Steven Spielberg

by Joseph McBride

  Tony Kushner’s criticism of Israeli policies is from an interview by Ori Nir, “The freedom to dissent,” Haaretz, July 4, 2004; see also the anthology edited by Kushner and Alisa Solomon, Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Grove Press, New York, 2003. The identification of “Avner” as Juval Aviv, who served as a source for the film, was reported in David H. Halbfinger, “Next: Spielberg’s Biggest Gamble,” NYT, July 1, 2005. The Israeli government’s challenge to “Avner”’s account was reported in Neal Ascherson, “A master and the myths of Munich,” The Observer (UK), January 15, 2006. Information on the meetings Spielberg and Kushner had with Aviv and Spielberg’s comments “I trust my intuition,” “If it became necessary,” “the most European,” and “understood more” are from “Spiegel Interview with Steven Spielberg: ‘I Would Die for Israel.’”

  Leon Wieseltier of The New Republic attacked Schindler’s List in “Close Encounters of the Nazi Kind,” January 24, 1994, and Munich in “Hits,” December 19, 2005. J. J. Goldberg defended Munich in “Spielberg’s List,” The Jewish Daily Forward, December 23, 2005; and Michelle Goldberg in “The War on Munich,” Salon, December 20, 2005. Kubrick’s advice to Spielberg never to offer a definitive statement of thematic intent was reported in Mike Goodridge, “Spielberg Juggles Geisha, Fish, Abe,” Screen International, June 29, 2001. Spielberg’s statement “I’m always in favor” is from Schickel, “Spielberg Takes on Terror.” The Observer interview with Spielberg’s observation “I find it kind of interesting” is “The eye of the storm” by Andrew Anthony, January 22, 2006.

  Spielberg’s and Kaminski’s stylistic influences and shooting locations are discussed in the Munich Production Notes: “Steven Spielberg and Janusz Kaminski Update Gritty ’70s Thriller”; and in Windolf, “Q&A: Steven Spielberg.” See also Benjamin B, “The Price of Revenge,” American Cinematographer, February 2006. The high security on Munich locations was reported in Abramowitz.

  Todd McCarthy reviewed Munich in DV, December 9, 2005. Kushner responded to the controversy surrounding the film in “Defending Munich’s Disputed Territory,” LAT, January 22, 2006. Family themes in Munich were discussed by David Edelstein in “Death of a Hit Man,” Slate, December 22, 2005.

  The development of the screenplay for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) is discussed in J. W. Rinzler, with interviews by Laurent Bouzereau, foreword by Spielberg, preface by George Lucas, The Complete Making of Indiana Jones: The Definitive Story Behind All Four Films, Del Rey Books, New York, 2008. That book includes Spielberg’s objections to the alien story; Lucas’s comment “I thought we’d just barely got by”; Spielberg’s remark “too heavy”; and Connery’s rejection of a role in the film. The making of Crystal Skull is also chronicled in DreamWorks’ documentaries on the DVD edition (2008); and in Jim Windolf, “Keys to the Kingdom,” Vanity Fair, February 2008; and Windolf’s “Q&A: Steven Spielberg” (including Spielberg commenting “I go for geography” and that he likes to find a fresh visual approach for each film) and “Q&A: George Lucas,” Vanity Fair online, January 2, 2008. Karen Allen’s observation on the changes Spielberg has undergone since Raiders of the Lost Ark is from the DreamWorks documentary Production Diary: Making of “The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” (2008) on the DVD edition of Crystal Skull.

  Frank Darabont’s rejected script draft Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods, from a story by Lucas, November 4, 2003, was found online at wikileaks.org/leak/indiana-jones. Spielberg’s desire to film that script was reported in Windolf, “Q&A: Steven Spielberg.” The Complete Making of Indiana Jones notes that Darabont was the screenwriter who brought back the character of Marion Ravenwood. The evident borrowing of the film’s Doom Town sequence from a draft of the Robert Zemeckis–Bob Gale screenplay Back to the Future is discussed in a post by Maxim on spielbergfilms.com, June 4, 2008, including an excerpt from that script. “Nuking the fridge” as a slang term is from imdb.com.

