Acclaimed film director Steven Spielberg on Tuesday said he laments editing guns out of a scene from “E.T. the Extraterrestrial” and replacing them with walkie-talkies in the 20th anniversary release of the movie.

“That was a mistake,” Mr. Spielberg said at the Time 100 Summit. “I never should have done that because ‘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.”

The 1982 original film’s climax features a scene where federal agents with guns chase children, but the director opted to give the feds handheld radios for the 2002 version of the movie.

Mr. Spielberg acknowledged the error in 2011 and corrected it for the 30th anniversary release of the movie in 2012, according to The Guardian.       

The director also spoke up in defense of preserving Roald Dahl’s original works as publishing companies try to revise his texts around modern sensibilities.  

“Nobody should ever attempt to take the chocolate out of Willy Wonka! Ever!” Spielberg joked. He added on a more serious note: “For me, it is sacrosanct. It’s our history, it’s our cultural heritage. I do not believe in censorship in that way.”

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.