15. “AN AWFULLY BIG ADVENTURE” (PP. 379-413)
Spielberg discussed fatherhood in a June 6, 1985, interview with Gene Shalit on Today (NBC-TV), quoted in that day’s LAHE item by Gregg Kilday, “He Deserves a Break Today”; Andrews; and The Barbara Walters Special (1994). Amy Irving called him “a great father” in “Amy Irving and Max.”
Spielberg was described as a “one-man entertainment conglomerate” by Salamon in “Maker of Hit After Hit, Steven Spielberg Is Also a Conglomerate.” Other information is from Klastorin and Hibbin, “Back to the Future”: The Official Book of the Complete Movie Trilogy; Skow; Chute; Lee Goldberg, “Bob Zemeckis: It’s a Wonderful Time!” Starlog, October 1985; Blum, “Steven Spielberg and the Dread Hollywood Backlash”; Kim Masters, “The Futures Back to Back,” Premiere, December 1989; and Andrews. A. D. Murphy’s caveat about Spielberg’s producing was expressed to the author in the early 1980s. Spielberg’s Thalberg Award (1987) was reported in Jack Mathews, “Academy Finally Taps Spielberg,” LAT, February 9, and Aljean Harmetz, “Steven Spielberg Wins Movies’ Thalberg Award,” NYT, March 31. Pauline Kael’s review of Young Sherlock Holmes, “Lasso and Peashooter,” appeared in The New Yorker, January 27, 1986.
Spielberg recalled his meeting with John Ford in Lane, “‘I Want Gross.’” Information on Spielberg’s lunch with Orson Welles is from the author’s interview with Gary Graver and from Jonathan Rosenbaum, “Afterword” to Welles, The Cradle Will Rock: An Original Screenplay, ed. by James Pepper, Santa Teresa Press, 1994; the comments by Spielberg and Welles on Spielberg’s purchase of a Rosebud sled are quoted in Frank Brady, Citizen Welles: A Biography of Orson Welles, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1989.
Information on Spielberg’s relationship with Steve Ross is from Connie Bruck, Master of the Game: Steve Ross and the Creation of Time Warner, Simon & Schuster, 1994, and “A Mogul’s Farewell,” The New Yorker, October 18, 1993; and from Roger Cohen, “A $78 Million Year: Steve Ross Defends His Paycheck,” NYT, March 22, 1992. The Warner Bros. “Celebration of Tradition” party was covered by Joseph McBride in “Past, Present Converge on WB Lot,” DV, June 4, 1990. Spielberg’s involvement in Strokes of Genius (PBS) is described in “The Story Behind the Series,” The Dial, May 1984.
Sources on Spielberg’s TV series Amazing Stories include the author’s interviews with Joe Dante, Bob Gale, Richard B. Matheson, Richard Christian Matheson, Peter Z. Orton, and Joan Darling; and articles including Leslie Bennetts, “Spielberg to Produce Adventure Series for NBC,” NYT, July 31, 1984; Eric Mankin, “Spielberg to Return to TV with a Weekly Anthology,” LAHE, July 31, 1984; “MCA, NBC Say Spielberg Will Produce TV Series,” Wall Street Journal, July 31, 1984; Buck, “Spielberg: Raider of the Lost Art of Anthologies”; Morgan Gendel, “It Came from Beyond to NBC,” LAT, July 21, 1985; Steve Pond, “Making Little Movies,” US, September 23, 1985; Elvis Mitchell, “Amazing Anthologies,” Film Comment, September–October 1985; Paul Bartel, “My Amazing Story,” American Film, October 1985; Breskin; Michael Kaplan, “NBC’s 800-Pound Turkey,” L.A. Reader, January 10, 1986; Tom Carson, “Boy Wonder,” L.A. Weekly, January 10, 1986; Blum; Aljean Harmetz, “Amazing Stories Tries New Tactics,” NYT, June 2, 1986; and Turner, “Steven Spielberg: His Stories Aren’t Amazing Enough … Yet.” Sid Sheinberg reacted to Turner’s article in Pat H. Broeske, “Amazing Story,” LAT, August 10, 1986. Sources on David Lean’s visit to the set of “Ghost Train” include Breskin and Royal, “Always: An Interview with Steven Spielberg.” Kael’s comment on Amazing Stories is from Blum.
