Martin Scorsese’s Idol Claimed Steven Spielberg’s ‘E.T.’ is a Stolen Piece of Artistic License Gone Wrong in Hollywood and the Truth is Heartbreaking
- Martin Scorsese has often cited legendary Indian screenwriter and filmmaker Satyajit Ray as his inspiration.
- Ray once openly revealed how parts of one of his scripts were used for the making of Steven Spielberg's E.T.
- Arthur C Clarke advised Ray to sue Spielberg for using his work without his permission, but the Indian filmmaker let it slide.
Apparently, Steven Spielberg took the help of some external sources to create one of his most talked about movies. Indian director and screenwriter Satyajit Ray director revealed how Spielberg’s 1982 masterpiece is actually his harvest.
Winner of Bharat Ratna and Padma Shri, the Aparajito creator is undoubtedly one of the greatest and influential film directors in the world of cinema. Ray has received worldwide recognition for being the man behind The World of Apu, Charulata, and Sonar Kella.
However, Ray once claimed that apart from all his released movies, he had another screenplay prepared that he failed to release. On top of that, one of the best Hollywood directors took the credit for that screenplay instead of Ray, about which the latter seemed visibly upset.
Satyajit Ray Revealed How It Was His Work That Inspired One of Steven Spielberg’s Best Movies
The idol of the famous American filmmaker Martin Scorsese, Satyajit Ray once expressed that one of his works got dropped due to some reason, but was then picked and released by a renowned director of Hollywood. Unfortunately, the thing that he was upset about was that he never got the deserving credit for his work.
In a resurfaced Instagram video, Satyajit Ray can be seen saying he prepared a screenplay called The Alien for which he spent around 5 weeks in Hollywood. It was a science fiction that he wrote and the work was expected to be financed by Columbia.
However, due to some strange behavior by a middleman involved, the idea got dropped. What Ray considered even more unfortunate was how his ideas were later picked and used by Steven Spielberg in his 1982 movie, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, without anyone having any idea about the real man behind the project.
Long long long before E.T. and my science fiction screenplay was germinated from that story, The Alien… But many ideas in The Alien are in E.T.
Ray’s written work really seems to have a major contribution to Spielberg’s 1982 masterpiece. No wonder Scorsese rates Ray so highly.
Arthur C Clarke Had Advised Satyajit Ray To File A Copyright Case Against Steven Spielberg
It is one thing for a creative to get their work rejected, and it is entirely another thing for parts of that same work to be used in a different project, that too without their knowledge. One can only imagine how Ray must have felt after learning of the deception.
According to Hindustan Times, when the famous British science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke watched E.T., he informed Ray that many ideas from The Alien were present in Spielberg’s movie. Ray was significantly upset after listening to this as he himself was in regular touch with Hollywood producers regarding the same.
Ray informed everyone via India Today Magazine in 1983 that Clarke had telephoned him from London, advising him to file a copyright case against Spielberg instead of tolerating the entire scene. Ray, however, stayed composed and didn’t do anything of that sort.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is available for rent and buying on Apple TV.
