When Steven Spielberg’s classic “ET – The Extra-Terrestrial” celebrated its 20th anniversary 21 years ago, it was re-released in theaters. But fans were surprised with a revised version. This not only resulted in extra scenes and revised special effects, but also a major and very controversially received change: in a scene where the main character Elliot and his alien friend ET (Henry Thomas) flee from the police, Suddenly the pursuers had walkie-talkies in their hands instead of pistols. Spielberg did not want to show the possible use of guns against children.
A little later, Spielberg responded to the sometimes harsh criticism of this defusing. The later Blu-ray release, made for the 30th anniversary, contains the original theatrical version again. Now Spielberg has made public how much he regrets this change and what lessons he learned from it.
Spielberg was one of many prominent speakers from a wide variety of fields on April 25 in New York, explaining his review of “ET”:
“That was a mistake. I should never have done that. ‘ET’ is a product of its time. No film should be reworked, voluntarily or coerced, based on the angle we see things now.”
He continued that he should never have interfered with his own work and he advises no one to do so. He explained, “All of our films are sort of a guide to where we were when we made them, what the world was like and what the world resonated for when we released these stories.” He “so I’m really sorry about that [diese andere Fassung nun] is out there.”
By the way, Steven Spielberg’s latest film “The Fabelmans” is currently still in theaters and will be released for home theater at the end of May 2023.