Not Jaws, Steven Spielberg’s Greatest Regret Might Be 1 Movie That Killed 2 Child Actors That He Didn’t Even Direct
Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest filmmakers alive. Working for over four decades, his contribution to cinema is remarkably unparalleled. Creating culturally significant movies like E.T., Schindler’s List, and Jurassic Park among others, Spielberg has influenced generations of moviegoers and filmmakers alike.
Excellence can only be consistent for so long. In one way or another, some disappointment is inevitable. Spielberg has vocalized his regrets in his previous works, with Jaws being the more prominent one. However, there is one film that the three-time Academy Award Winner might regret the most.
Steven Spielberg Had Regrets About Jaws
Jaws, the 1975 American became a colossal success. However, things went south when people started hunting sharks and other big fish for sport. The film’s portrayal of the undersea beasts as lethal man-eaters did numbers at the box office. But it also led to the depletion of shark populations.
Steven Spielberg wasn’t privy to this information. The adverse effect his film had on people and in turn sharks weighed on the BAFTA winner’s conscience. He said that he “truly regrets” the frenzy of shark killings his film ensued.
Speaking with Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Spielberg said:
“That’s one of the things I still fear. Not to get eaten by a shark, but that sharks are somehow mad at me for the feeding frenzy of crazy sport fishermen that happened after 1975, which I truly, and to this day, regret the decimation of the shark population because of the book and the film. I really truly regret that.”
Jaws as a film has driven humans toward actions that have had disastrous effects on nature. But there is one Spielberg film that caused even greater damage.
A Steven Spielberg Movie That Killed Two Kids
Jaws was certainly having bad effects on nature. But there’s a movie which killed people while filming. It has Spielberg’s name attached to it but the legendary filmmaker wasn’t even directing it.
During the filming of the 1983 science fiction Twilight Zone: The Movie, of which Spielberg acted as a producer, an accident occurred and killed three people and injured several others. People who died include actor Vic Morrow and two child actors, whose presence on set wasn’t permittable.
In the first segment- Time Out; of the four segments film director John Landis, was filming a scene where Morrow’s character travels back in time to the Vietnam War to save two children. The two child actors, seven-year-old Myca Dinh Le and six-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen were hired for the roles. However, the legal procedure of them being there wasn’t filed.
A helicopter crash occurred while filming and both kids including Morrow died. The loss was immense and this incident was followed by a lawsuit against the filming personnel and stricter laws for child actors in Hollywood.
Spielberg expressed his deep regrets and views in an interview (via Rolling Stone), saying:
“No movie is worth dying for. I think people are standing up much more now, than ever before, to producers and directors who ask too much. If something isn’t safe, it’s the right and responsibility of every actor or crew member to yell, ‘Cut!’”
The deaths of two innocent human lives and numerous sharks must weigh heavy on the heart from time to time.
