Did anyone watch it. During the making of Poltergiest 3, the doc claims the director had a "business comitment" so they had to stop production for 4 months. That makes no sense to me. Does anyone know the truth behind that?

The actors give Speilberg most of the credit (as opposed to Tobe Hooper the credited director.) Did the doc confirm that Spielberg directed much of the film?

The impression I got was that Hooper was brought on because Universal didn't want Spielberg to direct Poltergiest since it was going to be released around the same time as E.T.
However, The Doc. talked about how Spielberg was pretty heavily involved with the making of Poltergiest and that he was on the set pretty much all through the filming providing his "input".

Does anyone know if that special is being replayed?

I missed it.

The only one that Spielberg had anything to do with was the first.
He was the producer.


J

He did more than produce it. All the actors discussed his direction on set and the FX guy even made a comment about Spielberg overruling a judgement call Tobe made on a prop.
Pretty funny because when they ask the actors point blank if Tobe really was the director they all say yes. Then they go right back to talking about Spielbergs involvement and dont bring Tobe up again.

Yeah, that's the way it always is with that movie. No matter what the credits say, it's Spielberg's film. Actually, it's pretty obvious just by watching the film.

Watch Poltergiest. Then watch Close Encounters and E.T. Then watch all of Tobe Hooper's films. Then tell me who directed Poltergiest.

Anyway, that's the way it has been for the past twenty years. The cast/crew *swears* that there was nothing weird going on, and that Tobe Hooper directed the film. Then they mention nothing about him and go on about "So Steve said this, and Steve wanted me to do that, and Steve suggested these other things." Every still from the set shows Hooper sitting in a corner eating donuts while Spielberg is positioning actors or moving sets.

It replays 10/31 at 8 p.m, 11/2 at 11 a.m, and 11/3 at 1 p.m.

Thanks!!

Here's to hoping this will get the rumoured DVD Special Edition of "Poltergeist" to get released sooner.

I think the bad blood and behind the scenes ugliness will ensure we never get a SE of Poltergeist. Maybe right after the two disc Twilight Zone The Movie.

Little known fact: the film was actually directed by none other than Hooper X.

This would be a great DVD. I can think of one clever use of the multi-angle function

I missed the first part of the E! show, so will try to catch the rest another time.

If anyone has the laserdisc of Poltergiest, check out the documentary. There is only 1 or 2 shots of Hooper and the rest is of Spielberg. Also, I read some time ago, that Spielberg got in trouble with the Director's Guild because he had too much "input" into the movie.... a union no-no.

for 4 months?

*shrug*
Ran out of suck and had to import some more from overseas?

The wife and I watched this on TCM the other night (her first time to see it, my 500th or so). Robert Osborne mentioned in the intro that Spielberg co-wrote the movie as well as produce, and the only reason he didn't direct was because of E.T. With that info in mind I paid particular attention to the film (I haven't seen it for years) and all I can say is this - Poltergeist is a Spielberg film from start to finish. Classic Spielberg lighting and camera moves. If you showed this film to a class of film students who had never seen it before, 85% of them would instantly identify it as a Spielberg film, I guarantee it.

Interesting little fact

As far as the credit thing goes..........I wouldn't want to take credit for watching (which I unfortunately did), let alone directing that movie.

Part 3 IMHO =

That's the funniest thing I've read in a long time. Thanks for that!


Agree with everyone here. Spielberg definitely had his hands on this film more than he or anyone behind the film will ever admit. Also agree that "II" and "III" were awful.

Is this the same E! special that talked about the "Curse Of Poltergeist?" The show really creeped me out. So many bad things happened throughout the production, I was shocked.

I enjoyed the special but it did seem apparent that Spielberg had a little too much power on the set.
This is exactly why I suspect that Spielberg pulled plans for the Special Editon that was to be released this year. Too bad. One of my favorite movies. They could even put the E! Special on there.


Great to see Craig and Jobeth interviewed. Wonder what happend to the Male Freeling kid?