Gremlins Director Refused to Remove One Controversial Scene, But Made One Significant Change at Steven Spielberg’s Request

Gremlins is an iconic movie, but could have been very different if not for the collaborative effort between director Joe Dante, screenwriter Chris Columbus, and producer Steven Spielberg. Like many movies, the version of Gremlins that is now one of the most loved festive movies of all-time is not the one that was originally scripted. While one particular change made by Spielberg ended up creating one of cinema’s most-loved cuddly critters, one controversial moment was allowed to remain in the film at Dante’s insistence.

The original script of Gremlins had one very big difference to the final movie; Gizmo only appeared for the first 20 minutes of the story and then became the evil leader of the creatures, Stripe. However, this was something Spielberg wanted to change, and that meant a whole new problem for special effects artist and creature designer Chris Walas. Dante explained to Total Film Magazine:

“Chris [Columbus’] sketches are not dissimilar to what we ended up with [for the Gremlins.] They had big ears, teeth, brows, and a reptilian quality. Gizmo was much more difficult because the fuzzy Mogwai design was up for grabs. There were a lot of possibilities but you had to think practically. OK, you can design it – but can you make it work?”

The challenge of creating Gizmo appeared to have been partly solved by the character only appearing for a very short time in the movie. However, Spielberg made a request that required the team to go back to the drawing board. Dante continued:

“Steven started taking a liking to Gizmo – particularly when we turned him into the color of his cocker spaniel. At a dangerously late stage, he said, ‘We should keep this character around for the whole movie, and he should be the hero’s pal.’ We were about a month away from shooting and had this little pile of bolts and fur that would allow us to make 20 minutes of this character. Suddenly, he had to be a star of the movie. We had to completely revamp our plans.”

One Controversial Gremlins Scene Caused Issues for Joe Dante

While there were many changes made that Dante was happy to go along with, including Spielberg’s suggestion that it should be Gizmo who ended up killing Stripe and not Billy as originally planned, but there is one scene in particular that Dante refused to give up, even when the studio hated it.

That scene is the moment the action takes a back seat as Kate explains to Billy how her father died in an accident while pretending to be Santa Claus when she was a young girl. Although Gremlins is not exactly a movie aimed at young children – although I remember watching it when I was around six-years-old – Kate’s admission that this was the moment she stopped believing in Santa Claus was almost as brutal as anything the Gremlins did in the rest of the film. However, Dante was determined to have the scene in the film, even if the studio tried their hardest to get it out. He explained:

“It encapsulated the whole ethos of the picture. There’s a duality of humor and horror but Warner Bros. hated it. I heard after it was out they were sending instructions to projectionists to see if they could cut it, which thankfully didn’t happen.”

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As it stands, there are very few people who can pick fault with Gremlins. The film continues to endear itself to new audiences every year, and the strong pull of nostalgia has ensured that, while a long-discussed third movie has been elusive, there is an audience out there waiting for it to happen. In the meantime, the recently released animated prequel series, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, was a huge critical hit and holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.