after Clooney, leading his director to express dismay.
“You little s***!” Clooney responded.
“Guess who’s not gonna be in The Tender Bar 2,” Kimmel joked.
Julia Roberts also crashed the Kimmel interview, briefly appearing sat next to Clooney while he was guesting on the show via Zoom. Clooney and Roberts are currently in Australia filming the forthcoming romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise.
Clooney played Batman only once, in the disastrous Joel Schumacher-directed Batman & Robin in 1997. The movie, filled with puns, neon lights and Arnold Schwarzenegger, put the Batman franchise on ice for eight years after it lost backers at Warner Bros an enormous amount of money. It was also critically reviled.
Last month, Clooney admitted that he “f***ed [the movie] up so bad”, and also revealed that he has banned his wife Amal from watching the film.
“There are certain films I just go, ‘I want my wife to have some respect for me’,” he said.
The Tender Bar is in cinemas now.
