Steven Spielberg revealed why he turned down the offer to direct Harry Potter. He discussed taking over Stanley Kubrick’s passion project, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, after the latter’s death in 1999. Spielberg explained how he decided to honor Kubrick’s legacy and instead sacrificed the opportunity to direct the first Harry Potter movie.
Steven Spielberg explains the personal reasons behind his decision to decline Harry Potter
Steven Spielberg explained his decision to reject directing Harry Potter films in favor of late Stanley Kubrick’s passion project. In an exclusive chat with Turner Classic Movies, the 79-year-old filmmaker revealed how he chose to honor Kubrick’s legacy at the behest of his family.
The E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial director said, “There was no script, and after his death, and I was at the funeral, at his home in Saint Albans. Christiane and Jan Harlan approached me about taking over from Stanley and, as Stanley had intended, directing the movie.”
Continuing further, he dished that he walked away from directing the next Harry Potter movie. He explained, “The cast, some of the older actors, I had made casting suggestions. [But] I gave it up. It was going to be a huge movie because the book was already a runaway cultural phenomenon as a book. I gave that up to essentially do A.I.”
Notably, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence was Kubrick’s passion project and was long in the making. In the ’70s, he had bought the rights to writer Brian W. Aldiss’ A.I. – Super-Toys Last All Summer Long, the story that inspired him. The project was put on the back burner for several years owing to Kubrick’s other work commitments (via PEOPLE). Eventually, Spielberg fulfilled the late filmmaker’s wish and completed the film after his unfortunate demise.
Fans had interesting reactions to this revelation in the comments section. One fan remarked, “Gave up Harry Potter?! I didn’t know this.” A second fan commented, “I’m glad he did. AI absolutely destroys me emotionally. It’s brilliant! I have to DVR Spielberg night because you guys scheduled this during the Stanley Cup playoffs tonight.”
