(Credits: Far Out / Martin Kraft)
Being disappointed in your work is the kind of thread that is woven throughout the arts industry. If you’re a creative, then wanting to change a part of what you have created is only natural. This feeling doesn’t stop when you get to the level of Steven Spielberg.
One of the most widely acclaimed directors of his generation, Spielberg’s uncanny ability to tell a universal story has made him perhaps the ultimate blockbuster machine in the world of cinema. But even he is still struck by moments he would rather scrub out and start again.
When you’ve made as many movies as Steven Spielberg, this is surely only natural. 37 feature films is the kind of career most can only dream of and, within that ream of impressive movies, Spielberg can also be comfortable that he has made some of the most beloved pictures of the last century. Jaws, Indiana Jones, Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan rank among some of the most adored films ever made.
For this reason, Spielberg is often considered to be a commercial giant more concerned with making a buck than a masterpiece. However, for a kid who spent the majority of his childhood behind a camera trying to emulate his hero, Spielberg is an artist at heart, and, therefore, he has many moments in his career that he would rather forget. While we could write a whole feature on why he got his hatred for Hook just a little wrong, there are two scenes that irk the filmmaker for very different reasons.
The first is from his science-fiction epic Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It was a meteor shower in New Jersey that first inspired the director to make such a picture: “We got out there, and we lay down on his Army knapsack, and we looked up at the sky, and every 30 seconds or so there was a brilliant flash of light that streaked across the sky.” He added, “I just remember looking at the sky, because of the influence of my father, and saying, ‘If I ever get a chance to make a science fiction movie, I want those guys to come in peace’.”
Fresh off the heels of his Jaws success, the movie was another step forward for Spielberg, but the studio made him rush certain aspects: “I couldn’t make Christmas. But they kept insisting, ‘Not only must you make Christmas, because our whole company is at stake and we’re all counting on this film. You have to make November.’ So I had no choice.” With that in mind, Spielberg was forced to cut the film differently.
Eventually, after the movie’s success Spielberg went back to Columbia and asked for his chance to cut the movie how he wanted, and they agree, on one condition: ” ‘We’ll give you the money… if you show the inside of the mothership. Give us something we can hang a campaign on.’ And so I compromised and had Richard Dreyfuss walking inside the mothership.”
Despite what people may think now, Spielberg made his name by using a degree of subtlety that was missing from mainstream cinema in the 1970s. Jaws famously barely showed the shark in question, and for the filmmaker, this scene was a mistake. “I never should have done [that], because that should have always been kept a mystery, the inside of that ship,” Spielberg proclaimed.
“I should have never messed with the archives of my own work, and I don’t recommend anyone do that”
Steven Spielberg
Pressure would be the reason for another scene Spielberg would later regret, but this was a different type of pressure. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial has gone down in history as one of the finest kids’ movies ever made. Another alien-based adventure, this time focused on a group of children’s attempts to return a fallen alien to his home planet. Released in 1982, the picture is consistently cited as one of Spielberg’s finest works.
But as the movie readied itself for a 20th anniversary re-release, there was pressure from Spielberg to sanitise the story somewhat, namely by removing the guns and replacing them with walkie talkies. The decision would be something the director heartily regretted. “That was a mistake,” Spielberg said during a Time 100 summit. “I never should have done that. ET is a product of its era. No film should be revised based on the lenses we now are, either voluntarily, or being forced to peer through.”
“I should have never messed with the archives of my own work, and I don’t recommend anyone do that,” he added. “All our movies are a kind of a signpost of where we were when we made them, what the world was like and what the world was receiving when we got those stories out there. So I really regret having that out there.”
The reasons for Spielberg’s two most regrettable scenes might be somewhat different but they are connected by one thing: moving away from Spielberg’s singular vision. When an artist concedes their ground and gives away their creation, to whatever degree, then no amount of scrubbing out will really make a difference.
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