Why Isaac Asimov Turned Down An Offer To Write A Steven Spielberg Sci-Fi Movie

Steven Spielberg's 1977 film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was an aberration when it was released in 1977. American cinema, throughout the 1970s, was better known for its daring and adult exploration of grown-up stories based on gritty reality. It was a time when the first generation of film students began to take the country by storm, and filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Lumet, Robert Altman, Hal Ashby, Roman Polanski, and Woody Allen were pushing cinema in new directions. George Lucas' 1977 hit "Star Wars" and Steven Spielberg's hits "Jaws" and "Close Encounters" were the outliers, in that they were based in fantasy, sci-fi, and special effects. The world loved Lucas' and Spielberg's movies, but it's telling that Allen's "Annie Hall" won the Oscar for Best Picture over "Star Wars." 

"Close Encounters" was the more cerebral of the sci-fi hits, exploring the real-life lore of modern UFOs in the context of a thriller. The film starred Richard Dreyfuss as a guy who had a recent encounter with a flying saucer, and was suddenly struck by images and urges he couldn't explain. He was driven to go to the Devil's Tower in Wyoming, where the film's climax takes place. "Close Encounters" is most famous for the climactic sequence, wherein a massive UFO appears on Earth and aliens emerge to greet hundreds of researchers. Spielberg is the credited writer on "Close Encounters," and it contains the filmmaker's trademark sense of awe. 

Here's some fun trivia: Spielberg once approached celebrated sci-fi author Isaac Asimov to write the screenplay. In a 1988 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Asimov revealed that he was definitely approached, and that he hastily turned down the gig. It seems he didn't want to write a UFO story that glorified flying saucers.

Asimov began by saying that he rejected Spielberg's offer because, well, he didn't know who this Spielberg kid was. "I didn't know who he was at the time, or what a hit the film would be," Asimov said. "I still would have refused, only with more regret." This was, of course, a joke on the eventual mega-success of "Close Encounters." The main reason he turned down the movie was because it had, by his recollection, a dumb story. As he put it: 

"['Close Encounters' was], in some respects, an idiot plot. [Hollywood sci-fi films] sacrifice common sense and rationality, to special effects. [...] Frankly, I'd rather sit at home and write my books."

Asimov wrote many wild sci-fi stories with took place in the far-flung future, and often dealt with fantastical technologies like robot and the like, but he was always careful to keep his fantasy in the realm of the practical. At the very least, he wanted to explore the philosophy of new technology; we all know about Asimov's Rules of Robotics, the commandments that must be implanted into every android's brain if we are to escape a robot takeover. 

Asimov lamented the current state of sci-fi in 1988, knowing that, thanks to the success of "Star Wars" the previous decade, visual effects came to overwhelm the genre. "[D]ecent science fiction won't do well," he said, "because people want special effects ... it's come to dominate." He added that if VFX weren't an issue, then "400 million people would be reading my books." Asimov was always popular, but wasn't a blockbuster maker like George Lucas. 

Asimov passed away in 1992, but his works are currently providing the inspiration for many hits. "Foundation" is currently airing on Apple TV.