This Hollywood legend refused to act in favor of Spielberg: “Don’t get involved in WWII”

Airing for one week on the AppleTV+ platform, the new Steven Spielberg-produced series Masters of the Air chronicles the heroic actions of the US 8th Air Force, responsible for bombing Nazi weapons during World War II.

• Masters of the Air: Is Steven Spielberg’s War Series Any Good?

But 45 years ago, when he was still at the beginning of his career, the director of ET and Jurassic Park first addressed the world conflict in a completely different way, signing the comedy 1941. A true parody of the war movie. Starring “Blues Brothers” Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, the feature film imagined the attack on Los Angeles by Japanese forces after Pearl Harbor.

Critical and commercial failure

The film also opened with a scene that replaced Jaws’ famous introduction with an enemy submarine as a shark.

A true critical and commercial failure upon its theatrical release in 1941, it was criticized before it even entered production. Indeed, when Steven Spielberg offered the legendary western actor John Wayne to participate in his film, the latter, especially famous for his patriotic and conservative positions, radically rejected his proposal, saying that he did not agree with the light and unusual tone. movie.

“I thought he would be great to play General Stilwell.”told Spielberg on the microphoneEntertainment Weekly.

“It was a very un-American movie for him.”

“He was very interested, so I sent him the script. He called me the next day and said that to him it was a very un-American film and I shouldn’t waste time realizing it. He said, ‘You know, it was a great war and you’re making fun of a war that cost thousands of lives. at Pearl Harbor. Don’t confuse World War II.”

A few decades later, a glance at Spielberg’s filmography is more than enough to show that the filmmaker never took this period of history lightly, but never ceased to approach it with respect and depth, especially in the movies Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. , but also in the series Brothers in Arms, The Pacific and today with Masters of Air.

(Re)discover the AppleTV+ series trailer…