Steven Spielberg refused to work with Ben Affleck because of pool fight on a family vacation, filmmaker claims

42 comments

1. > “He said, ‘We gotta do something together. I want you to write something for me,'” Binder said on Stephen Baldwin’s podcast One Bad Movie, noting that the film was partially inspired by a home invasion scare at Spielberg’s house. “At the time, we both lived up in the Palisades, and we were talking about power and struggles, and also he was going through a thing where there was a guy who broke into his house late at night, and was gonna, they found notes. The guy was gonna electrocute Steven, beat him up, and it was just horrible.”

   > Binder said that the film was set to enter production at Spielberg’s studio, DreamWorks, with the E.T. filmmaker at the helm. However, the screenwriter said that Spielberg eventually backed out of directing, but wanted to keep the movie at DreamWorks with Binder as director. Binder then met Affleck, who wanted to work with him after seeing The Upside of Anger.

   > “We make a deal that he’s gonna do it, we shake hands, he’ll do it,” Binder said of meeting with Affleck to make Man About Town.

   > However, Spielberg said that he wouldn’t allow Affleck to be hired for the film. “I call Steven, Steven says, ‘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,'” Binder claimed. Binder said that Spielberg accused Affleck of fighting with his son on a family vacation while the Daredevil star was dating the filmmaker’s goddaughter, Gwyneth Paltrow. “‘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,'” he recalled Spielberg telling him. “‘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.'”

2. This is the most 1 percent story ever.

3. tl;dr: One of Spielberg’s sons pushed Affleck into a pool while he was fully clothed. Affleck got angry and threw the kid into the pool, too. Doesn’t say which kid but they could be anywhere from 5-15 yrs old during the time mentioned.

4. Oh man, I’m dead thinking about Matt Damon busting his balls about this every time a Spielberg movie comes out.

5. I read Steven Seagal and was very confused

6. The scarf strikes again. Spielberg is a menace!

7. Probably Max…. He’s an asshole. Probably when he was 15 and Affleck just finished Chasing Amy.

8. Spielberg needs to grow a pair

9. Sounds like what comes around goes around. Fuck them kids

10. Sounds like Ben is a pretty cool dude 😎

11. The proprietor of fashionable male is such an alcoholic asshole dad

12. I bet his kids walk all over him and anybody else becuase of their daddy. Crap parenting lesson he taught them imo

13. Sounds like they are both knob heads

14. Some little nepo-brat pushed an adult into a pool fully dressed. If I were his dad I’d be apologizing not enabling. Can’t wait to see how this spoiled rich kid grows up. I suspect he’s not getting a medical degree.

15. Sounds like the premise of a 7 episode mini series.

16. In WHAT world is Ben Affleck wrong for returning the favor and throwing the kid in the pool? This is crazy

17. Ngl this shit is funny as hell lol

18. Yeah I’m on Afflecks side on this one. Fuck them kids

19. I have a feeling Steven’s kids get away with doing a lot of things.

20. I’ve read the original quote and this headline sounds like an exaggeration. They were fucking around by a pool and after Ben got pushed in he pushed the kid in. I don’t think Spielberg is being really serious here

21. I didn’t know Spielberg was such a petty little a hole. Maybe Steven should raise his kids better.

22. Every time a negative story about Ben Affleck comes out I end up liking him more

23. He got in a fight with Spielberg? Was it in the back of a Volkswagen?

24. “Stars: they’re just like us!” Wellllll…..

25. I’m with Ben on this one. When I was a kid I sprayed my grandfather with a squirt gun. He waited until the next day and ambushed me with the hose. At first I was stunned and a little bothered by it. I quickly realized that I deserved it. Spielberg should have taught his son this lesson instead of using his power as a famous director to protect him.

26. Petit bourgeoisie.

27. You know this might’ve worked out really well. If Spielberg gave AFLAC a lot of rules, maybe he never would have done as much directing as he did. And while I enjoy him as an actor, his director work is actually even better.

28. God Steven’s son was an asshole and deserved to be thrown back in the pool Steven in an asshole for not parenting his son. So what his son is just allowed to push fully dressed people in the pool and not get some play back. The kid was in a swim suit and was just thrown back into the pool. If this was my kid it would have been a learning lesson!!

29. I’m sure it has nothing to do with Afflecks’s support of a 2 state solution.

30. If some little fucker pushed me into a pool unexpectedly with my clothes on, you best believe he’s getting THROWN in!

31. Should have been a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode.

32. How are they are not all laughing about this is? Like my kid just pushed Ben freakin Batman Affleck into the pool! Then Batman tosses him in! Hahaha. Then we had some bbq and got drunk. Sounds like fun to me. Ben and Steven, it doesn’t matter how many billions your movies made, you’re in the world of kids! And kids don’t care how important you think you are. They live in the moment and are very excitable. Especially around the pool. C’mon man.

33. Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms, yo.

34. “‘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,'” he recalled Spielberg telling him. “‘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.'”

    Well maybe your kid shouldn’t be pushing people into the pool if he doesn’t want to get thrown in himself?

35. I mean I wouldn’t chuck someone’s kid into a pool over some petty shit like this but his son is a little asshole and sometimes you gonna mess with the wrong person in this case a very insecure adult

36. TIL, Ben Affleck is based as hell.

    If my kid did that to a colleague, I’d throw the kid in the pool myself.

37. He disciplined my child…. Ima have to tap out dawg

38. sounds like the kid brought piss to a shit fight

39. Cool story. Love how it ended. All good between them at the end.

40. Honestly this sounds like much better movie than what was originally intended….it should be called “Pushing Ben into the Pool”

41. “My son threw Ben in the pool, Ben didn’t like that so he threw my son in the pool. My son and I both didn’t like that”

    The ”pool fight” ladies and gentlemen.

42. Spielberg just dry snitched on himself for raising an asshole.

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