Steven Spielberg once refused to direct Ben Affleck in a film, filmmaker Mike Binder claims.
While appearing on a recent episode of Stephen Baldwin’s “One Bad Movie” podcast, Binder, 67, said that he and Spielberg, 79, had been in talks for the latter to direct Man About Town, which hit theaters in 2006 and starred Affleck, 53, as a hotshot Hollywood agent.
“He said, ‘We gotta do something together. I want you to write something for me,’” Binder said of Spielberg. “At the time, we both lived up in the Palisades, and we were talking about power and struggles.”
Binder said that Spielberg initially planned to sit in the director’s chair for the project, but changed his mind and instead agreed to produce it through his studio, DreamWorks. Binder then met with Affleck about starring in the lead role.
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“We make a deal that he’s gonna do it, we shake hands, he’ll do it,” Binder recalled of Affleck. Spielberg, however, allegedly refused to be involved if the Argo star was cast in the project. “I call Steven, Steven says, ‘No. Can’t do it with him. We just bombed a movie with him, he’s got that whole J.Lo thing going on now, and I have other problems with him,’” Binder said. (Affleck began dating Lopez, 56, in 2002 and proposed to her the same year. After receiving heavy public scrutiny, the pair called off their wedding, parting ways in 2004. The exes rekindled their love in 2021 and got married the following year. In August 2024, Lopez filed for divorce. The split was finalized in early 2025.)
Spielberg went on to claim that Affleck mistreated his son during a pool fight.
“‘My son was a little boy, he was playing in the pool, and he got out of the pool, and Ben came in fully dressed, and my son pushed Ben into the pool,’” Spielberg said, according to Binder. “‘And Ben got really mad at him, and he came out of the pool and picked him up and threw him back into the pool, and made my son cry.’”
Binder questioned what the point of the story was.
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“I said, ‘OK, what does this have to do with anything?’” he recalled. “He says, ‘I just don’t like to work with him. Plus his last two movies bombed. Find somebody else. Anyone but him. He’s cold as hell.’ I said, ‘OK, Steven.’”
When Binder told Affleck’s team that Spielberg wasn’t interested in him, Affleck had an inkling about the reason.
“Ben calls me up, he says, ‘Did Steven Spielberg tell you I threw his kid in the water? Is that what happened? Is that why I’m not on your movie?’” Binder alleged. “I said, ‘No, he didn’t say’ — ‘Yes he did! He told you I threw his kid in the water. That’s why I’m not on the movie.’”
Affleck did go on to star in Man About Town, which was ultimately produced by Sunlight Productions and released directly to DVD in 2007. The film followed Affleck’s Jack Giamoro, whose perfect life falls apart amid the revelation that his wife (Rebecca Romijn) is cheating on him.
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When the Affleck-directed drama Argo won Best Picture at the 2013 Academy Awards, the Good Will Hunting star and Spielberg were seemingly able to bury the hatchet.
“He beats Spielberg [for Lincoln], and he’s at the Academy Awards, and they’re hugging,” Binder recalled. “And I text him, I’m watching on the air, I go, ‘Ben, tonight you could throw Spielberg’s whole family in the pool and get away with it.’ About an hour later, the phone rings, it’s Affleck at the Academy [Awards]. He goes, ‘That made me laugh so f***in’ hard.”
Binder continued, “I love both these guys, and they’re both smarter than me, but they both kinda acted like idiots, and so did I. They were great guys, but at the same time, a**holes. They were like everybody else. Steven Spielberg is a genius and a great guy, but he can be an a**hole. And Ben Affleck is a great guy, and he can be a bigger a**hole. But by the same token, both of ’em can go, ‘Yeah, I can be an a**hole.’”
Us Weekly has reached out to Affleck and Spielberg’s reps for comment.
