Steven Spielberg: I Was Turned Down for Bond

0:01The Restless Entertainment is presented by Octopus Energy. Now, fan mail is one of entertainment's strangest bargains. You send total devotion one way and the understanding that nothing may come back.

0:13Richard Osman:Certainly in our day you would write to a film star or a singer. I wrote to Howard Jones. And maybe three months later a sort of signed photo comes back that's clearly pro forma, you know, that you know Howard's never really looked at. Steve Martin used to have the performer sort of thing, which we just leave blanks, like insert, like small details to make a joke about how completely impersonal his personal reply to you was. It was just like a standard thing. Impersonal is interesting. That's why we're talking about this, because with Octopus Energy, you always can reply to their emails. And not only can you reply to them, they will go to the same small group of people who always deal with you.

0:48Richard Osman:That's like unbelievable. It's almost unprecedented that a company you're giving your money to will actually respond to you. Or contactable in some way.

1:05Hello and welcome to this episode of The Rest is Entertainment, questions and answers edition. I'm Marina Hine.

1:12Richard Osman:And I'm Richard Osmond. Now, bad news, we are not answering your questions this week. Good news. Mr. Steven Spielberg is answering them. This is a big honour. isn't it just we're quite nervous we are waiting for him to come in quite excited apparently he's going to be on time which is almost unheard of we got loads of questions thank you so much for all of those some brilliant ones apologies we can't use all of them but i think we've got stuff that will go across his career but also we're talking about disclosure day which is his new movie which i think is absolutely terrific can i also tell you a little secret yeah i have an absolutely mental question i want to ask him oh that's good which i will i hopefully will drop in about halfway through.

1:50I'm sure it'll just be very cool and we won't even notice.

1:53Richard Osman:Yeah, you might do. Yeah. You might do. Listen, shall we do it? Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Steven Spielberg. Your call has been forwarded to voicemail. Hi, this is Zoe Deutsch. And Nick Robinson. Our brand new movie, Voicemails for Isabel, is all about those little moments that feel like the universe is looking out. Feeling homesick, then your sister calls. Hearing that perfect song exactly when you need it. Please stay. Sometimes life rigs things in our favor, like learning about your new favorite rom-com voicemails for Isabel. Only on Netflix, June 19th. Legally, we can't say drinking Storm makes you smarter and more focused.

2:36But with zero sugar, 200 milligrams of caffeine, and immunity support, you're smarter and more focused for drinking Storm. Storm, good energy in, good energy out. Energy for life.

2:47Richard Osman:Steven Spielberg, how lovely to see you. Hey, Richard. Good to see you again. Thank you. Last time I saw Steven, he was taking off in a helicopter. That was on set with Richard. Exactly. On Thursday Murder Club. Now, but we are here to talk about all sorts of things. But first, I want to talk about Disclosure Day, because as I've just told you, I thought it was magnificent. I was trying to work out which of our listener questions would lead us into it best. Okay. Lots to talk about. So we're going to go very, very root one from Dan Young. And Dan says, do you believe in aliens? I do believe that we are not alone in the cosmos, in the universe.

3:22As far as do I believe that aliens are here and have been here, 50 years ago to make Close Encounters, I would have said seeing is believing and I haven't seen one. I've not even seen the UFO. But today, I'm more inclined to say with all the smartphones that are out there and all the things that I've seen and all the people who I believe, I believe the believers, I am absolutely ready to say that I do believe that we are not alone here on this planet.

3:52Richard Osman:Is that one of the things that prompted you? I don't know how much you want to give away about the plot to Disclosure Day, but is that one of the things that prompted you to make it? Well, one thing that prompted me to make it was just that whistleblowers were now coming from higher levels of authority. They were coming from the United States Air Force. They were coming from Navy pilots. They were coming from our intelligence community in Washington. People were blowing the whistle and saying that the government has been hiding for decades the truth that we are not alone. And I started believing those believers, not just the people, the rank and fire people who have had close encounters of all kinds throughout all of these years that we've all been reading about.

