Steven Spielberg says he has no regrets about turning down 'Harry Potter': 'I sacrificed a great franchise to be with my family'
- Steven Spielberg has spoken about his decision to pass on directing the first "Harry Potter" film.
- Speaking to S.S. Rajamouli, he said he chose to "sacrifice" making the movie "to be with my family."
Steven Spielberg said he has no regrets about turning down the offer to direct "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."
The 76-year-old director was offered the chance to helm the first movie in the wizarding franchise based on J.K. Rowling's novels but said he declined because he wanted to watch his children grow up.
Speaking to "RRR" director S.S. Rajamouli in a conversation organized by Reliance Entertainment to mark the theatrical release of Spielberg's latest film, "The Fabelmans," in India, the veteran director said that the first "Harry Potter" installment was just one of many films he turned down for the sake of his family.
"There were several films I chose not to make," Spielberg recalled. "They offered me 'Harry Potter' and I chose to turn down the first 'Harry Potter' to basically spend the next year and a half with my family, my young kids growing up."
"So, I sacrificed a great franchise — which today looking back I'm very happy to have done — to be with my family," he added.
The film was ultimately directed by Chris Columbus, who also helmed 2002's "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."
Spielberg has seven children, including one stepchild. He shares his oldest son Max, 37, with ex-wife Amy Irving, and has two daughters and a son with his current spouse Kate Capshaw: Sasha, 32, Sawyer, 30, and Destry, 26.
Spielberg and Capshaw are also adoptive parents to son Theo, 34, and daughter Mikaela, 26, and the actor is stepfather to Capshaw's daughter from a previous relationship, Jessica, 46.
"Kate and I started raising a family and we started having children," the filmmaker continued. "The choice I had to make in taking a job that would move me to another country for four of five months where I wouldn't see my family every day."
Spielberg explained that sometimes he has been able to bring his large family along with him on overseas projects, such as the Oscar-winning "Schindler's List," which saw them relocate to Kraków for four-and-a-half months.
The "Indiana Jones" director has previously spoken about turning down "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," which earned $974 million at the worldwide box office.
In an interview with Digital Spy in 2012, he said: "I just felt that I wasn't ready to make an all-kids movie, and my kids thought I was crazy. And the books were by that time popular, so when I dropped out, I knew it was going to be a phenomenon."