Steven Spielberg wishes he didn’t edit the guns out of ‘E.T’

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial was a cinematic masterpiece that managed to surpass Star Wars and was highly acclaimed by fans and critics. But not all films are considered to be perfect by their director, and Steven Spielberg recently shared what he could have done differently with this highly praised film.

Spielberg appeared in a master class at the Time 100 Summit, according to Variety, and shared what he thought he could have done differently when he worked on this 1982 film. Spielberg revealed that he wished that he didn’t edit out the use of firearms during the 20th-anniversary release of the film, claiming that E.T. was a “product in its era” and that no film should be “revised” for a modern audience.

“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.”

To recap, edits were made when the film was re-released in 2002. Not only were the guns edited out, but the film also made slight alterations to E.T.’s appearance and the flying bikes sequence, just to name a few. The website, Movie-censorship.com managed to list down every edit that was made for the 2002 re-release and compared it to the 1982 version.

Back in 2011, Spielberg spoke about the changes at a Los Angeles Times Event, claiming that E.T. was tweaked due to “self-conscious concerns” the film may receive once it’s rereleased, noting the fact that parents made complaints back when E.T. first came out in the 80s.

“I got a very very kind off overly sensitive with some of the criticism when ET had gotten from parent groups when it was first released in ’82.”

Spielberg advised aspiring directors to “never mess with the archives” of their own work since the final product is indicative of the era in which they’re made. Spielberg believes that films tell a story and encapsulate what stories were being told at that particular time. So when he decided to edit the guns with walkie-talkies, he believes it defeats the purpose of the original story being told.

“‘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. 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.”

To this day, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial remains highly praised and received a certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average critics score of 99 percent. The film also managed to earn over $792 million at the box office and was selected to be archived in the US National Film Registry.