4:33Documentaries have been made about them. The aerial school in Zimbabwe where those 60 kids had that phenomenal encounter with beings from off world. So many things have happened that I am now really in a position to, I think, tell a story about it. Well, our next question is from a boy called Luke Esterheiz. He says, I'm 11 years old. My favorite film of all time is Jurassic Park. I was wondering what your favorite film was when you were 11 and why. Oh, that's a great question. When I was 11 years old, what was my favorite film? My goodness. Probably when I was 11, I would have to say my favorite film was something that you've never seen.

5:16it was called Davy Crockett King of the Wild Frontier with Fess Parker and Buddy Epson and it was the first cultural phenomenon of a motion picture that appealed to kids there have been a lot of cultural phenomenons that appealed to adults like Gone with the Wind prior to that but when I was 11 years old that was the bomb that was the movie that we were reenacting in our backyard. That was a film that they started selling merchandise, coon skin caps and powder honed and plastic models of his rifle, old Betsy. That was for me, the first Star Wars of films that really reached my 11 year old neighborhood.

5:59Richard Osman:And is there still a bit of you that puts all of that in your films? If you know what I mean, the film we like most at 11 kind of stays with us. Is that something you try and recreate for people watching your movies? I just try to tell a story as effectively as I know how to do. I've not really settled on one genre in my career. Science fiction, perhaps, is the most consistent genre of all the films I've directed. I was, funny, watching Disclosure Day, I was thinking about Stephen King, and I think one thing both of you have in common is you can go anywhere because you're so rooted in reality.

6:30Richard Osman:When you're doing reality, when you're doing a street, I believe I am in a street, and therefore, you know, there can be a time portal, there can be aliens, there can be whatever you want. And that's the thing, is starting with the real and then going outwards. Well, I'm devoted to Stephen King's work. I know Stephen. Stephen knows me. We've done some things together throughout our careers. I'm an eternal admirer of his. And like Michael Crichton as well, they both operate under the theory that they must make the incredible credible in order to get us to believe the characters in their stories.

7:05So they don't allow themselves to untether weightlessly in spinning yarns that have no relationship with our reality. And because their reality is my reality and their reality is our reality, which is they tell terrestrial stories and they put a spin of fantasy, science fiction, science. Jurassic Park wouldn't have worked unless Michael Crichton could make all of us in his novel believe that dinosaurs could come back from amber, from biting insects that bit dinosaurs 65 million years ago and can be cloned. And it's good science. And that's the important thing about the kind of movies that I make.

7:51If I'm going to make a movie that is stranger than fiction, then there has to be some bedrock science to let audiences believe it's credible.

7:58Richard Osman:Well, I think you nailed that with Disclosure Day. I'll say this. Here's one of our listeners. This is not a question, but Declan Costello says, many years ago, I auditioned for the role of Jim in Empire of the Sun. I got down to the last five boys considered for the part, but it obviously went to Christian Bale. Said, you wrote me a beautiful letter, which I treasure. But then he says, here's the kicker. You definitely made the right decision, by the way. I am a much better doctor than I would have been an actor. Oh, Oh, that's wonderful. Well, listen, Declan, you have saved lives. You found a career where you are able to bring peace and health to people who are ill.

8:37What a wonderful thing to devote your entire life toward. He's still got your letter, which he sent to us, and it's absolutely lovely. I love that. I have to say that you've managed to get so many great performances out of children and young people, and you have a lot of children. Did directing teach you anything about parenthood and did or did parenthood teach you anything about directing parenthood actually keeps me young and relevant because my kids are on the first line of saying dad you don't know what you're talking about oh my goodness dad you don't know what that phrase means you've never heard that before dad have you listened to this piece of music what do you mean you haven't listened to this piece of music i mean my kids have at least kept me current do you ever able to say Guys, I'm Steven Spielberg.

9:20I don't have a reality about that. Yes, I'm sure. I don't even have my name on my directing chair on sets. I don't put my name on directing chairs on sets. The thing that my biggest challenge when I'm working with actors who I haven't worked with before is to get them to forget every movie I ever made. So many people asked us about this. And just completely divest yourselves of everything you think I am. And let's just get down to the business at hand. And let's make a great movie together. And let's tell a great story together. Because whenever I make a movie, I have a family. It's a film family.