  Joseph McBride discussed critical attacks on Spielberg, the issues involved, and Spielberg’s growing reputation among critics and academics in “A Reputation: Steven Spielberg and the Eyes of the World,” New Review of Film and Television Studies (UK), vol. 7, no. 1, March 2009 (from which this book’s section on Spielberg’s reputation is partly drawn). That special issue on Spielberg includes other essays drawn from presentations at the November 20–21, 2007, “Spielberg at Sixty” conference at the University of Lincoln in England, at which the author was a keynote speaker along with Linda Ruth Williams, Murray Pomerance, and Peter Kramer; the conference presentations are summarized in the program booklet. Peter Biskind discusses the blockbuster syndrome in his essay “Blockbuster: The Last Crusade,” in Mark Crispin Miller, ed., Seeing Through Movies, Pantheon, New York, 1990. Pauline Kael’s charge about Spielberg encouraging “an infantilization of the culture” (see chapter 1 of this book) is from David Blum, “Steven Spielberg and the Dread Hollywood Backlash,” New York, March 24, 1986. Jean-Luc Godard’s attacks on Spielberg in his film In Praise of Love (2001) are discussed in Scott, “The Studio-Indie, Pop-Prestige, Art-Commerce King: Why Steven Spielberg really is the greatest living American director,” which considers the state of Spielberg’s critical reputation.

  Lester D. Friedman reports in Citizen Spielberg (University of Illinois Press, Champaign, 2006) on the maligning of Spielberg and of his choice of Spielberg as a subject for scholarly analysis. Other recent critical studies include Warren Buckland, Directed by Steven Spielberg: Poetics of the Contemporary Hollywood Blockbuster, Continuum, London and New York, 2006; Nigel Morris, The Cinema of Steven Spielberg: Empire of Light, Wallflower, London, 2007; and Andrew M. Gordon, Empire of Dreams: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of Steven Spielberg, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland, 2008. See also Friedman and Brent Notbohm, eds., Steven Spielberg: Interviews, University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, 2000; Ian Freer, The Complete Spielberg, Virgin Books, London, 2001; Susan Goldman Rubin, Steven Spielberg: Crazy for Movies, Harry N. Abrams, New York, 2001; Charles L. P. Silet, ed., The Films of Steven Spielberg: Critical Essays, Scarecrow, Lanham, Maryland, 2002; Ray Morton, Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Making of Steven Spielberg’s Classic Film, Applause, New York, 2007; and Dean A. Kowalski, ed., Steven Spielberg and Philosophy: We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Book, University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, 2008. J. G. Ballard’s defense of Spielberg is from his autobiography, Miracles of Life: Shanghai to Shepperton, Fourth Estate, London, 2008. Lucas’s comment on Spielberg being “far, far away” is from Corliss and Ressner. Baz Luhrmann’s description of Spielberg as the “president of cinema” is from Galloway, “A Life in the Pictures.”

  David Bordwell’s observations on Spielberg are from “Reflections in a Crystal Eye: The Spielberg Touch,” davidbordwell.net, June 4, 2008. John Powers’s accusation “He can’t make an honest film” is from his review of The Color Purple, “Sister, Where Art Thou?” L.A. Weekly, December 20, 1985; his amended views are in “Majority Report,” his L.A. Weekly review of Minority Report. Geoff King’s criticism of Jurassic Park is from his book Spectacular Narratives: Hollywood in the Age of the Blockbuster, I. B. Tauris, London, 2000; Susan Aronstein criticized Spielberg in “Not Exactly a Knight: Arthurian Narrative and Recuperative Politics in the Indiana Jones Trilogy,” Cinema Journal 34, no. 4, Summer 1995. Peter Benson’s comment on psychoanalysis and criticism is from his letter to Movie 33, Winter 1989, responding to Andrew Britton, “Blissing Out: The Politics of Reaganite Entertainment,” Movie 31/32, Winter 1986 (reprinted in Britton on Film: The Complete Film Criticism of Andrew Britton, ed. Barry Keith Grant, introduction by Robin Wood, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 2008). Henry Sheehan’s comment on the prevalence of anxiety in Spielberg’s work is from his 1992 two-part Film Comment essay “The Panning of Steven Spielberg,” May–June, and “Spielberg II,” July–August. Terrence Rafferty defended Spielberg against his detractors in “Raiders of the Lost Art?” GQ, May 1999.
Rabbi Albert Lewis told the author in the 1990s that he thought anti-Semitism underlies some attacks on Spielberg. Background on Lewis is from “Rabbi Emeritus Albert L. Lewis” (biography), Temple Beth Sholom Web site tbsonline.org, Cherry Hill, New Jersey. G. K. Chesterton discusses Charles Dickens as a popular artist in his book Charles Dickens, Methuen, London, 1906.

  The “rude awakening” the DreamWorks partners experienced at Paramount was discussed in Carl DiOrio, “Dream still works for Paramount,” HR, April 3, 2008. Sources on their other problems with Paramount include that article; Kimmel; Peter Bart, “Can this marriage be saved?” DV, July 23, 2007; and Lauren A. E. Schuker and Merissa Marr, “Spielberg, India Firm Near Deal to Ally With DreamWorks,” Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2008.

