Steven Spielberg’s shocking personal grudge against Ben Affleck: ‘Anyone but him’

Steven Spielberg and Ben Affleck reportedly experienced a roadblock early on in their dynamic and never resolved it.

According to screenwriter Mike Binder, who worked with Affleck on Man About Town (2006), Spielberg and his company DreamWorks were initially attached to the project eventually helmed by Binder.

When he wanted to cast the Gone Girl actor in the movie, the 79-year-old filmmaker put his foot down and rejected the casting.

“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 shared on the One Bad Movie podcast.

The screenwriter further claimed that Spielberg’s “other problems” with Affleck dated back to the time he was dating the director’s goddaughter, actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

Binder went on to narrate an incident from a vacation which the couple had spent with Spielberg’s family.

“‘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. 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,’” the Jaws filmmaker told him. “‘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.’”

Following their conversation, Binder called Affleck’s agent to turn down their collaboration.

“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 in your movie?’ 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 in the movie,’” he recalled.

Binder eventually relented to Affleck’s casting and relayed his decision to Spielberg, who initially went along with it but withdrew his company from the project shortly after.

The Ben Affleck-starrer Man About Town, written and directed by Mike Binder, was eventually produced by independent studio Media 8 and released straight-to-DVD by Lionsgate.

While Steven Spielberg and Ben Affleck still haven’t worked together, Affleck’s directorial Argo had beaten Spielberg’s Lincoln at the Oscars in 2013.

“He beats Spielberg, and he’s at the Academy Awards, and they’re hugging,” Binder said. “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... he goes: ‘That made me laugh so f****** hard.’”

Notably, Spielberg had director Affleck’s best friend Matt Damon in Saving Private Ryan (1998).