Steven Spielberg reveals he was ‘consistently turned down’ to direct Bond films
By Pierra Willix, Press Association Senior Entertainment Reporter
Steven Spielberg said he has “regrets” after being repeatedly rejected to direct a Bond film.
The American director, 79, might be the highest grossing film director of all time, but he has now spoken about being turned down multiple times after asking to direct a 007 movie.
Speaking on The Rest Is Entertainment podcast, Spielberg explained how film producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli had ignored his repeated requests.
“I have regrets (that) they didn’t approach me to do a Bond film,” he said in response to a fan question during the interview.
“I approached Cubby Broccoli after Jaws was a big hit. I’d always wanted to make a James Bond film from the day I saw Dr No. So I called Cubby after Jaws and volunteered. I said, ‘If you need a director, I would love to direct one’. And he said, ‘No’, and he moved on.”
Spielberg said he met the late producer once again after the release of his 1977 sci-fi thriller Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.
After the success of the “big hit” as Spielberg put it, Broccoli asked to sample the film’s five-note music sequence for the Bond film Moonraker.
The director said he saw the request as a way to try and take part in the franchise.
“I said, ‘I’ll make you a deal. I’ll give you permission to use the five notes if you let me direct a Bond film’. And he said, ‘No’. But I gave him the five notes anyway,” he said.
“So, they consistently turned me down. He never explained why he wasn’t letting me into the Bond family.”
He then recalled speaking with Star Wars director George Lucas about the experience with Broccoli, which then paved the way for Spielberg getting on board with the Indiana Jones franchise.
Spielberg said: “That’s when George said, ‘I have something better than Bond. It’s called Indiana Smith’, which is what it was called at the time. He told me the premise of the Indiana Jones series, and that’s how I got that job.”
The director joked he would now reject the chance to helm a Bond film.
He said: “If they ever asked me to make a Bond film now, my answer would be, ‘You can’t afford me’.”
In February last year, longtime producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson announced that Amazon MGM Studios would take over creative control of James Bond.
The next film will be written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight and directed by Dune filmmaker Denis Villeneuve.
Although Spielberg was overlooked for directing a Bond film, he previously revealed he had turned down an offer to direct Harry Potter.
“There were several films I chose not to make,” he said in a 2023 interview for Reliance Entertainment.
“I chose to turn down the first Harry Potter to basically spend that next year-and-a-half with my family, my young kids growing up.
“So, I’d sacrificed a great franchise, which today looking back I’m very happy to have done, to be with my family.”