How Steven Spielberg ruined two of his most beloved movies: “Not an ounce of my own personal feeling”
Despite a rocky history with some of cinema’s most turbulent productions, Steven Spielberg is, without a doubt, one of the most iconic figures within the new Hollywood movement.
After the colossal success of Jaws, which was famously nicknamed ‘Flaws’ while shooting due to the countless problems that arose on set and the over-spending on Hook, the director is no stranger to challenging shoots that test the limits of creativity. But through years of record-breaking blockbusters and life-affirming stories that reinforce the power of cinema, Spielberg has shown that there is no hurdle too high to jump and that perseverance and resilience are fundamental in the business of filmmaking.
However, even when he’s been able to overcome the obstacles in his path, there are two films that the director believes didn’t recover from these challenges and have since remained some of his biggest regrets.
Hook, released in 1991, is a modern adaptation of the children’s classic Peter Pan, following an adult Peter who has become disillusioned by modern life and has forgotten the joys of Neverland. However, after Captain Hook kidnaps his children, he is forced to return to the mystical land and reconnect with his inner child. While the film has been celebrated among both adult and younger audiences, Spielberg was famously unhappy with the movie after a particularly burdensome shoot that caused many problems for the studio.
Due to working with many child actors and the extensive sets and production design, the shoot became extremely expensive and delayed, with a 76-day shooting schedule being increased to 116 days and a budget of $48million ballooning to $80m. In addition, the working hours were heavily restricted due to the number of children on set, meaning that everything took significantly more time than was planned. There were also rumours of a feud between Spielberg and Julia Roberts, who played the role of Tinker Bell at the age of 23, allegedly being nicknamed Tinker Hell due to her problematic behaviour on set.
Because of this, Spielberg has not reflected positively on the film, saying, “I want to see Hook again…I still don’t like that movie. I’m hoping someday I’ll see it again and perhaps like some of it. I felt like a fish out of water making Hook…I didn’t have confidence in the script. I had confidence in the first act and I had confidence in the epilogue. I didn’t have confidence in the body of it”.
As well as the turbulent production of Hook, Spielberg also expressed his lack of pride in the Indiana Jones sequel Temple of Doom, saying, “I wasn’t happy with Temple of Doom at all. It was too dark, too subterranean, and much too horrific. I thought it out-poltered Poltergeist. There’s not an ounce of my own personal feeling in Temple of Doom. The danger in making a sequel is that you can never satisfy everyone.”
The director had originally planned to make a sequel that felt distinctly different from the first one, existing as its own unique voice within the franchise. However, after trying so hard to stray from the original while still trying to please its fans, it ended up becoming a different chord to strike, realising that sometimes the hardest place to be is the middle and that you cannot please everyone.
While neither of these films is bad in any way, they show how important it is for filmmakers to reflect on their work and think critically about their process. This has led to Spielberg’s refined and mature cinematic style, which only continues to improve with age.