Sources on Empire of the Sun include the author’s interviews with Tom Stoppard, Allen Daviau, David Tomblin, David Bale (father of actor Christian Bale), and Gale; additional information is from Jean Oppenheimer’s 1991 interview with Daviau. The film is based on the novel by J. G. Ballard, Simon & Schuster, 1984. Ballard described the filming in his sequel, The Kindness of Women, HarperCollins, London, 1991. The fourth-draft shooting script by Tom Stoppard (and Menno Meyjes, who did not receive screen credit) is dated February 2,1987. Ballard talked about his childhood in The China Odyssey: “Empire of the Sun,” a Film by Steven Spielberg, Les Mayfield’s documentary about the making of the film (Warner Bros., CBS-TV, 1987); and in “From Shanghai to Shepperton,” an interview in Foundation, No. 24, February 1982, reprinted in V. Vale and Andrea Juno, eds., Re/Search: J. G. Ballard, Re/Search Publications, 1984.
Information on Spielberg’s involvement in the restoration of Lawrence of Arabia is from Morris and Raskin, “Lawrence of Arabia”: The 30th Anniversary Pictorial History. Spielberg’s comment on filmmakers’ moral rights is from David Robb, “Battle over Berne Copyright Treaty Is Heating Up,” DV, February 19, 1988; see also Robb, “Mr. Spielberg Goes to Washington,” DV, November 18, 1987. Sources on David Lean’s involvement with Empire of the Sun and Spielberg’s with Lean’s Nostromo project include the author’s interviews with Daviau and Tomblin; Stephen M. Silverman, David Lean, Harry N. Abrams, 1989; Alain Silver and James Ursini, David Lean and His Films, Silman-James Press, 1992 (revised edition); and Kevin Brownlow, David Lean: A Biography, Richard Cohen Books (London) and St. Martin’s Press (New York), 1996.
Articles on the filming of Empire of the Sun include Army Archerd’s column, DV, February 15, 1985; Todd McCarthy, “Sun Rises on Bob Shapiro’s Prod’n Sked,” DV, July 26, 1985; “Shapiro, Amblin Option Empire,” HR, May 2, 1986; James Greenberg, “Spielberg to Direct Amblin Film in China,” DV, January 21, 1987; Charles Champlin, “New Day Dawns for Sun Writer Tom Stoppard,” LAT, December 10, 1987; Dale Kutzera, “Empire of the Sun—an Exotic Journey,” American Cinematographer, January 1988; Cathleen McGuigan, “Not Just Child’s Play,” Newsweek, February 22, 1988; Jeffrey Jolson-Colburn, “Empire Cinematographer Defends Spielberg,” HR, March 3, 1988; “Theatrical Cinematography Noted by ASC, Academy,” American Cinematographer, April 1988; and Nora Lee, “Reflections 4: Daviau,” American Cinematographer, August 1988. Spielberg’s comment on his airplane “fetish” is from Bob Strauss, “Peter Pan Takes a Flying Leap,” LADN, December 8, 1991. Spielberg’s comment to George Lucas on “films with kids” is from Champlin, George Lucas: The Creative Impulse.
Reviews (1987) include Sheila Benson, “Empire of the Sun Charts a Boy’s Survival During War,” LAT, December 9; Peter Rainer, “Spielberg’s New Empire,” LAHE, December 9; David Denby, “Empire Builders,” New York, December 14; David Ansen, “A Childhood Lost to War,” Newsweek, December 14; Andrew Sarris, “A Boy’s Own Story,” The Village Voice, December 15; J. Hoberman, The Village Voice, December 22; and Pauline Kael, “Religious Experiences,” The New Yorker, December 28.
Spielberg talked about his psychotherapy in Pancol, “Steven Spielberg.” His involvement with John Bradshaw was reported in Sally Ogle Davis, “Oh, Pablum!” Los Angeles, April 1992, and Stephen Farber and Marc Green, Hollywood on the Couch, Morrow, 1993.
