Steven Spielberg Still Hates One Of His Most Popular Blockbuster Films
Steven Spielberg reveals that he still hates the movie Hook, though it was a huge blockbuster.
With The Fabelmans coming to theaters everywhere around the world this holiday season, audiences seem to be reminded of the cinematic genius of director Steven Spielberg. Taking the blockbuster box office by storm starting with his shark-infested thriller Jaws and then again with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Spielberg is responsible for some of the greatest films of the last 40 years. However, Daily Express in the UK reports that Steven Spielberg still hates his 1991 classic film Hook, which starred Dustin Hoffman in the titular role and Robin Williams in the part of an adult Peter Pan.
As Steven Spielberg is in the middle of a promotional blitz for his new movie The Fabelmans starring Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen, the veteran director disclosed to the Kermode and Mayo Film Review that he still has a lot of distaste for his experience filming Hook. Daily Express notes from his interview that Spielberg said, “I still don’t like that movie,” noting that he was a little out of his comfort zone when filming began. He notes script issues that caused him to rethink if the movie would work at all, resulting in insecurity on his behalf and those in the cast and crew.
In addition to problems with the script, Steven Spielberg simply didn’t have a great working relationship with actor Julia Roberts during the shoot on Hook, as she portrayed the famous character of Tinkerbell. To be fair to Roberts, she was working through personal issues with her then fiancé Kiefer Sutherland, who she ended up breaking off her engagement with just three days shy of their wedding date. At the time, Spielberg felt that Roberts was difficult to work with, and apparently, he gave her the nickname “TinkerHell,” an obvious reference to her fairy character.
Although it has been more than 30 years since the release of Steven Spielberg’s Hook, it’s apparent that the director still harbors bad feelings towards a movie that ended up becoming a childhood classic for many of his audience members. Hook debuted in theaters to a generous box office haul, eventually netting more than $300 million against a budget of $70 million. The film co-starred Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman as adversaries in Neverland, along with an ensemble group of young actors and veteran performers like Bob Hoskins, Maggie Smith, Charlie Korsmo, and a young Gwyneth Paltrow.
While a hit with moviegoers at the time in terms of financial box office success, Steven Spielberg’s Hook was not as much of a critically acclaimed film as many experts thought it could be since it was a Spielberg production. Rotten Tomatoes currently ranks Hook with a 29% on its Tomatometer based on 65 critic’s reviews, as well as an Audience Score of 76% over 250,000 ratings from verified users on the site. In comparison, Metacritic ranks the film with a Metascore of 52 based on 19 critics’ reviews, in addition to a User Score of 7.2 based on 141 ratings for audiences, which typically denotes a mixed or average review from critics and generally favorable reviews for viewers.
