By Erin Free
As one of Hollywood’s most prolific directors, producers, and developers of material, Steven Spielberg has passed on or dropped out of a number of high profile projects, including Cape Fear (which he handballed off to Martin Scorsese when he opted to direct Schindler’s List instead); Big (which he was planning to do with, yes, Harrison Ford, but ultimately exited so as not to “overshadow” his sister, Anne Spielberg, who co-penned the screenplay); American Beauty (which he gifted to Sam Mendes); and several more. Spielberg has stated that his biggest regret, however, was passing on the deeply moving drama, Rain Man. The director worked with upcoming screenwriter, Ron Bass (at that stage, best known for penning Francis Ford Coppola’s Gardens Of Stone), and stars, Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise, for six months fine-tuning the screenplay, but had difficulty in banging it into shape. Spielberg also had a cinematic axe looming over his head: an etched-in-stone start date for Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, the third installment of the hugely popular adventure franchise that he’d created with co-writer and producer, George Lucas. “When I saw that I was going to go past that start date, and that I would have to step down from Indy III, the promise that I made to George was more important than making Rain Man,” the director says in Steven Spielberg: Interviews. “So, with great regret because I really wanted to work with Tom and Dustin, I stepped down from the movie.” Spielberg then passed on all of his notes to director, Barry Levinson, who eventually crafted Rain Man into a Best Picture Oscar winning modern classic.
