Los Angeles, Jan 22 (IANS): Actor Casey Affleck has dismissed speculation alleging that he threw out a life-sized cardboard cutout of actress Ana de Armas after her split from his brother Ben Affleck.

Earlier this month, photos of a man placing the cutout in the trash surfaced shortly after news broke that Ana and Ben had called it quits. The photo shows that it's the same cutout Ben's three children -- Violet, Seraphina and Samuel, whom he shares with ex-wife Jennifer Garner -- played around with.

"No, that's not me, and I can't even really say if they have totally broken up for good or whatever. I would leave that to them to speak to," Casey told etonline.com.

"A bunch of people sent that picture to me and I was gonna tweet some, like, joke, response or something. And then I couldn't think of one and a joke didn't seem appropriate. And I don't have Twitter so that wasn't going to work. But it definitely wasn't me," he added.

He thinks that this year has been really hard on people in relationships.

"I wouldn't know because I've been single, but I bet there are a lot of people that have, you know, it's been challenging to relationships. And I think that Ana is just the sweetest, funniest, smartest, most charming person. I think she won't have any problems meeting somebody else," said Casey.

He also praised Ana's acting skills.

"I saw her performance as Marilyn Monroe in this movie called 'Blonde', which hasn't come out, and I would bet a lot that she's gonna pick up every single award. She's gonna have a good year. I'm not too worried about her," he said.

"I think she's a catch in every way. And I'll be there to carry Ben through it, but I don't think he'll have any problems (either). My advice to them would be like, 'Yes, think long and hard about it, because quarantine is not fun if you're single'," he added.

When asked if Ana and Ben could reconcile, Casey said that he has "no idea", but will "be sorry if it doesn't work out".

"I think she's really, really great. People don't know her too well because she hasn't, like, been out there (in the spotlight) for so long. But she's just incredibly sweet, such a sweet person and so talented," said Casey.