Steven Spielberg Regrets Editing Guns Out of ‘E.T.,’ Says ‘No Film Should Be Revised Based On’ Today’s Standards: ‘That Was a Mistake’
variety.comZack Sharf Digital News Director Steven Spielberg participated in a masterclass at the Time 100 Summit and announced he regrets editing guns out of “E.T.
the Extra-Terrestrial.” The film’s 1982 theatrical cut includes a scene of officers chasing young kids with firearms. Spielberg edited the guns out for the 20th anniversary release of the film and replaced the firearms with walkie talkies. “That was a mistake,” Spielberg said. “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,” Spielberg continued. “I should have never messed with the archives of my own work and I don’t recommend anyone do that.
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.
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