In a 2015 interview with the online journal "Film Talk", Hooper was asked about the controversy. He claimed that the rumors were started by an article in the "Los Angeles Times" after their reporters saw Spielberg helping Hooper get footage of "little race cars" in front of the house while Hooper was busy shooting another scene elsewhere. "From there it became its own legend. That is how I remember it; I was making the movie and later on, I heard this stuff after it was finished. I really can’t set the record much straighter than that."