news culture “It was a big mistake,” 40 years after the release of ET, Steven Spielberg finally admits…
AND Steven Spielberg’s great classic could have been very different if the director had listened to himself… Explanation!
ET, a work that left its mark on cinema
Few films can boast of shaping the history of cinema, and yet ET the Extra-Terrestrial, the sci-fi feature film directed by Steven Spielberg and released in 1982, can do so. It must be said that, generation after generation, the film continues to fascinate families thanks to its mainstream side and the emotion it shares throughout. But despite this immense success, which obviously no longer needs to be proven, Steven Spielberg regrets making certain decisions today.
During a conference hosted by TIME, Steven Spielberg reverted to one of his earlier decisions. He actually mentioned making changes to ET the Alien for his 2002 reboot, on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. However, he admits he has trouble digesting this bias, which just doesn’t honor the original film.
to be clearer in the 1982 version, police officers carried guns in their belts, more When the film was released in 2002, the same guns were replaced with walkie-talkies.
(Remove the weapons) was a mistake. I should never have done it. ET is a product of its time. No film should be edited the way it is today, whether intentionally or out of necessity. On ET, I was sensitive to the FBI approaching a group of kids displaying their guns, and considered replacing the guns with walkie-talkies. Years passed and I changed my mind. Steven Spielberg
The transformation of a film changes the story
You understand, For Steven Spielberg, revising a production after its release means modifying it to suit new concerns, simply losing part of the story,
I should never have touched the archives of my own work, and I don’t recommend anyone to do so. All of our films reflect where we were when we made them, what the world was like and what the world got when we aired those stories. So I really regret that these variants were released. Steven Spielberg
As a reminder, to celebrate the film’s 40th anniversary, ET the Extra-Terrestrial was recently released in a 4K version. It now remains to be seen whether the latter will offer to watch the original or the revised 2002 version.