9:53It's an ensemble. It's a company of actors and crew as well. And we need to be a family for a long time. Sometimes months on end, we're working together. And I can't let anything distract them. and they could look it's fine if they want to talk about what et meant to them when they were eight years old i'm happy about having that conversation but just not to forget that we're all the same telling this story we're all on the same page yeah even when he was doing the wolf of wall street leonardo's dicaprio said he came on set one day and he was so nervous that whole day you were doing something something to do with scorsese that day and he just he tells the anecdote in interview saying oh my god i'm so nervous i even saw on thursday murder club even

10:36Richard Osman:even hella mirren's like oh man the only guy who kept his cool is pierce brosnan because he always keeps his cool well pierce brosnan was my neighbor on the beach for 20 years so there you go so pierce when he saw me coming along it was kind of like why did you sell your beach house you stopped being my neighbor 10 years ago why did you put your bins out on the wrong day steven um betsy rourke has a question she said you were almost as young as kane parsons the director of backrooms and curry barker the director of obsession when you made jaws what advice would you give to up and incoming young directors.

11:06Don't let success go to your heads. Do not let wild success go to your heads because when you make your next movie, you're starting from scratch. It's always good to have a big hit to shore up your reputation and you're going to get a lot of respect from the executives, from the film world, from the studios, giving them the advice that I have had to learn the hard way that we all start over again. And if you get a chance to make 20, 30 films in your career, you will discover, maybe on your second or third film, that you're beginning your career all over again at the outset of every single project.

11:42Richard Osman:Did you feel that with Disclosure? I did, absolutely. Every movie I've made, I feel like I'm going back to the beginning. Yeah. Well, you passed. Oh, thank you. Thank you, Rich. Here's one from Anil Patel who says, Gore Vidal once said, every time a friend succeeds, I die a little. Did you experience any pangs of jealousy for George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola in the pre-Jaws 1970s. No, never. Francis was our godfather. Francis, we looked up to Francis. He was our leader throughout the 70s. And The Godfather, and I have said this before, for me, it's the greatest American film ever made. The first Godfather film was the greatest American film ever made.

12:19I was going to ask you that next. And I've always believed that. And George and I were best friends from the day we met. And yes, we were competitive with each other, but it made us better at what we do. Because I was always trying to top George, and George was always trying to top me. And then we would be together and joke about that and be honest with each other. And so George gave me inspiration and I gave him inspiration. And we have all of you who's been feeding off each other. And do you still think that The Godfather is the greatest film of all time? And you've never, there's a quote from the 90s where you said, I've never made a movie anywhere near as good as The Godfather.

12:51Do you still think that? For me, Godfather, the first Godfather is the greatest American film of all time. I'm not saying it's the greatest film of all time. and you feel that you have made nothing close to it. It's very, very hard for me to be objective about my own work. Very hard.

13:07Richard Osman:Julian asks, were you ever approached to make a Bond film? Do you have any regrets about not doing that? I have regrets that they didn't approach me to direct a Bond film. They never approached you? I approached Cubby Broccoli. After Jaws was a big hit, I'd always want to make a James Bond film from the day I saw Dr. No. So I called Cubby Broccoli after Jaws and I volunteered. I said, if you need a director, I would love to direct one. And he said, no. And he moved on. And then Cubby called me again after Close Encounters came out. And that was a big hit. And Cubby called me a few years after Close Encounters and said, we'd like to use the five notes in Moonraker.

13:41Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. And 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, nope. But I gave him the five notes anyway. Yeah, you have to, right. So they consistently turned me down. Why? He never explained why he wasn't letting me in the Bond family. But when I told that story to George Lucas in 1977, when we were in Hawaii together, getting ready for the release of Star Wars, A New Hope, we all went to Hawaii together to just relax and get on the phone and figure out how much money it made at the 10 o 'clock shows all over America.

14:19And when we found out that every single 10 o 'clock AM show had been sold out, George was just a bullion. and Marsha, his wife, was a bullion. We went back down to the beach and I told my sad company Broccoli story. They wouldn't let me direct Bond. And 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. And he told me the premise of the Indiana Jones series and that's how I got that job. So if they ever asked me to make a Bond film now, my answer would be, you can't afford me.

