There’s a version of cinema history where Steven Spielberg spent the 1980s making James Bond films. It never happened — and the reason it didn’t is the very reason Indiana Jones exists.
Spielberg Wanted 007 — Cubby Broccoli Said No
Spielberg revealed the full story this week on the The Rest Is Entertainment podcast, as reported by MovieWeb. He had wanted to direct a James Bond film ever since watching Dr. No in 1962 as a teenager. The moment he had the leverage to back that ambition up — right after Jaws (1975) made him the most sought-after director in Hollywood — he called producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli directly and volunteered. The answer was a flat no, with no explanation offered.
He tried again a few years later, this time with a creative sweetener. When Broccoli wanted to use the iconic five-note motif from Close Encounters of the Third Kind for Moonraker (1979), Spielberg offered to hand it over in exchange for the director’s chair. Broccoli declined again — though Spielberg gave him the notes anyway.
The Trade That Failed, and the Franchise That Followed
That second rejection left Spielberg free at exactly the right moment. George Lucas arrived with a pitch: a globe-trotting adventure hero in a fedora, originally named Indiana Smith, conceived partly as an American answer to 007. Spielberg turned it into Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which launched one of cinema’s most enduring franchises. Three sequels followed — Temple of Doom, The Last Crusade, and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull — with Harrison Ford’s archaeologist eventually eclipsing Bond himself in cultural staying power.
Bond’s Loss, Indiana’s Gain
The franchise Spielberg never got to touch is now being rebuilt from scratch. Denis Villeneuve is directing Bond 26 for Amazon MGM from a Steven Knight script, with a leading man still uncast after Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson stepped back from creative control. Spielberg, meanwhile, has a new film — Disclosure Day — in theaters this month, and a characteristically blunt verdict on the door that was shut on him twice: “If they ever asked me to make a Bond film now, my answer would be: you can’t afford me.”