Steven Spielberg as soon as refused to direct Ben Affleck in a movie, filmmaker Mike Binder claims.
Whereas showing on a latest episode of Stephen Baldwin’s “One Dangerous Film” podcast, Binder, 67, stated that he and Spielberg, 79, had been in talks for the latter to direct Man About City, which hit theaters in 2006 and starred Affleck, 53, as a hotshot Hollywood agent.
“He stated, ‘We gotta do one thing collectively. I would like you to put in writing one thing for me,’” Binder stated of Spielberg. “On the time, we each lived up within the Palisades, and we had been speaking about energy and struggles.”
Binder stated that Spielberg initially deliberate to take a seat within the director’s chair for the challenge, however modified his thoughts and as an alternative agreed to provide it via his studio, DreamWorks. Binder then met with Affleck about starring within the lead function.
“We make a deal that he’s gonna do it, we shake palms, he’ll do it,” Binder recalled of Affleck. Spielberg, nevertheless, allegedly refused to be concerned if the Argo star was solid within the challenge. “I name Steven, Steven says, ‘No. Can’t do it with him. We simply bombed a film with him, he’s acquired that complete J.Lo factor occurring now, and I’ve different issues with him,’” Binder stated. (Affleck started courting Lopez, 56, in 2002 and proposed to her the identical 12 months. After receiving heavy public scrutiny, the pair referred to as off their marriage ceremony, parting methods in 2004. The exes rekindled their love in 2021 and acquired married the next 12 months. In August 2024, Lopez filed for divorce. The break up was finalized in early 2025.)
Spielberg went on to say that Affleck mistreated his son throughout a pool struggle.
“‘My son was somewhat boy, he was enjoying within the pool, and he acquired out of the pool, and Ben got here in totally dressed, and my son pushed Ben into the pool,’” Spielberg stated, in keeping with Binder. “‘And Ben acquired actually mad at him, and he got here out of the pool and picked him up and threw him again into the pool, and made my son cry.’”
Binder questioned what the purpose of the story was.
The king of leisure! From Indiana Jones to Jaws, Steven Spielberg is likely one of the most well-known and profitable administrators of all time. The E.T. the Further-Terrestrial director was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in December 1946, although his household moved to Phoenix 10 years later, the place he spent his early life. Spielberg’s curiosity in movie […]
“I stated, ‘OK, what does this should do with something?’” he recalled. “He says, ‘I simply don’t prefer to work with him. Plus his final two motion pictures bombed. Discover any individual else. Anybody however him. He’s chilly as hell.’ I stated, ‘OK, Steven.’”
When Binder advised Affleck’s group that Spielberg wasn’t inquisitive about him, Affleck had an inkling concerning the motive.
“Ben calls me up, he says, ‘Did Steven Spielberg inform you I threw his child within the water? Is that what occurred? Is that why I’m not in your film?’” Binder alleged. “I stated, ‘No, he didn’t say’ — ‘Sure he did! He advised you I threw his child within the water. That’s why I’m not on the film.’”
Affleck did go on to star in Man About City, which was finally produced by Daylight Productions and launched on to DVD in 2007. The movie adopted Affleck’s Jack Giamoro, whose excellent life falls aside amid the revelation that his spouse (Rebecca Romijn) is dishonest on him.
When the Affleck-directed drama Argo gained Finest Image on the 2013 Academy Awards, the Good Will Searching star and Spielberg had been seemingly in a position to bury the hatchet.
“He beats Spielberg [for Lincoln], and he’s on the Academy Awards, and so they’re hugging,” Binder recalled. “And I textual content him, I’m watching on the air, I’m going, ‘Ben, tonight you can throw Spielberg’s complete household within the pool and get away with it.’ About an hour later, the telephone rings, it’s Affleck on the Academy [Awards]. He goes, ‘That made me chuckle so f***in’ arduous.”
Binder continued, “I like each these guys, and so they’re each smarter than me, however they each kinda acted like idiots, and so did I. They had been nice guys, however on the identical time, a**holes. They had been like everyone else. Steven Spielberg is a genius and a terrific man, however he might be an a**gap. And Ben Affleck is a good man, and he is usually a larger a**gap. However by the identical token, each of ’em can go, ‘Yeah, I might be an a**gap.’”
Us Weekly has reached out to Affleck and Spielberg’s reps for remark.
