Overview
- Binder recounts that Spielberg refused to proceed with Ben Affleck after citing an old pool episode involving his young son and noting Affleck’s recent box-office setbacks.
- Binder says that after he insisted on keeping Affleck in the lead, DreamWorks dropped Man About Town the next day and allowed him to take the project elsewhere.
- According to Binder, Affleck immediately called to ask whether Spielberg told Binder that Affleck had “thrown his kid in the water.”
- The film was ultimately produced outside DreamWorks and released direct-to-DVD, with Binder later conceding the finished movie was poor.
- Binder adds that years later he exchanged a joking text with Affleck during the 2013 Oscars when Argo beat Spielberg’s Lincoln, hinting any tension had cooled publicly.