Steven Spielberg said that he was turned down twice by the producers of the James Bond movies – and now they couldn’t afford him.
Spielberg was speaking to The Rest Is Entertainment podcast and was asked if he had any “regrets” about not directing a 007 movie. Spielberg said that he had approached Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, the legendary Bond producer who worked on every “official” Bond film between Dr No in 1962 and License to Kill in 1989, after Spielberg’s 1975 shark thriller Jaws became a major hit, but was turned down. Spielberg said: “I’d always wanted 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 then said Broccoli contacted him after the 1977 release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind to request use of the film’s distinctive five-tone musical theme for what became the 1979 space thriller Moonraker and said he tried to make an agreement with Broccoli to direct a Bond film, but was again turned down. “Cubby called me again after Close Encounters came out and that was a big hit … and said, we’d like to use the five notes in 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, nope. But I gave him the five notes anyway.”
According to Spielberg, the story led directly to his working on Raiders of the Lost Ark; after telling George Lucas during the release of Star Wars how he had been rejected by Broccoli, Lucas responded by offering him his new project. “That’s when George said, 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 added: “[Broccoli] never explained why he wasn’t letting me in the Bond family … [but] if they ever asked me to make a Bond film now, my answer would be: you can’t afford me.”
