Film Producer Arnon Milchan Says He Worked For Israeli Intelligence

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — One of Hollywood's biggest hitmakers has made a bombshell admission.

Producer Arnon Milchan, whose credits include "Pretty Woman," "L.A. Confidential" and "Fight Club," claims he spent 20 years as a leading Israeli intelligence agent.

In a new interview broadcast on Israel's investigative program "Uvda," a reporter asks Milchan about a 1983 instance in which he reportedly used actor Richard Dreyfuss to help set up a meeting between an American nuclear scientist and Israeli officials.

Milchan reportedly says: "Everybody wants to meet a star. And that's how the meeting happened."

Milchan says he was recruited before he became a huge movie producer, and that he later used his stardom to help his native country.

But as KCAL9's Brittney Hopper reports, other industry heavyweights appear less than shocked about the admission.

A-list actors Ben Affleck and Robert De Niro heard the rumors but say they didn't care.

"I remember I asked Arnon about that, being friends. I was curious — but not in an accusatory way  — and he said, 'Yeah, I did. I'm Israeli and that's my country,'" De Niro recalled.

"He's a very mysterious exotic figure in Hollywood. I don't know what the truth is," Affleck said in a previous interview.

Milchan says it was patriotism that motivated his actions.

"I did it for my country. And I'm proud of it," he said.