14:59This episode is brought to you by Lloyds. Now, I love it when characters are part of a club. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you, Richard?

15:05Richard Osman:The Thursday Murder Club, in some ways, reminds me of the A-Team. I now would like to map each of those characters onto the A-Team and feel I probably could. I mean, Elizabeth is Hannibal and it's not even close. Yeah, that's exactly right. And Ron is howling mad Murdoch. Well, there are definite perks to being in a club. Just ask the members of Club Lloyds because with Club Lloyds, you can bank on Lloyds to give you more wherever you are. If you join Club Lloyds, there's all sorts of benefits you can choose between. There's, for example, six free cinema tickets. They've got an annual coffee club and gourmet society membership, which would be mine.

15:36Richard Osman:And also something that the Thursday Murder Club would enjoy very, very much indeed. To top it all off, you have fee-free spending abroad, which means wherever you are, you won't be charged by Lloyds to use your debit card when you're travelling. Now, joining this club costs£5 per month, but that is refunded in any month that you pay £2 ,000 into your account. Now that is a club that's worth being part of. Check out Club Lloyd's today. You'll need to be a UK resident and aged 18 or over to apply. It's nearly that time, everyone. The rest is football. We'll be on Netflix every day for the world's biggest tournament.

16:08Join myself, Alan and Micah for daily debates, unfiltered takes and the most special of guests, all from the heart of New York City. Yeah, that's right. We're excited too. See you soon. Good sleep is everything. That's why Oli's science back support is made with a blend of melatonin and L-theanine for both kiddos and grownups. So when your mind won't switch off, you've got something that can help. Erasing thoughts and restless nights won't stand a chance. Find Oli's sleep solutions for the whole family at Oli.com. That's O-L-L-Y dot com. This episode is brought to you by Prime. What if you had one more chance with the one that got away?

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17:21I think we'll have Shane Murray's version of this question. You've shaped modern cinema like nobody else, but whose film do you secretly wish you had your name on? Is there a story that someone beat you to that still haunts you, apart from Bond stories? Oh, no. There's the only film that, it's not even a regret, but I did my friend George Lucas a favor, and I actually, we needed to move up the start date of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. I was all about to direct Rain Man. Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise had already committed when they sent me the script. I worked on the script with the writer Ron Bass for a while and I was getting ready to make the movie in about five or six months and I had to drop out to do Last Crusade instead, which I was previously obligated to do.

18:06And that was the only fish that I thought got away. And I love what Barry Levinson did with it. I thought it was a great movie. It stands the test of time. It's still one of my favorite films.

18:15Richard Osman:Can I ask you, going back to Disclosure Day for a minute, can I present a thought experiment to you? Okay. Which is, there is biological life out there, somewhere in the universe, and amongst the trillions of stars and the trillions of universes. Somewhere there will be a life force that is something like us and is more advanced than us so can study us and may at some point come to visit. may have already visited. If they are to do that, they will do their research into Earth. Do you think there are aliens out there that have seen Spielberg movies? I would certainly think that by whatever form they could, let's say, commune with our art or with that medium.

18:57Whatever form they get, I'm sure it's not going to be a Blu-ray. I'm not sure exactly. I'm not sure the 1990s are going to go into a blockbuster and get a Blu-ray, although that would be a great fodder for a good comedy that maybe Seth Rogen should make. But I would think that had they seen E.T., this is only my conceited hope, they would have somehow made themselves known to me. And they didn't. I've been waiting to see UFO my entire life.

19:22Richard Osman:Do you know what? Disclosure Day is another letter to the aliens, right? It's another one that's saying, look, I get it. Because I do think if they do come down, who are they going to talk to? I think if you look around the world, if I'm an alien, the first person I say, could you get me spielberg well gee wouldn't that be neat yeah that'd be lovely wouldn't that be lovely but but i but i i think that a higher intelligence or let's say more advanced intelligence where the the physics are different obviously they've learned how to circumvent the cosmos in in they've found shortcuts to get here whether they're interdimensional beings whether they're They have found ways through wormholes to find shortcuts here.

20:05However it is, I think the thinking, their thinking, would also be almost unrelatably more advanced.