Far Out Magazine has revisited how Steven Spielberg came to drop out of directing the 2013 film "Cop Out", a project he was reportedly linked to before it was ultimately made without him. The piece frames the film as an example of a project that failed to live up to its early promise once the celebrated director stepped away, using his departure as a lens to examine what went wrong with the finished movie.

The article recounts the circumstances behind Spielberg's exit, noting his reluctance to simply "cop out" of creative commitments, and contrasts this with the poorly received final product that reached cinemas in 2013. It situates the anecdote within a broader retrospective on Spielberg's career choices and the films that got away from him.