  Michael Bay’s comment on Transformers to Wesleyan University students is reported in Thom Beckwith, “Bay ’87 screens Transformers, discusses post-Wes career,” The Wesleyan Argus, October 19, 2007. David Denby’s criticism of Bay is from his capsule review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, in The New Yorker, July 27, 2009. Marr and Kelly reported on DreamWorks’ free creative rein with budgets under $85 million in “Aftermath of Fight for Movie Studio Vexes Both Companies,” Wall Street Journal, February 5, 2006. Sources (2006) on Stacy Snider’s departure from Universal for DreamWorks include Claudia Eller, “Snider Eyes Studio Switch,” LAT, February 17; Marr and Kelly, “Universal Pics Chairman Jumps to Paramount”; and Eller, “Universal Chief Drawn by Spielberg,” LAT, February 27, including Spielberg’s praise of Snider’s “unique combination” of abilities.

  Quotes from Spielberg’s June 2006 interview on the AMC program Sunday Morning Shootout appear in Gabriel Snyder, “Spielberg may downsize pics,” DV, June 9, 2006, along with comments by Snyder; the article includes Spielberg’s declaration of intent to make small prestige pictures. Spielberg’s comment “Paramount treats us” is from Paul J. Gough, “Spielberg chides broadcasters,” HR, November 21, 2006. Kim Masters described Paramount’s Brad Grey as “a mortal enemy” of DreamWorks in “Spielberg’s Lincoln Troubles,” The Big Money, February 17, 2009. DV’s report that “Spielberg and Snider thought” and “analysts thought” is from Tatiana Siegel and Anne Thompson, “D’Works split from Par turns messy,” DV, September 22, 2008. Spielberg’s interest in directing The Trial of the Chicago 7 is discussed in Leo Barraclough and Michael Fleming, “Trial Moving to top Spielberg’s docket?” DV, January 2, 2008. Geffen’s departure from DreamWorks was reported by Cieply, “David Geffen Makes a Sudden Exit.” Spielberg’s early-exit clause was reported in DiOrio, “Spielberg works on $1 billion dream,” HR, June 10, 2009.

  Sources on DreamWorks’ deal with Reliance Big Entertainment include (2008) Schuker and Marr, “Spielberg, India Firm Near Deal to Ally With DreamWorks,” Wall Street Journal, June 18; Heather Timmons and Cieply, “Spielberg Said to Be in Talks with Reliance,” NYT, June 19; Brooks Barnes, “A Director’s Cut,” NYT, July 27; Bart, “Crunch may clobber D’Works’ dreams,” DV, December 22; and (2009) Alex Dobuzinskis, “DreamWorks could get $825 million film financing,” Reuters, July 15; Eller, “Spielberg’s DreamWorks finally lands movie funds,” LAT, August 17; Eller, “DreamWorks gets go-ahead for action,” LAT, August 18; and Cieply, “DreamWorks Wins Financing for Its Films,” NYT, August 18 (including Spielberg quote “We had a year”).

  The abortive Universal deal with DreamWorks was announced in Siegel, “Universal Appeal,” DV, October 14, 2008; in “Spielberg’s Lincoln Troubles,” Masters also reported on the negotiations. Universal’s statement “DreamWorks has demanded” is from Barnes and Cieply, “Spielberg’s DreamWorks Said to Be Headed to Disney,” NYT, February 6, 2009. In “DreamWorks and Disney Agree to a Distribution Deal,” NYT, February 9, 2009, Barnes and Cieply reported that no paperwork was signed with Universal before DreamWorks moved to Disney. Masters reported on “Universal’s spurning of DreamWorks.” In “DreamWorks does a fast U-turn,” Variety, February 16, 2009, Siegel wrote that Spielberg having offices at Universal was “like a divorcee.”

  Sources (2009) on the DreamWorks deal with Disney include Barnes and Cieply, “DreamWorks and Disney Agree to a Distribution Deal”; Peter Sanders and Schuker, “Disney, Spielberg to Team Up,” WSJ {Wall Street Journal} Online, February 10; and Bart, “Spielberg’s Corporate Odyssey,” DV, February 20. The negotiations over Paramount projects were discussed in Masters; Thompson, “D’works and Par do divorce divvy,” DV, October 13, 2008; Siegel, “Digging Deep,” DV, January 15, 2009; and Thompson, “DreamWorks vs. Paramount Lives On,” toh! Thompson on Hollywood, indieWIRE, December 22, 2009. The source on Spielberg putting up $60 million of his own money to keep DreamWorks afloat is LaPorte, whose book The Men Who Would Be King reports that the retooled company was being called “DreamWorks 2.0” and summarizes the history of DreamWorks as a “failure of expectation.”

