Throughout his career, Steven Spielberg has earned himself a whopping 22 Oscar nods, of which he scored 3 wins, 1 for Saving Private Ryan and 2 for Schindler’s List. Most fans would agree that 3 wins don’t do the director justice, as he is one of the best, responsible for shaping the blockbuster landscape, and is arguably one of the most versatile filmmakers of all time.
But the two losses that stand out the most, which most believe should’ve gone to Spielberg remains Saving Private Ryan and E.T., and the director that beat him agrees with the latter.
Richard Attenborough Felt Steven Spielberg Should’ve Nabbed the Victory That Night
11 years before taking the World and the Academy by storm, following the release of his most important work, Schindler’s List, Spielberg competed with Richard Attenborough at the Oscars. With Attenborough’s Gandhi leading the 55th Oscars with 11 nominations and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial heading with 9 nominations, it was the former that took wins in the major categories.
Opposed to E.T.‘s four wins, Gandhi took home eight accolades, with Attenborough earning the win over Spielberg for Best Director and Best Picture. To this date, this decision remains debatable, as E.T.’s mark on cinema can’t be denied, and Attenborough felt the same. The filmmaker, who later went on to share a decades-long friendship with Steven Spielberg, recalled telling the Saving Private Ryan director “this should be yours”.
Attenborough recalled in Steven Spielberg: A Biography (via EW):
Steven and I were at opposite sides of the room, and when the winner’s name was announced after all the speeches and such, I literally had to be nudged. I couldn’t believe it. I got up from the table and it was a sorty of knee-jerk actor’s reaction. I didn’t go to the podium, I went over to Spielberg. He got up, I put my arms ’round him, and I said, ‘This isn’t right, this should be yours.‘
This wasn’t the lone time the Gandhi filmmaker touched this controversial win, as he later deemed Spielberg’s sci-fi flick a fundamental piece of cinema.
Richard Attenborough Believed He Stood No Chance Against E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
While it was Gandhi, who was the clear victor over E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Great Escape star stressed that the latter was “an infinitely more creative and fundamental piece of cinema”. Having seen the film for himself prior to the Oscars, the director felt he stood no chance against Spielberg’s masterpiece, as unlike Gandhi, which was a piece of narration, “E.T. depended absolutely on the concept of cinema”.
He said (via BBC):
I went to see E.T. in Los Angeles shortly before all the awards and we used language, when we came out, to the extent of saying ‘we have no chance – E.T. should and will walk away with it’
Years later after competing at the Oscars, Spielberg and Attenborough would unite together to once again redefine cinema with Jurassic Park, another major milestone in cinema.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Gandhi are available to stream on Apple TV.
