Spielberg’s movies are so engrained in our culture that it’s hard to imagine a time when he was an up-and-coming director, who couldn’t call the shots. But in the mid-70s, with the success of Jaws behind him, Spielberg set his eyes on an iconic spy franchise that was picking up steam. In what is almost unfathomable to believe, he was denied the opportunity… multiple times.
Spielberg Wanted to Direct a James Bond Film
Roger Moore as James Bond in MoonrakerImage Via United Artists
After the success of 1975’s Jaws, Spielberg called famed James Bond producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli to ask him if he could direct the next 007 movie. Broccoli straight up denied the young director. Spieberg opened up on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, admitting, “He just said, ‘We have our own stable of directors we go to,’ and the success of Jaws didn’t phase him.” Spielberg said he called Broccoli, who produced every official Bond picture from1962’s Dr. Noand 1989’s Licence to Kill, a second time after the success of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and was once again denied.
“The third time, he called me and said I’m making a film called Moonraker, ‘In honor of your film, Close Encounters, we want to use the five notes from John Williams’ score. I said, ‘I’ll make you a deal, I’ll give you the notes if you let me direct the next Bond film,’ and he said, ‘We don’t need the notes that badly (laughs).’ But I gave him the notes anyway.” The famed five-note motif appears in Moonraker when Roger Moore goes to a key lock and enters the password, creating a memorable, yet tongue-in-cheek moment.
Spielberg’s James Bond Denial Led to Indiana Jones
Image via Paramount Pictures
It’s hard to imagine Spielberg being turned down three times. Who knows what he would have brought to the James Bond franchise and the humanity he could have brought the legendary character. If Spielberg was given the opportunity to direct the Bond movie following Moonraker, it would have been For Your Eyes Only.
In lieu of a Bond movie, Spielberg turned his attention to a budding new character that George Lucas pitched him around that time. The iconic Indiana Jones was born. His 1981 classic Raiders of the Lost Ark kicked off his own massive five-movie series following the adventures of an archeologist with a penchant for finding long-lost historical items and a lot of trouble along the way. A Spielberg-directed Bond movie would likely have been amazing, but if that had happened, we most likely would never have met Indiana Jones.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
🔥Max Rockatansky
01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
