Hollywood’s underbelly just got messier with a resurfaced feud between Steven Spielberg and Ben Affleck that’s more dramatic than a blockbuster flop.
A decades-old pool party mishap involving Spielberg’s young son and Affleck, coupled with professional disagreements, reportedly led the legendary director to refuse collaboration on a film project in the early 2000s, the New York Post reported.
Back in the early 2000s, Binder was crafting “Man About Town,” a film partly inspired by a real home invasion at Spielberg’s residence, when the iconic director showed interest in helming the project.
Spielberg, eager to team up, reportedly told Binder, “We gotta do something together.”
That enthusiasm faded quicker than a bad script’s box office run when Ben Affleck, then a rising star, signed on to lead the cast.
Binder recalled sealing the deal with Affleck, a handshake agreement to star in the film, only to face Spielberg’s abrupt veto soon after.
Spielberg’s refusal wasn’t just about box office disasters like “Gigli,” the infamous 2003 flop with Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, or the media storm around Affleck’s romance at the time.
The deeper issue stemmed from a personal grudge tied to a family vacation incident where Affleck, dating Spielberg’s goddaughter Gwyneth Paltrow back then, clashed with Spielberg’s young son at a pool.
According to Binder’s account of Spielberg’s story, the child playfully pushed a fully dressed Affleck into the water, but Affleck’s reaction—picking up the boy, tossing him back in, and leaving him in tears—left a lasting mark.
Spielberg didn’t hold back, reportedly telling Binder, “I just don’t like to work with him.”
He further cited Affleck’s recent cinematic failures and personal drama as reasons to avoid collaboration, painting a picture of a man he saw as both a professional risk and personally distant.
Hollywood’s elite squabbling over a kiddie pool spat might seem trivial, but it underscores how even titans cling to family loyalties over progressive ideals of endless forgiveness—something many everyday Americans can appreciate.
When Binder broke the news to Affleck that the project was off, the actor immediately suspected the pool incident, asking if Spielberg had mentioned the story of throwing his kid in the water.
In the end, Binder took the director’s chair himself for “Man About Town,” which skipped theaters and went straight to DVD, a quiet end to a noisy feud.
This saga proves personal clashes can sink promising ventures in Tinseltown, where egos often outweigh common sense, reminding us that even in Hollywood, family grudges can trump the push for woke reconciliation.
