Steven Spielberg explains why he turned down offer to direct Harry Potter

Steven Spielberg recently disclosed that he had turned down offer to direct the first Harry Potter movie “to be with family”.

While speaking to RRR director SS Rajamouli for Reliance Entertainment, Steven shared that he got the opportunity to direct Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone but he “chose to turn down” for family.

“The personal meaning about how the conflict between art and family will tear you in half happened to me later, after I had already established myself as a filmmaker, as a working director,” said the award-winning director.

Steven told SS, “Kate Capshaw and I started raising a family and we started having children. The choice I had to make was taking a job that would move me to another country for four or five months where I wouldn’t see my family every day... That was a ripping kind of experience.”

Steven pointed out, “There were several films I chose not to make. 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,” he added.

Meanwhile, Steven is nominated in the Oscar 2023 for Best director for The Fabelmans.