
But then, as she explained to Democracy Now!, she went to see "E.T." with her daughter and loved it. Walker, though, had never even heard of Steven Spielberg before.

The other half was convincing Alice Walker to not just give him the rights for the movie, but to also agree to Spielberg as the director. That's when I found the power of being underestimated." He convinced Spielberg to take on the project, but that was only half the battle. "He thinks he's going to get the greatest director in the world on his first movie. "Everybody in town was saying, 'Quincy Jones is out of his mind,'" he said of his quest to convince Steven Spielberg to direct.
