Richard Attenborough Thought A Steven Spielberg Movie Was Better Than His Best Picture Winner

Sony Pictures

The late Richard Attenborough is an unquestioned legend. Largely known for his roles on screen in films like "The Great Escape" and "Miracle on 34th Street," he perhaps doesn't get enough credit for his work as a director. His finest hour came in 1982 when he stepped into the director's chair for "Gandhi." The biopic about the Indiana revolutionary Mahatma Gandhi went on to sweep the Academy Awards that year, culminating in a Best Picture win. It's the realization of a dream few filmmakers will ever know. Be that as it may, Attenborough believed a Steven Spielberg classic should have taken home the prize that year.

Released the same year, Spielberg's "E.T." was an acclaimed box office juggernaut and ultimately took in nearly $800 million worldwide. It was also up for Best Picture that year, with Spielberg and Attenborough competing for Best Director. Attenborough ultimately won out there as well. It was no contest in the minds of The Academy at the time. Attenborough wrote in the 1997 book "Steven Spielberg: A Biography" by Joseph McBride (via Entertainment Weekly)

"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 sort 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.'"

Not unlike Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" losing Best Picture to "Shakespeare in Love," the notion of "E.T." losing to "Gandhi" at the Oscars has been the subject of debate for more than 40 years. Did The Academy get it right? For whatever it's worth, even fresh off the win, Attenborough believed his film should have lost.

Universal Pictures

This story gets at the heart of an issue that has plagued the Oscars for decades now. How does one decide between the acclaimed work of art or the populist pick? In this case, Spielberg's "E.T." was both a wildly popular movie and an acclaimed work of cinema. "Gandhi" was the sort of biopic that The Academy has always been a bit of a sucker for. It's also not as though we're talking about an undeserving movie. "Gandhi" is very arguably Ben Kingsley's greatest movie, which is truly saying something.

Attenborough also addressed the two films in a 2008 interview with the BBC. More specifically, he shared some of his initial thoughts after seeing "E.T." for himself ahead of that year's awards season. Put simply, he was blown away by what Spielberg had accomplished and had a pretty simple explanation as to why Spielberg's film should have won that year.

"[Business partner] Diana and 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'. Without the initial premise of Mahatma Gandhi, [my] film would be nothing. Therefore it's a narrative film but it's a piece of narration rather than a piece of cinema, as such. 'E.T.' depended absolutely on the concept of cinema and I think that Steven Spielberg, who I'm very fond of, is a genius. I think 'E.T.' is a quite extraordinary piece of cinema."

In essence, Attenborough was using the medium of film to tell a story based on the real life of Mahatma Gandhi. Spielberg, on the other hand, crafted a work of complete fiction about a boy named Elliott and his alien friend that captivated audiences around the world, and was built around the cinematic experience. 

Nobody is shedding tears for Spielberg though, as he went on to have a stellar career. He and Attenborugh also ended up collaborating with one another a decade later in 1993's groundbreaking blockbuster "Jurassic Park," which became the biggest movie in history up to that point. What movie did it dethrone? "E.T." A bit of full-circle, cosmic poetry there.

The "E.T." 40th anniversary 4K is available on Amazon, as is the 25th anniversary Blu-ray edition of "Gandhi."