Steven Spielberg spent years quietly chasing a single franchise, only to be turned away every time he asked. Disclosure Day director has now spoken about the repeated rejections. He revealed how one producer’s firm “no” altered the course of his career.
The franchise Steven Spielberg spent years trying to join
Spielberg traced his ambition back to the very start of his moviegoing life. He had wanted to make a James Bond picture since seeing Dr. No, and after Jaws became a box office sensation in 1975, he finally felt bold enough to pick up the phone.
His call went straight to Cubby Broccoli, the producer of the Bond series. Spielberg made his pitch simple and direct. “I approached Cubby after Jaws was a big hit,” Spielberg said on The Rest Is Entertainment podcast. “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.”
The rejection stung, but the story did not end there. A few years later, Broccoli reached out with a request of his own. He was working on Moonraker and wanted to use the iconic five-note musical phrase from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Spielberg sensed an opening and offered a trade: the melody for a directing job. Broccoli took the music and left the offer on the table.
“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,” Spielberg recalled. “So they consistently turned me down – at least, Broccoli did. He never explained why he wasn’t letting me into the Bond family.”
Frustrated, Spielberg confided in George Lucas during a trip to Hawaii in 1977. The latter laid out the premise for a character named Indiana Smith, an archaeologist with a whip and a fedora. That conversation gave birth to Raiders of the Lost Ark and a franchise that rivalled the very series Spielberg had been denied. Decades on, Spielberg’s stance on making a James Bond movie today: “You can’t afford me.”
Disclosure Day release on June 12.
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