Information on Spielberg’s involvement in Rain Man is from sources including an interview with Ronald Bass in William Froug, The New Screenwriter Looks at the New Screenwriter, Silman-James Press, 1991; Anne Thompson, “Risky Business,” L.A. Weekly, July 24, 1987; Mitchell Fink, “Spielberg Begs Off,” LAHE, October 14, 1987; LAT item, November 17, 1987; Donald Chase, “On the Road with Hoffman and Cruise,” NYT, December 11, 1988; Griffin, “Spielberg’s Last Crusade”; and Royal, “Always: An Interview with Steven Spielberg.” Royal reported on the development of Schindler’s List in the 1980s; also see notes for chapter 16.
Sources on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade include the author’s interviews with Jeffrey Boam, David Tomblin, Gloria Katz, and Willard Huyck. The screenplay by Boam, from a story by George Lucas and Menno Meyjes, was published in 1995 by O.S.P. Publishing as part of Premiere magazine’s series The Movie Script Library. Boam’s third revised draft of the screenplay, titled Indy III, is dated March 1, 1988. In 1989, a novelization by Rob MacGregor was published by Ballantine and a children’s adaptation by Les Martin was published by Random House. A documentary fil
m, Great Adventurers & Their Quests: “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” was directed by Les Mayfield and William Rus for Paramount and CBS-TV (1989). Additional information on the story and screenplay of Last Crusade is from sources including Champlin, George Lucas: The Creative Impulse, and (1989): Richard B. Woodward, “Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch,” NYT, May 21; Richard Corliss, “What’s Old Is Gold: A Triumph for Indy 3,” Time, May 29; and David Heuring, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” American Cinematographer, June. Other 1989 articles include Philip Wuntch, “Actor Connery Feels Bond with New Film Image,” The Hartford Courant, June 4; Richard Gold, “Door Left Ajar for Indiana 4,” Variety, June 5; and Ben Fong-Torres, “Indiana Jones’ Final Adventure,” Stars and Stripes, June 19. Reviews (1989) include Mac. (Joseph McBride), DV, May 19, and Henry Sheehan, L.A. Reader, June 2.
The Spielberg–Irving divorce was disclosed in “Spielberg, Irving Agree to Divorce,” HR, April 25, 1989, and “Legal File,” LAT, June 30, 1989. Spielberg’s net worth of “well over $225 million” was reported in “The 400 Richest People in America,” Forbes, October 26, 1987. Estimates of Irving’s settlement were made in “Bermuda Shorts,” LAHE, May 31, 1989 ($93 million), and “Steven Spielberg Finally Suffers a Big-Budget Flop—His Marriage,” People, May 8, 1989 ($112.5 million). Amy’s comment “I started my career …” is from “No Family Ties,” People, April 3, 1989. Matthew Robbins discussed the marriage in Schiff. Rumors about Spielberg–Irving marital problems were printed in Cyndi Stivers, “Unswerving Irving,” US, October 3,1988; Liz Smith column, LAT, November 3, 1988; Jahr; “Morning Report,” LAT, March 24, 1989; Mitchell Fink, “The Altar of Doom,” LAHE, April 25, 1989; and “A Year of Rumors Becomes a Fact,” USA Today, April 25, 1989. Their agreement to alternate work assignments was reported in Maureen Orth, “Amy Irving,” Vogue, March 1988, and Leslie Bennetts, “Amy Irving,” Cosmopolitan, November 1988. Amy also discussed her problems balancing career and marriage in Jahr and Patrick Pacheco, “The Amy Chronicles,” LAT, April 17, 1994. Their Malibu house fire was reported in “Spielberg’s Beach House Catches Fire,” LAHE, July 25, 1988, and Variety item, August 3, 1988.
