George Clooney stars in 'The Tender Bar'

George Clooney directs new film "The Tender Bar"

It is a coming-of-age movie starring Ben Affleck based at a New York bar

(SOUNDBITE) (English) FILMMAKER, GEORGE CLOONEY, ON TURNING 60, AND WHETHER IT HAS CHANGED HIS LIFE PRIORITIES, SAYING:

"It was gentle. It was kind, and I don't often do films like that, and I certainly, we just finished doing a film about the end of the Earth and we'd been spending a couple of years, really more four, five years, sort of everybody kind of at each other's throat. . .I wanted to have something that reminded us that we all kind of like each other in general."

A newcomer is taken under the wing of his barman uncle and a cast of colorful patrons

He matures from an insecure boy into an acclaimed writer

(SOUNDBITE) (English) FILMMAKER, GEORGE CLOONEY, ON TURNING 60, AND WHETHER IT HAS CHANGED HIS LIFE PRIORITIES, SAYING:

"this character is really smart and he's a bit of a goofball and Ben is all of those things'. And I thought 'this is a time, it would be something for him to shine in. And he has. It's just, it's really fun. It's exciting to work with him."

The movie will hit U.S. cinemas December 17