Hollywood icon Steven Spielberg has revealed that he was twice turned down for a James Bond film despite being desperate to make one.
While taking part in a listener Q&A on the Rest Is Entertainment podcast to promote his new film, Disclosure Day, Spielberg was asked whether he had ever been approached to make a Bond film and whether he regrets never doing one.
Spielberg then revealed that he had actually approached Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, the legendary Bond producer, to see if he could work on a 007 movie in the wake of his 1975 film Jaws becoming a box office smash.
“I’d always want to make a James Bond film from the day I saw Dr. No. So I called Cubby Broccoli after Jaws, and I volunteered. I said, if you need a director. I would love to direct one. And he said no. And he moved on,” Spielberg said.
The filmmaker added that Broccoli called him again after Close Encounters of the Third Kind was also a huge hit, to see if Spielberg would allow him to use the movie’s iconic five notes used to communicate with the aliens for the Bond film, Moonraker.
“And 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,” Spielberg added. But I gave him the five notes anyway.”
Spielberg said he was never told why he was not considered a good fit for the Bond franchise. However, it turns out it may have been a blessing in disguise.
Spielberg said he relayed his “sad Cubby Broccoli” story to Star Wars creator George Lucas, who assured him, “I have something better than Bond.”
“‘It’s called Indiana Smith,’ which is what it was called at the time. And he told me the premise of the Indiana Jones series, and that’s how I got that job,” Spielberg said. “So, if they ever asked me to make a Bond film now, my answer would be, you can’t afford me.”
