The movie that made Steven Spielberg fall out with his directing hero: “It would be a big mistake”
Although the popular image of Hollywood is one of glitz and glamour, filmmaking is far from a harmonious profession. Throughout the history of cinema, productions have been punctuated by intense conflict, artistic differences, and a whole host of other issues—this is a common aspect of virtually every modern production. Even for a director as accomplished and well-respected as Steven Spielberg, some productions are so fraught with difficulties and disagreements that the only logical course of action is to jump ship.
Spielberg has created some true cinematic masterpieces over the course of his long and illustrious career, from the action-packed adventures of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark to the harrowing exploration of World War II in Saving Private Ryan. His talents have lent themselves to an endlessly broad range of projects, culminating in his reputation as one of the most recognisable and influential filmmakers in the modern history of cinema. Throughout his career, however, the director has been quick to cite his own influences.
Namely, the Jaws director has repeatedly heaped praise onto the legendary British director David Lean, known for works like A Passage to India and Lawrence of Arabia, among countless other classic films. In fact, Spielberg has often cited Lawrence of Arabia as one of his all-time favourite films.
Explaining his adoration for Lean’s work, Spielberg explained, “What makes that film unlikely any film that can be made again is that it was done naturally,” he once shared. “With the elements of light and sound and maybe the greatest screenplay ever written for the motion picture medium […] It was a miracle.”
The two directors even got the chance to work alongside each other on the production of Empire of the Sun in 1987. Originally, Lean was to direct the film, and Spielberg would produce it, but the former eventually dropped out of the production, allowing Spielberg to take the reins of the film. In return, Spielberg promised to carry out production work on Lean’s next planned picture, an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo.
A doomed production from the very beginning, the saga of Nostromo and Lean’s endless quest to commit the story to film is well documented. During the early days of the production, however, the British director became increasingly frustrated with the presence of Spielberg, who would often give Lean notes on the project and his direction. These notes quickly drove a wedge between Spielberg and his directing hero.
Reportedly, one note that Spielberg gave to Lean read, “It would be a big mistake to see Errol Flynn swashbuckling his way through a Conrad novel (this would be ridiculous), but some heroics, subtle yet justified, I think are a must for making him worthy of his title.” Trying to teach David Lean how to make a grandiose action-packed film is pretty insulting, given that the director boasted an extensive filmography of large-scale epics.
According to Christopher Hampton, who was present on the project, “Lean had a meeting with Spielberg in the US, but came back very annoyed with a load of notes handed to him by Spielberg.”
Lean had arrived at the end of his tether with regard to Spielberg’s notes. “Funnily enough,” Hampton recalled, “Spielberg had asked Lean for his opinion of the script for Empire of the Sun, which Lean thought was terrible, but he didn’t think it was his place to say anything.”
As a result of these rising tensions between the two directors, Spielberg eventually dropped out of the project, having destroyed his relationship with one of his major directing influences. Meanwhile, Lean worked tirelessly to bring Conrad’s novel to the silver screen, but an endless amount of production issues and setbacks meant that the film was never completed, and the director passed away in 1991.
