In 1984’s “Gremlins,” one of the movie’s signature moments, the “Why I hate Christmas” anecdote related by Phoebe Cates’s character, almost didn’t make it in. How did you get to keep it?

It was not a popular feature of the movie with the studio, or almost anyone. The studio took umbrage at it, and after our successful preview the only note they had was to get rid of that scene. I suppose I could have taken it out. In Chris Columbus’s original script, it had been a throwaway. Phoebe really liked it because up until she tells that story, her character had been a pretty generic girlfriend — this gave her a secret. Because Steven Spielberg was the executive producer, I was able to get him to back me on keeping it in.