Hollywood can be vindictive, personal, and—as filmmaker and actor Mike Binder puts it—full of “assholes.” To that end, Binder has shared an outrageous Hollywood tale involving Steven Spielberg, Ben Affleck, and a nearly-shelved thriller that became entangled in studio politics, personality clashes, and a bizarre poolside grudge.
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Appearing on One Bad Movie with Stephen Baldwin, Binder recounted how Spielberg was once attached to direct his 2006 Lionsgate film “Man About Town,” before allegedly backing out and later blocking Affleck from taking part. The project began as a collaboration between Binder and Spielberg after the success of Binder’s 2005 movie, “The Upside of Anger,” which the “Jaws” director loved. “He told me, ‘We’ve got to do something together,’” Binder said of Spielberg. “We were talking about power and the struggles, and he was going through a thing where someone broke into his house—it was crazy. So I wrote this thing for him.”
Binder remembered how they spent months developing the screenplay at DreamWorks. But just as the movie was heading toward production, Spielberg suddenly backed away. “He called me and said, ‘I got bad news. I’m not making this movie. [His wife] Kate [Capshaw] talked me out of it. It’s too autobiographical,” Binder recalled. “But he said, ‘You wrote a great script. I think you should direct it, and DreamWorks will make it for you.’”
When Affleck expressed interest in joining the project, Binder thought he’d found the perfect lead. “Ben Affleck comes to my editing room and watches “The Upside of Anger. “He says, ‘I want to do your next movie,’” Binder said. “I told him it was at DreamWorks, and he said, ‘I want to do it.’ So I called Steven, and he said, ‘No, can’t do it with him. 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.’”
According to Binder, Spielberg then told him a bizarre story from years earlier. “He goes, ‘One time he was going with my goddaughter Gwyneth [Paltrow], and we all went on a trip to Spain. My son was a little boy playing in the pool. Ben came in fully dressed, and my son pushed him in. Ben got really mad, came out, picked up my son, and threw him back in—and made my son cry,’” Binder said. “‘I just don’t like to work with him. Plus, his last two movies bombed. He’s cold as hell.’”
Binder said Affleck later confronted him about it directly: “Ben calls me up and says, ‘Did Steven Spielberg tell you I threw his kid in the water? Is that why I’m not on your movie?’”
Eventually, Spielberg relented and permitted Binder to move forward with Ben Affleck on the project — but the relief was short-lived. Soon after, DreamWorks abruptly dropped the film altogether, a move Binder suggested was very suspect and a seemingly personal attempt by Spielberg to block the project from moving forward. “Man About Town” did come out, but Binder says Lionsgate essentially released it as a straight-to-DVD film, which he admittedly described as a “sh*tty movie.”
Years later, when Affleck’s career rebounded and he famously beat Spielberg’s “Lincoln” at the Oscars with “Argo,” Binder couldn’t believe his eyes. Watching the ceremony, he saw Spielberg hugging and congratulating Affleck and essentially thought, Well, I guess that’s one way for old Hollywood beefs to dissolve.
Still, Binder couldn’t resist a callback. “I texted [Affleck], ‘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 Ben from the Academy, laughing. That made me smile.”
Watch the whole podcast conversation below.
