Steven Spielberg Rejects ‘Censorship’ of Antiquated Works, Regrets Editing Guns Out of ET: ‘That Was a Mistake’

Famed director Steven Spielberg admitted to mistakes while arguing that old media artworks ought to be preserved, not revised to appease modern sensitivities.

Spielberg spoke with TIME Executive Chairman and former Editor in Chief Edward Felsenthal at the magazine’s 100 Summit on Tuesday, and their discussions about his filmography led to Spielberg being asked if there were any movies of the past that he would have done differently, in retrospect. Felsenthal framed the question by referring to the 20th-anniversary version of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial where FBI agents were edited to carry walkie-talkies instead of the guns they had in the original film.

“That was a mistake,” Spielberg said. “I never should have done that. E.T. is a product of its era. No film should be revised based on the lenses we now are, either voluntarily, or being forced to peer through.”

Spielberg has been open before about regretting the edit, and he recommended that directors not mess with their own archives like he did.

All our movies are a kind of a signpost of where we were when we made them, what the world was like, and what the world was receiving when we got those stories out there. So I really regret having that out there.

Felsenthal connected this to the recent movement to have Roald Dahl’s children’s books edited to remove offensive language. On that, Spielberg declared “nobody should ever attempt to take the chocolate out of Willy Wonka! Ever!”

“For me, it is sacrosanct. It’s our history, it’s our cultural heritage,” he continued. “I do not believe in censorship in that way.”

Watch above via TIME.