Hollywood is full of legendary near collaborations. Actors almost get roles that would have changed their careers, directors nearly make movies that fall apart right before production, and every studio has a list of famous what ifs. Few of them are as strange or as funny as the story behind Steven Spielberg’s decision to avoid casting Ben Affleck in a film at DreamWorks.
The story comes courtesy of writer and director Mike Binder. On a recent episode of the One Bad Movie podcast, Binder explained that he had chosen Affleck as the lead for his 2005 film Man About Town, which was originally set up at DreamWorks. Affleck was enthusiastic from the start. Binder screened Upside of Anger for him in the editing room. Affleck loved it, immediately wanted to work together and shook hands with Binder to seal the deal. Binder left that meeting thinking the casting process was complete. And then he brought the idea to Spielberg.
Spielberg’s Surprising Reason for Saying No
According to Binder, Spielberg rejected the idea almost immediately. At first, it sounded like a routine studio concerns. Affleck was coming off a short string of box office disappointments and was still navigating the tabloid-heavy phase of his early Bennifer era. DreamWorks was a prestige-driven environment and the optics may not have seemed ideal. Then Spielberg offered a completely different explanation. It had nothing to do with numbers or media cycles. Binder says Spielberg told him a story from the 1990s, back when Affleck was dating Spielberg’s goddaughter Gwyneth Paltrow. The families had taken a trip to Spain, and Spielberg’s young son was playing in a swimming pool. Affleck arrived fully dressed, and the boy pushed him into the water. Affleck climbed out, frustrated, then picked up the child and tossed him back into the pool, making Spielberg’s son cry.
Binder says he had the same reaction most listeners likely had when hearing the story: “What does this have to do with casting a movie in 2005?” Spielberg’s answer was simple. He told Binder, “I just do not like to work with him.” And with that, he instructed Binder to find someone else. He reportedly told him that anyone other than Affleck would be fine. It is an explanation that feels so oddly specific and so deeply personal that it immediately earned a place in the upper ranks of Hollywood lore.
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Affleck Confronts the Rumor and the Story Gets Even Stranger
Binder says he reached out to Affleck’s agent and explained that it was not going to work. The situation escalated quickly. Affleck called Binder directly. According to Binder, Affleck immediately suspected the pool story had resurfaced. He asked, “Did Steven Spielberg tell you I threw his kid in the water? That is why I am not on the movie.” What happened next is the part of the story that feels almost too perfectly chaotic. Binder still believed Affleck was the right choice for the role, so he decided to go back to Spielberg and try again. Spielberg surprised him by relenting, telling Binder he could cast Affleck after all.
For one brief moment, everything seemed settled. Binder had secured his lead actor. The film appeared back on track. Then he woke up the next morning to a completely different update. Binder says his agent called to tell him DreamWorks had dropped the entire film. The timing raises more questions than answers, but also solidifies the overall chain of events as being unforgettable. Man About Town eventually moved forward as an independent production and Affleck remained in the lead role. DreamWorks, however, was no longer involved, and Spielberg also had no further connection to the project.
A Very Human Reason Behind a Missing Collaboration
Nearly twenty years later Spielberg and Affleck have still not worked together. Both are industry powerhouses, both have explored genres that would make collaboration easy, and both have directed films that combine prestige with popular appeal. Their careers regularly orbit the same creative space yet never intersect. This makes Binder’s story even more intriguing. It paints a picture of the entertainment industry that is far more personal than people often assume. The idea that a decades-old splash fight between a young Affleck and Spielberg’s son may have shaped the fate of a DreamWorks film is strangely believable. Binder’s story does not claim to explain everything, and it does not paint the situation as a formal blacklist or an ongoing feud. Instead, it offers a moment of unexpected candor and a reminder that even the biggest studio decisions can come from something small.
If the story is accurate, it means one poolside prank influenced the trajectory of a film and maybe even a potential creative partnership. If it is only partly true, it remains one of the most entertaining examples of how unpredictable Hollywood can be. Some collaborations never happen because of box office trends or scheduling issues, and some collaborations never happen because someone got pushed into a pool.
- Release Date
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June 8, 2006
- Runtime
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96 minutes