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After the box office success of “Jaws” in 1975, he sought out several meetings with then-James Bond producer Cubby Broccoli, says director Steven Spielberg.
Image: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/dpa
Many directors would love to work on the "James Bond" franchise. Steven Spielberg is not one of them. Quite the opposite: The filmmaker has now flatly turned down 007.
Three Oscars and countless blockbusters: American director Steven Spielberg has long since achieved legendary status in Hollywood.
However, one prestigious film title is missing from the filmmaker’s body of work—a “James Bond” spin-off. If the 79-year-old were to receive such a request, his response would be quite surprising. Spielberg now reveals this in the podcast “The Rest is Entertainment”: “My answer would be: ‘You can’t afford that.’”
In the past, things were quite different. “I regret that they didn’t ask me to direct a Bond film,” Spielberg admits, looking back on his career.
Following the massive box office success of “Jaws” in 1975, he had sought out the then-James Bond producer Cubby Broccoli on several occasions.
“I said, ‘If you need a director, I’d love to make one,’” Steven Spielberg recalled of a phone call. “And he said no and moved on.”
In the years that followed, Steven Spielberg repeatedly sought to connect with the 007 universe. But the answer remained the same.
“They turned me down time and again,” the filmmaker said. Broccoli “never explained to me why he didn’t bring me into the Bond family.”
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Instead of the Bond franchise, however, he landed a project elsewhere. In 1977, he told George Lucas about his failed attempts to contact Broccoli.
“When we were in Hawaii together preparing for the launch of ‘Star Wars: A New Hope,’ he said, ‘I have something better than Bond,’” Spielberg recalled. At that time, Lucas presented him with the idea for “Indiana Jones.” Shortly thereafter, he landed the job as director. The rest is cinema history.
The director also has a film currently in theaters: In “Disclosure Day,” Spielberg tells a story about extraterrestrial life on Earth. Alongside Emily Blunt in the lead role as meteorologist Margaret Fairchild, the cast includes Colin Firth and Colman Domingo, among others.
The title refers to the “Disclosure Movement,” a movement outside the scientific mainstream whose followers are convinced that governments are withholding secret knowledge about aliens.
