Steven Spielberg regrets editing guns out of E.T.: 'I never should have done that'

Steven Spielberg says he regrets editing guns out of his film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

The theatrical cut of the director's beloved 1982 sci-fi classic featured federal agents chasing a young Elliott (Henry Thomas) and Co. with firearms to apprehend the titular alien, but the movie's 20th-anniversary rerelease substituted them for walkie-talkies. Looking back, Spielberg wishes he hadn't made that decision, adding that he does not believe in censorship.

"That was a mistake," Spielberg said at the TIME100 Summit at New York's Lincoln Center on Tuesday. "I never should have done that. E.T. is a product of its era. No film should be revised based on the lenses we now are either voluntarily or being forced to peer through."

Though he was initially "sensitive" to the inclusion of the firearms, he admitted, "Years went by and I changed my own views."

"I should have never messed with the archives of my own work, and I don't recommend anyone do that," Spielberg said. "All our movies are a kind of a signpost of where we were when we made them — what the world was like and what the world was receiving when we got those stories out there. So I really regret having that out there."

The filmmaker also weighed in on conversations surrounding the censorship of Roald Dahl children's books for the author's use of offensive language in them. "Nobody should ever attempt to take the chocolate out of Willy Wonka! Ever!" Spielberg joked, later adding, "For me, it is sacrosanct. It's our history; it's our cultural heritage. I do not believe in censorship in that way."

Spielberg revealed that E.T. was inspired by his parents' divorce at the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival last year. "A divorce creates great responsibility, especially if you have siblings," he said. "We all take care of each other. What if Elliott needed to, for the first time in his life, become responsible for a life-form to fill the gap in his heart?"

The director again returned to his familial roots for The Fabelmans, a semi-autobiographical story loosely based on his upbringing that earned seven Oscar nominations at this year's Academy Awards.

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