Kate Capshaw was linked to Spielberg in such articles as Fink’s “The Spielberg Watch,” LAHE, August 10, 1988, and “The Altar of Doom” (which also reported on denials of marital problems and a Spielberg–Capshaw romance). Capshaw recalled their 1989 London stay in Salamon, “The Long Voyage Home.” Kate’s adoption of Theo was reported in an LAHE item, May 17, 1989; Salamon reported the child’s subsequent adoption by Spielberg. Information on the birth of Sasha Spielberg (1990) is from Army Archerd’s column, DV, May 15, and “Born,” Time, June 4. The Spielberg–Capshaw wedding (1991) was reported in “Close Encounter,” LAT, October 14; “Spielberg–Capshaw,” HR, October 14; Liz Smith column, LAT, October 15; “And Daddy Makes Three,” Newsweek, October 28; and People item, October 28. Information on Amy’s relationship with Bruno Barreto and on their son, Gabriel, is from Archerd’s column, DV, April 25, 1989; Ann Trebbe, “Spielberg and Irving to Divorce,” USA Today, April 25, 1989; “Cash Is Better,” LAHE, August 31,1989; Beth Kleid, “Crossing Motherhood,” LAT, May 7, 1990; “Born,” Time, May 21, 1990; Leslie Marshall, “Desert Bloom,” In Style, January 1996; and Dotson Rader, “‘I Have a New Life,’” Parade, March 24,1996. Spielberg’s comment on the two worst times in his life was made on The Barbara Walters Special (1994). His 1989 comment on Amy is from Griffin, “Spielberg’s Last Crusade.”
The revised shooting script of Always by Jerry Belson and Ron Bass (based on the 1943 film A Guy Named Joe) is dated May 4, 1989; Bass did not receive screen credit (Diane Thomas also worked on the script without credit). Information on the film includes MGM’s announcement of the project as A Guy Named Joe, HR, July 10, 1980; Army Archerd’s column, DV, October 9, 1981; Robert Osborne, “Rambling Reporter,” HR, February 1, 1985, and October 29, 1987; Joy Horowitz, “Development Hell,” American Film, November 1987; “Rewrite of a Rewrite,” LAHE, April 4, 1989; “Short Takes,” DV, June 1, 1989; Charles Fleming, “Always on Time,” LAHE, August 18, 1989; “Role Reversal,” People, August 21, 1989; Christopher Perez, “A Close Encounter with Steven Spielberg,” The Village View, December 22–28, 1989; and Steve Dollar, “‘Boy Wonder’ Director of Jaws Grows Up,” Long Beach Press-Telegram, December 23, 1989. Reviews and commentary include Mac. (Joseph McBride), DV, December 18, 1989; Henry Sheehan, “Spielberg: Sometimes Brilliant,” L.A. Reader, January 5,1990; David Denby, “Flying Low,” New York, January 8, 1990; and Harvey R. Greenberg, M.D., “Spielberg on the Couch,” Movieline, December 1991, reprinted in Greenberg’s book Screen Memories: Hollywood Cinema on the Psychoanalytic Couch, Columbia University Press, 1993. Diane Thomas’s death was reported in Leonard Greenwood, “Writer of Romancing the Stone Killed,” LAT, October 23, 1985.
The screenplay of Hook by Jim V. Hart and Malia Scotch Marmo (and Carrie Fisher, uncredited), from a story by Hart and Nick Castle, is based on J. M. Barrie’s play Peter Pan (1904) and his novels The Little White Bird (1902), Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906), and Peter and Wendy (1911). Hart’s first revised draft of the screenplay (June 21, 1990) is titled Hook!: The Return of the Captain. Two novelizations of the film, one by Terry Brooks and the other by Geary Gravel, were published by Ballantine Books, 1991. Sources on Hook include the author’s interview with Mike Medavoy; “Production Information” (TriStar, 1991); and articles including (1991): Schruers, “Peter Pandemonium”; Ivor Davis, “‘I Won’t Grow Up!’” Los Angeles, December; Graham Fuller, “Hook, Line, and Spielberg,” Interview, December; Richard W. Stevenson, “Waiting to See If Hook Will Fly,” NYT, December 7; Hilary De Vries, “A Peter Pan for the New-Age,” NYT, December 8; Strauss, “Spielberg Panning for Gold in Hook,” LADN, December 8; Clifford Terry, “Spielberg in Neverland,” Chicago Tribune, December 8; Davis, “Boys on the Never Never,” The Sunday Times (London), December 8; Tom Provenzano, “Hook: Making It Fly,” Drama-Logue, December 12–18; John Evan Frook and Joseph McBride, “Sony Crows, but Jury’s Out on Whether Hook Will Fly,” DV, December 13; Michael Church, “Dreams Flying High on the Never-Never,” London Observer, December 15; McBride, “Hook Bow Fails to Wow,” DV, December 16; David Lyman, “With Hook, It Was the Look,” Long Beach Press-Telegram, December 17; Jeannie Park, “Ahoy! Neverland!” People, December 23; and (1992): Robert Hofler, “The Look of Hook,” US, January; Martin A. Grove, “Hollywood Report,” HR, January 23; and John Calhoun, “Hook,” Theatre Crafts, February. Reviews and commentary include Georgia Brown, “Hangin’ with the Lost Boys,” The Village Voice, December 17, 1991; Terrence Rafferty, “Fear of Flying,” The New Yorker, December 30, 1991; and Sheehan, “The Panning of Steven Spielberg” and “Spielberg II.”
