“I had no idea what I was doing”: Steven Spielberg still regrets making this film

Steven Spielberg’s career is full of unforgettable titles. However, there is one that he would like to forget because he is not at all satisfied with the result, to the point that even today, 33 years after its release, it still causes discomfort. The film in question is Hook, his original take on the Peter Pan story.

While Spielberg avoided talking about the film for years, even with Robin Williams, when he finally did in 2011 in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he wasn’t entirely happy with the film.

“There are parts of the hook that I love. I’m very proud of my work until Peter parachutes out of the window and into Neverland. I’m a little less proud of the Neverland sequences because I’m not comfortable with that very stylized world, whereas today, of course, I’d probably do it with live-action characters in an all-digital environment. But we didn’t have the technology for that at the time, and my imagination was limited to creating a physical set and trying to paint the trees blue and red.“

remind you Hook or Captain Hook’s Revenge Following Peter Bunning (Robin Williams) who is forced to return to Neverland after his young children are kidnapped by Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman) and must remember his Peter Pan origins with the help of Tinker Bell (Julia Roberts) and the Lost Boys.

The director was even stricter Hook over the next few years. For example, only two years later in an interview on the radio show “Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review”, he was more frank about his disappointment.

“I want to see Hook againHe said, revealing that he had difficulty watching the film. “I still don’t like this movie. I hope to watch it again one day and maybe enjoy parts of it.“

He trusted us

He even gave us his thoughts on the film in an interview at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016. Indeed, while our editorial team was proposing a relationship Hook And the feature film he came to present – Le BGG – Le Bon Gros Géant – the filmmaker immediately replied that he thought the two films were very different, but above all, unlike his children, he did not wear them. especially Hook in his heart:

“I hope it has nothing to do with Hook. I hope it’s different. Hopefully it’s much better than Hook. Like I said, it’s interesting because I don’t really like Hook, but my kids love this movie. And there’s a whole generation of young people who really appreciated the film beyond what I put into it.“

He went on to explain it Hook was “Not a fairy tale“but”A huge Technicolor tale of amnesia, the recovery of memory, and therefore childhood.”. But even if the director doesn’t like his film, he still told us that he was happy to appreciate the young audience.

A very colorful craft side?

We had to wait until 2018 Steven Spielberg He talks in more detail about his experience on the set. He did so in an interview with Empire magazine, where he revealed that he never felt comfortable directing it.

“I felt like a fish out of water on a hook. I had no confidence in the script. I had confidence in the first act and the epilogue. I had no confidence in the body of the script. I didn’t really know what I was doing and tried to cover up my insecurities by focusing on production. The more vulnerable I felt, the bigger and more colorful the sets became.“

despite this Hook It was a huge commercial success, bringing in $300 million in theaters against a $70 million budget – and perhaps it was this colorful artisanal aspect that contributed to this triumph and made the film a magical childhood memory for many that continues to amaze. young people today.

Hook or The Revenge of Captain Hook can still be seen on VOD.