- - Steven Spielberg Vowed Not to Work with Ben Affleck After an Alleged Pool Incident, Claims Director Mike Binder

Tommy McArdleDecember 24, 2025 at 1:49 AM

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Steven Spielberg; Ben Affleck; Mike Binder -

Steven Spielberg once allegedly refused to work with Ben Affleck, claims filmmaker Mike Binder

Binder claimed Spielberg would not produce his 2006 movie Man About Town after Affleck was cast due to an alleged pool party incident

"Steven Spielberg is a genius and a great guy but he can be an a------, and Ben Affleck is a great guy and he can be a bigger a------," Binder said on a podcast

Steven Spielberg refused to work with Ben Affleck because of an alleged years-old incident involving one of Spielberg's sons, claims filmmaker Mike Binder.

Binder, 67, appeared on a November episode of Stephen Baldwin's podcast One Bad Movie during which he claimed Spielberg, now 79, once told him that Affleck, now 53, once threw one of Spielberg's sons in a pool during a family vacation while Affleck was dating Gwyneth Paltrow in the late 1990s. (Spielberg is Paltrow's godfather.)

Reps for Affleck and Spielberg did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's requests for comment.

Binder claimed that he and Spielberg worked together on the initial drafts of what became Binder's 2006 movie Man About Town. Spielberg ultimately offered to produce the movie rather than direct it himself, but Binder alleged that Spielberg balked when Affleck was cast to star in the movie.

"Steven says, 'No. Can't do it with [Affleck]. We just bombed with a movie with him, he's got that whole J. Lo thing going on now, and I have other problems with him,' " Binder claimed Spielberg told him after he shared he had cast Affleck. (Affleck and Jennifer Lopez's first engagement ended in 2004, while Man About Town was in development.)

"I love both these guys, and they're both smarter than me, but they both kind of acted like idiots and so did I," Binder said.

He claimed that Spielberg told him that Affleck once accompanied Paltrow, now 53, and Spielberg's family on a vacation and had an incident in which one of Spielberg's sons allegedly pushed Affleck into a pool while Affleck was fully clothed.

Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Steven Spielberg, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck on March 21, 1998

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"'Ben came in fully dressed and my son pushed Ben into the pool, and Ben got really mad at him, and he came out of the pool and he picked him up and threw him back into the pool and made my son cry,' " Binder claimed Spielberg told him. (The director is a father to seven children, including sons Max, 40, Theo, 37 and Sawyer, 33.)

Binder said he asked Spielberg what the anecdote had "to do with anything" related to the movie, to which he claimed Spielberg responded, "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," Binder said. "I say, 'Okay Steven.' So I call Ben's agent and I say, 'It's not going to work.' Ben calls me up and he goes, '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 said he ultimately called Spielberg again and insisted that Affleck remain on the movie, and that the following day he allegedly learned Spielberg's film studio DreamWorks had dropped the project and would let him make Man About Town with a different company. Man About Town released in 2006 to negative reviews; Binder himself said on the podcast that he made "a s--- movie."

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Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Steven Spielberg and Daniel-Day Lewis on Jan. 11, 2013

Binder also recalled that he kept this experience in mind when Affleck's 2013 movie Argo won Best Picture at the 85th Academy Awards over Spielberg's Lincoln.

"He's at the Academy Awards and they're hugging, and I text him, I'm watching it, I go, 'Ben, tonight you could throw Spielberg's whole family in the pool and get away with it,' " he said. "About an hour later, the phone rings. It's Affleck. He goes, 'That made me laugh so f---ing hard.' ""And I told Steven that story too, and he goes 'Yeah, I think that night,' " Binder added. "That was like my one moment of dealing with those super hotshots and they were, like, great guys yet at the same time a------s. They were like everybody else. Steven Spielberg is a genius and a great guy, but he can be an a------, and Ben Affleck is a great guy, and he can be a bigger a------."

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”