Steven Spielberg Says James Bond Movies ‘Constantly Turned Me Down’ and ‘If They Asked Me Now’ to Direct the Answer Would Be: ‘You Can’t Afford Me’

Steven Spielberg joined “The Rest Is Entertainment” podcast on his “Disclosure Day” press tour and opened up about his repeated failed attempts to direct a James Bond movie. The Oscar winner made a personal plea to franchise producer Cubby Broccoli after “Jaws” became a blockbuster sensation, but Spielberg was turned down.

“I approached Cubby after ‘Jaws’ was a big hit,” Spielberg said. “I’d always wanted to make a James Bond film from the day I saw ‘Dr. No,’ so I called Cubby after ‘Jaws’ and volunteered. I said, ‘If you need a director, I would love to direct one.’ And he said no.”

Broccoli called Spielberg a few years later after the release of “Close Encounters of a Third Kind” because he wanted to use the movie’s famous five-note musical melody in a scene in “Moonraker.”

“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 no. But I gave him the five notes anyway,” Spielberg remembered. “So they consistently turned me down – at least, Broccoli did. He never explained why he wasn’t letting me into the Bond family.”

“When I told that story to George Lucas in 1977, when we were in Hawaii together getting ready for the release of ‘Star Wars: A New Hope,’ he said, ‘I have something better than Bond. It’s called Indiana Smith,’ which is what it was called at the time,” the director continued. “He told me the premise of the Indiana Jones series, and that’s how I got that job. So if they ever asked me to make a Bond film now, my answer would be: ‘You can’t afford me.’”

Bond is far from the only mega-franchise Spielberg flirted with over the years. The director was also interested in helming “Harry Potter” but had to turn down an offer for the movie for the sake of raising his family.

“There were several films I chose not to make,” Spielberg said in a 2023 interview. “I chose to turn down the first ‘Harry Potter’ to basically spend that next year and a half with my family, my young kids growing up. So I’d sacrificed a great franchise, which today looking back I’m very happy to have done, to be with my family.”

“Disclosure Day” opens in theaters June 12. Listen to Spielberg’s full interview on “The Rest Is Entertainment” podcast here.