Culture news Steven Spielberg never goes back on a promise: he left this film to someone else and missed out on 4 Oscars and millions of dollars, it's his biggest regret
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If Steven Spielberg is a cinema legend today, some of his decisions were far from good. One of them in particular made him give up on a major feature film in the 7th art.
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The regret of a lifetime
Whether you are interested in cinema or not, the names of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are not unknown to anyone. In fact, in addition to being great friends, the first is undoubtedly the greatest filmmaker in History, while the second created what comes closest to the most important film franchise in the world. A friendship between two giants of the 7th art which has not necessarily had only good sides. In fact, it was during an interview given to British television in 1990 that Spielberg continues with the various films he abandoned and the regrets they left him with.
And if there is one that surprised viewers the most, it was the announcement of his abandonment of a project which will collect up to 4 Oscars: Rain Man (1988). Although he had worked extensively on the title and was about to begin its production, he was finally caught up by his commitments to his friend George Lucas, for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. “I almost made Rain Man with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise, and I had to give it up to make Indy 3 because of my promise to George” he declared then.
Painful succession
Asked about his regret, he then expressed: “Oh yes, I regret not working with Tom and Dustin. The main regret is that none of us would have imagined that the film would have been so successful. I worked on the script for almost 5 months with Tom, Dustin and the writers.” Building on this first response, the presenter then asks him his impressions on the title’s multi-Oscar win. Spielberg then explains that he had a pang in his heart, explaining that “when the film started winning awards, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Maybe I should have forgotten my whole friendship with George Lucas and told him to find someone else… Of course I thought about it”.
In an extract from the book Steven Spielberg: Interviews, Revised and Updated, bringing together various facts from the directors gleaned from various interviews, he had already returned to the subject. He indicated that he had spent time with Barry Levinson – his replacement on Rain Man – giving him a lot of notes and ideas for production, even indicating that he had a good time with him, while retaining the bitterness of not having been able to make the film according to his own vision.