Ben Affleck Explains Why He’s Uncool to His Kids

“Extra’s” Renee Bargh spoke with Ben Affleck and his co-star Daniel Ranieri about their new movie “The Tender Bar,” as well as their holiday plans.

Ben shared his thoughts on Christmas, saying, “The thing about the holidays that is particularly rewarding is the time you get to spend with your kids… I remember as a kid, just Christmas was never gonna come, like, the anticipation… It was the greatest day of the year. Watching kids experience that hope that Santa Claus brought their present, no more beautiful feeling than that to see your children experience joy.”

He added, “We have our traditions, our Christmas Eve. That’s sort of about what the movie’s about. Not so much about how it looks, how your family looks… It’s that there’s love there and you can rely on it. That’s really what’s beautiful about Christmas.”

Ben said all he wants for Christmas is to be able to carry on a casual conversation with his kids about what they’re into nowadays. When Renee commented that he’s probably a cool dad, Ben quipped, “You might think so, but you would be wrong… If you’re somebody’s parent, you’re not cool to somebody in the world… That’s part of life. You realize there’s something kind of healthy about embarrassing your kids.”

When asked what he’s looking forward to for the holidays, Daniel expressed his love for basketball.

Ben even offered to take him to a basketball game after recently attending a Lakers game with Jennifer Lopez.

Ben and Daniel became close while filming “The Tender Bar.” Ben noted, “This guy carried me through the movie… When you’re acting with someone this good, you just follow.”

Affleck also opened up about working with George Clooney, who directed the film. He raved, “What I really learned to appreciate was how well [George] understood acting and his ability to communicate that understanding… Both of those things are rare… So you feel like not only am I benefiting from my own experience and ideas, I feel like the credits should say the part is played by Ben Affleck and George Clooney because he added so much to it.”

Ben continued, “He’s a great storyteller, a fun guy… That’s not something you can really fake… Incredibly charming and magnetic. Movies are a lot of downtime, so you get to hear his stories, and that was just as much fun as anything else.”

“The Tender Bar” is in theaters December 17.