Steven Spielberg says he is 'happy' to have refused to direct Harry Potter; here's why

Steven Spielberg recently spoke about getting offered to direct Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone early on in his career. The acclaimed director said in an interview that he is glad to

have refused the offer to direct Harry Potter. He also spoke about the importance of being present while raising the family. 

The Schindler’s List director was in a conversation with RRR director S.S. Rajamouli. He discussed the conflict between dedication to art and raising a family. He added that whenever he had

to take up projects to direct which required relocation to other countries, he was away from his family. 

The Academy Award-winning director then opened up about initially being offered the chance to direct the first Harry Potter film. He told S.S. Rajamouli that he turned down the film in order

to spend “the next year and a half” with his family. He further said that he is “very happy” to have traded the film for some family time.

“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.”

Later, Harry Potter went into the laps of Chris Columbus, who kickstarted the Warner Bros. series. Steven Spielberg instead directed A.I. Artificial Intelligence which was filmed in Los

Angeles. The film went on to become critically acclaimed and eventually scored two Oscar nominations. 

Steven Spielberg recently saw the release of The Fabelmans, an autobiographical drama. The film starred Paul Dano as Steven Spielberg, and scored seven Oscar nominations. The film even

earned Steven Spielberg an Oscar nomination for best Screenwriting, a first in his career.

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