Steven Spielberg is admitting that he made a mistake when he edited guns out of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Speaking at Time’s 100 Summit, the director explained why he made the changes in the first place and why he now regrets it.
“That was a mistake. I never should have done that,” Spielberg said about editing guns out of the science fiction film. “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.”
He continued, “E.T. was a film that I was sensitive to the fact that the federal agents were approaching kids with firearms exposed and I thought I would change the guns into walkie-talkies… 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.”
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was released in 1982 about an alien that gets left behind on Earth after the rest of his group gets chased away by U.S. government vehicles. The alien befriends a 10-year-old boy who helps keep him safe until he finds his way back home.
“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,” Spielberg added. “So I really regret having that out there.”
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was written by Melissa Mathison and the cast of the film included Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton and Drew Barrymore.
Watch Spielberg’s interview in the video posted below.