Steven Spielberg’s movies are popular worldwide and are often praised. However, the director himself does not hold back on criticizing his own work. Especially two scenes bother him today.
In Steven Spielberg’s filmography, there are several classics that most cinema fans know. Indiana Jones, Jaws, Schindler’s List or Jurassic Park are just a few examples. The last two films were even made in the same year.
Two more milestones in the director’s career are still good films, but Spielberg himself criticizes two scenes in them. Both films share the commonality that aliens play an important role in them.
Walkie-Talkies and the Interior of a Spaceship
What are the two scenes? The first scene concerns the Spielberg classic E.T. The film about a boy and his encounter with the alien in small-town tranquility has emotionally touched many viewers and made them shed a tear or two.
Spielberg brought the film to cinemas in 1982, and for its 20th anniversary, there was a re-release. Back in 2002, Spielberg wanted to revise the film in some places. In a scene where the boy Elliot and E.T. take off from the ground on a bicycle, two policemen can be seen. In the original version, they hold rifles in their hands; in the re-release, they were replaced by walkie-talkies thanks to visual effects.
You can see the differences in a comparison on YouTube.
The thought behind it was clear: The film should become even more family-friendly. In an interview with TIME on YouTube from 2023, Spielberg made it clear that he regretted this change:
That was a mistake. I should have never done that. E.T. is a product of its time. No film should be revised from today’s perspective, neither voluntarily nor by force.
Steven Spielberg
What was the second scene? A few years before E.T., Spielberg shot another science fiction film: Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Aliens also play an important role here. Towards the end of the film, a spaceship lands on Earth. While working on the edit, Spielberg had to make some compromises, as he explains in the making-of (via fandomwire.com). When the director demanded the producing studio Columbia to cut the film as he wanted, they offered him a deal.
The studio wanted him to add another scene in exchange, showing the interior of the alien ship. The protagonist should also enter it himself. Spielberg acquiesced, and the scene made its way into the film. Later, he said: “I should have never done that, as the interior of the ship should have always remained a mystery.”
Ultimately, Spielberg concluded years later that he should never touch his own work afterward since they are like snapshots:
All our films are a kind of guidepost, showing where we stood when we made them, how the world was, and how they were received when we released our stories.
Even though the two scenes may not have been to Spielberg’s liking, they hardly diminish the overall impression of the work. What do you think about it? Should films be revised years later, or should mysteries like the alien spaceship be revealed? Feel free to let us know in the comments. Spielberg has been a big film fan since a young age: At the age of 16, Spielberg fell in love with a legendary cult film: “Perhaps the best screenplay ever written”.
