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Hollywood Journal
  • 3 weeks ago
Find out in this video why Steven Spielberg says he regrets censoring one of his most beloved films, E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial.
Transcript
00:00Steven Spielberg says he regrets censoring one of his most beloved films, E.T. the Extraterrestrial.
00:06The iconic director says the controversial change he made to the 20th anniversary edition of the 1982 film was a mistake.
00:14In the original version, government agents appeared holding guns as E.T. and Elliot soared into the air on a bicycle.
00:22But in the 20th anniversary edition, released in 2002, those guns were digitally replaced with walkie-talkies.
00:29While speaking at Time's 100 Summit in New York City, Spielberg said,
00:33That was a mistake. I never should have done that. E.T. is a product of its era.
00:38No film should be revised based on the lenses we now are either voluntarily or being forced to peer through.
00:44The director added he was disappointed in himself for making the change.
00:47He said,
00:48I should have never messed with the archives of my own work, and I don't recommend anyone do that.
00:53All our movies are kind of a signpost of where we were when we made them,
00:56what the world was like, and what the world was receiving when we got those stories out there.
01:01So I really regret having that out there.
01:03The decision to replace government agent guns with radios was widely mocked at the time, including on South Park.
01:09All the guns have been digitally changed to walkie-talkies, and the word terrorist has been changed to hippie.
01:14Aw, dude, why would they do that?
01:16Yeah, hippies and terrorists are the same thing.
01:17For much more on this story and the latest news, go to THR.com.
01:21This is The Hollywood Reporter News.
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