  Spielberg’s Lincoln project is based on Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2005. Spielberg’s intent to have Lincoln released in 2009 was reported in “Lincoln biopic moves up Spielberg’s agenda,” Screen International, May 16, 2008. Masters reported on problems with the Lincoln project and on “The spectacle of Steven Spielberg.”

  Spielberg’s comments that he “ventured into the brave new world” and “found motion-capture to be liberating” on The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn are from his article “A Message from the Editor,” Empire (UK), April 2009 (Spielberg was guest editor-in-chief of the magazine’s twentieth-anniversary issue). The Adventures of Tintin is based on Le Secret de la Licorne/The Secret of the Unicorn by Hergé (Georges Remi), first published in Le Soir (Belgium) from June 11, 1942, to January 14, 1943, and by Casterman, Belgium, 1943, and in English translation by Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner, Methuen, London, 1959; and on material from other comic books by Hergé. Hergé’s background and the history of the Tintin comics were discussed in Henry Chu, “At 80, comic-book hero Tintin is ready for Hollywood,” LAT, March 22, 2009 (with Hergé’s quote “Yes, I think”).

  Sources (2009) on Spielberg’s involvement with the comics and the making of the film include Siegel, “Helmers Share in Tintin Toil,” Variety, March 9; Abramowitz, “It takes 2 moguls to make a Tintin,” LAT, March 22; and “Walter Scott’s Personality Parade,” Parade, April 12. Earlier Tintin films and TV adaptations were mentioned in “Jackson sets Tintin scoop,” HR, May 15, 2007. Spielberg’s comment “We want Tintin’s adventures” is from Thompson and Pamela McClintock, “Helmers pushing Tintin for D’Works,” DV, May 15, 2007. Spielberg’s comment “Every movie I made” is from Josh Quittner, “The Next Dimension,” Time, March 30, 2009. The War Horse project is described in Pamela McClintock, “Spielberg rides with War Horse,” DV, May 3, 2010; the novel by Michael Morpurgo was first published in 1982 by Kaye & Ward, London, and was reissued in 2007 by Egmont, London.

  Spielberg said in Corliss and Ressner that he needs to do work that “will frighten me.” His admission of feeling ill every time he makes a film is from “Cries and whispers,” HR, June 14, 2005. His comment “I don’t have enough time” is from Grover, “Steven Spielberg: The Storyteller.”

  FILMOGRAPHY AND VIDEOGRAPHY

  Code: DIST: Distributor; P: Producer; D: Director; SCR: Screenwriter; CAM: Cinematographer; WITH: Principal Cast Members; R: Release Date (for theatrical films); AIR: Original Airdate (for TV shows); L: Length (where known); S: Steven Spielberg; U: Universal; WB: Warner Bros.

  AMATEUR FILMS (PARTIAL LIST)

  Running times and some dates approximate; in 8mm unless otherwise indicated. See text for information on other early filmmaking by S.

  1957 The Last Train Wreck. D-CAM: S. L: 3 min.

  1958 The Last Gunfight (aka The Last Gun, The Last Shootout, Gunsmog). D-CAM: S, Arnold Spielberg. WITH Jim Sollenberger, Barry Sollenberger. L: 9 min.

  1958 A Day in the Life of Thunder. D-CAM: S. WITH: Thunder (S’s

  cocker spaniel).


  1959 Documentary on Soviet Union. D-CAM: Arnold Spielberg. EDITING and TITLES: S.

  1959 Western. D-CAM: S, Terry Mechling. WITH: Steve Swift. L: 6

  min.

  1959 Films of Ingleside Elementary School (Phoenix, Az.) flag football games. D-CAM: S.

  1960 (begun in 1959) Fighter Squad. D: S. CAM: S, Jim Sollenberger. WITH: Jim Sollenberger, Roger Sheer, Mike McNamara, Steve Suggs, S. L: 15 min.

  1960 Film noir in wide-screen. D-CAM: S. WITH: Jim Sollenberger.

  1960 Steve Spielberg’s Home Movies (slapstick comedy for Ingleside Halloween carnival). D-CAM: S.

  1961 Western made for Patricia Scott’s eighth-grade class “career exploration” project at Ingleside. D-CAM: S.

  1961 Scary Hollow (film of Ingleside school play). D-CAM: S, Roger Sheer. WITH: Sheer.

  1962 (begun in 1959) Escape to Nowhere. D-CAM: S. WITH: Haven Peters, Jim Sollenberger, Barry Sollenberger, George Mills, Leah Spielberg. L: 40 min.

  1964 (begun in 1963) Firelight. P: Arnold Spielberg, Leah Spielberg (for American Artist Productions). D-SCR-CAM: S. WITH: Robert Robyn, Beth Weber, Clark (Lucky) Lohr, Margaret Peyou, Nancy Spielberg. R: March 24, 1964 (Phoenix Little Theatre). L: 135 min.