10 Things You Didn't Know About Poltergeist

Although the film mostly credits Tobe Hooper as the director of the picture, there is still a debate to this day about whether it was Hooper or Steven Spielberg who directed Poltergeist.

Contractually, Spielberg was barred from directing another film because he was already preparing for E.T. (1982). But he was so heavily involved with production, the crew started to believe he was the secret director.

He storyboarded most of the shots himself, made many exclusive casting choices, based most of the film around his own experiences and only missed out on three days of filming. There’s even a subtle ‘director’ cameo of him during the face peeling scene, where the hands visible belong to Spielberg.

Tobe Hooper has denied this, reaffirming that he was the real director, with Spielberg graciously crediting him for the position.

But actress Zelda Rubinstein disagreed. In the short week that she acted for the film, she always saw Steven as the director and Tobe as the assistant. And to be frank, regardless of who the true director was, most fans will always consider Poltergeist to be a Spielberg film.