16. MENSCH (PP. 414–48)
The epigraph is from Horstman, “Spielberg’s Roots: Avondale Years Shaped Schindler.” The birth of Sawyer Spielberg (1992) was reported in Army Archerd’s column, DV, March 12; “A Boy for Spielbergs,” Long Beach Press-Telegram, March 12; and People item, March 23. The birth of Destry Allyn Spielberg was reported in Claudia Puig, “Quick Takes,” LAT, December 3, 1996, and Mikaela Spielberg’s adoption in Casey Davidson, “Monitor,” Entertainment Weekly, April 12, 1996. Kate Capshaw’s comments on the eclipse of her career are from Schiff; her edict about Spielberg’s work schedule was reported by Bernard Weinraub and Geraldine Fabrikant in “A Hollywood Recipe: Vision, Wealth, Ego,” NYT, October 16, 1994.
Jurassic Park is based on the novel by Michael Crichton, Knopf, 1990. The continuity script by David Koepp, based on adaptations by Crichton and Malia Scotch Marmo, is dated December 11, 1992 (Crichton and Koepp shared script credit onscreen). The making of the film was chronicled in Shay and Duncan, The Making of “Jurassic Park”; the documentary The Making of “Jurassic Park” (Universal/Amblin/MCA Home Video, 1995, directed by John Schultz); the Behind the Scenes of “Jurassic Park” exhibit, Universal Studios Hollywood Tour, 1994; and the Filmscapes exhibit, Academy of Mo
tion Picture Arts & Sciences, Beverly Hills, 1994. Koepp, production designer Rick Carter, and cinematographer Dean Cundey discussed the making of the film in the Academy’s “Filmscapes” seminar on October 6, 1994. Information on dinosaurs is from John R. Horner and James Gorman, Digging Dinosaurs, and from Horner and Don Lessem, The Complete T. rex, Simon & Schuster, 1993.
Crichton recalled his story conference with Spielberg in “Across Time and Culture.” Information on Crichton’s ER screenplay and his first conversation with Spielberg about Jurassic Park is from Shay and Duncan, The Making of “Jurassic Park,” and Janine Pourroy, Behind the Scenes at “ER,” Ballantine, 1995. Sources on the sale of the Jurassic Park film rights include the author’s interview with Joe Dante; and (1990), Andrea King, “4 Studio-Director Teams Bid $1.5 Mil for Crichton’s Park,” HR, May 24; King, “Spielberg to Helm Dino Sci-Fier Park with Crichton Scripting,” HR, May 25; Will Tusher, “U Pays $2 Mil for Jurassic,” DV, May 25; and Alan Citron, “Hollywood Agency Adds New Twist to Bidding on Story,” LAT, May 25. Malia Scotch Marmo’s screenplay rewrites were discussed in Shay and Duncan, The Making of “Jurassic Park”; “The Jurassic Job,” New York, March 2, 1992; and “Todd Graff and Malia Scotch Marmo,” On Writing, No. 1, 1993. Crichton’s sequel to Jurassic Park, The Lost World, was published by Knopf in 1995.
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