Spielberg Regrets Changing Guns Into Walkie-Talkies in “E.T.” [News]

It’s hard to remember now, but George Lucas isn’t the first director to get fans upset by digitally altering his movies. Remember the uproar over Steven Spielberg replacing the guns in E.T. with walkie-talkies? Yeah, seems kind of quaint now. The good news is that Spielberg has learned the error of his ways. At a recent screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Spielberg publicly stated that he regrets making the changes…

Not because of fan outrage, but simply because I was disappointed in myself. I was overly sensitive to some of the criticism E.T. got from parent groups when it was first released in ’82 having to do with Eliot saying “Penis Breath” or the guns…and then there were certain brilliant, but rough around the edges close-ups of E.T. that I always felt, if technology ever evolves to the point where I can do some facial enhancement for E.T., I’d like to. So I did an E.T. pass for like the third release of the movie and it was okay for a while, but then I realized that what I had done was I had robbed the people who loved E.T. of their memories of E.T. And I regretted that.

In penance, Spielberg made sure that the upcoming DVD release of E.T. will have a polished but intact print of the original 1982 version. Mister Spielberg, I think I speak for all geekdom when I say, “We forgive you. Just don’t let it happen again.”

Are you listening, Lucas?!

Are you glad to hear a filmmaker reversing the trend of digital changes to movies? Or do you think the debate about these changes is overblown? Let us know in the comments.

[Image Source: Xtimeline]

[Via allthingsfangirl via slashfilm]