Legendary director Steven Spielberg has admitted that he regrets making an infamous edit to the 20th anniversary re-release of arguably his most beloved film, 1982's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
In the original version of the classic boy-and-his-alien adventure, federal officers can be seen chasing Elliot and his friends while holding guns in their hands. Believing this scene to be a little too menacing for a family-friendly film, Spielberg decided to remove the firearms and replace them with walkie-talkies for the 2002 "special edition."
It wasn't the only change (CGI was used to "improve" some shots of E.T.), but it was by far the most notable and lambasted (South Park even dedicated an entire episode to making fun of it).
Now, Spielberg has revealed that he regrets making that particular change to the movie during a Hollywood Masterclass interview (via Variety).
“That was a mistake. I never should have done that. ‘E.T.’ 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. E.T.’ was a film that I was sensitive to the fact that the federal agents were approaching kids with firearms exposed and I thought I would change the guns into walkie talkies… Years went by and I changed my own views."
“I should have never messed with the archives of my own work, and I don’t recommend anyone do that," he continued. "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.”
How do you guys feel about the infamous E.T. gun removal? Do you agree that filmmakers should never go back and alter their work? Drop us a comment down below.
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.