You’ve gotta love it when one of the most powerful men in Hollywood is humble enough to second-guess a decades-old creative decision and, in doing so, affirm the value of intact families. That’s what Steven Spielberg did during an Entertainment Weekly interview that hit newsstands this week.
Talking with EW and his Super 8 collaborator J.J. Abrams, the man behind E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark expressed a deeply felt regret regarding his 1977 hit Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In that sci-fi blockbuster, a family man named Roy Neary (played by Richard Dreyfuss) becomes obsessed with aliens after seeing a UFO first hand. His home life crumbles as he finds himself inexplicably drawn to Devil’s Tower, Wyoming. Spielberg stated that, if he had it to do over again, Neary would have been a different man.
“When older people read my script, they wanted me to make him a single man who wouldn’t have to give up his family,” Spielberg told EW. “I saw it as a story about a man who has to follow his dream—his obsession—to its natural conclusion. Everybody of my generation got it, but everybody older thought it was irresponsible. But I must tell you, I would not have written it that way today, now that I have seven children. Never. I would never write a story today that encourages the father and husband to abandon his family.”
That’s refreshing to hear, especially this weekend as we prepare to celebrate Fathers Day. Isn’t it amazing how experiencing the richness of a healthy family can change a person’s perspective? I’m glad Mr. Spielberg has arrived at that place—and also that he realizes how big-screen stories can shape the hearts and minds of audiences as we invest in the characters onscreen.
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