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Steven Spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE (born December 18, 1946) is a Jewish American film director. He has won two Academy Awards (as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award), and ranks among the most successful filmmakers in history, in terms of both critical acclaim and popular success.

First coming to attention directing adventure films, Spielberg is noted in recent years for his willingness to tackle emotionally powerful issues, such as the horrors of the Holocaust in Schindler's List, slavery in Amistad, hardships of war in Saving Private Ryan, and terrorism in Munich. One consistent theme in his family-friendly work is a childlike, even naïve, sense of wonderment and faith, as attested by works such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hook and A.I., and the challenging role of a father-figure; apparant in War of the Worlds.

Spielberg is the most financially successful motion picture director of all time. He has directed and/or produced an astounding number of major box office hits, giving him enormous influence in Hollywood. As of 2004, he has been listed in Premiere and other magazines as the most "powerful" and "influential" figure in the motion picture industry.

In 2005, Empire magazine created a list of the 50 greatest film directors of all time. Spielberg was number one on the list.

He has been nominated for seven Academy Awards for Best Director, winning two of them (Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan), and four of the films he directed were up for the Best Picture Oscar (Schindler's List won). He is seen as a figure who has the influence, financial resources, and acceptance of Hollywood studio authorities to make any movie he wants to make, be it a mainstream action-adventure movie (such as Jurassic Park), or a three-hour-long black and white drama about the Holocaust (Schindler's List).

In 2001, he was given the honor of Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II.

Childhood and early career

Spielberg was born to a Jewish American family in Cincinnati, Ohio; he was raised in the suburbs of Haddonfield, New Jersey and Scottsdale, Arizona. His German last name comes from the name of the Austrian city where his Hungarian Jewish ancestors lived in 17th century: Spielberg (which translates literally as play mountain). He is known by film historians as one of the famous "film-school generation" (also known as "the movie brats" or "the New Hollywood") of the 1970s: along with fellow filmmakers (and personal friends) George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, John Milius, and Brian De Palma, Spielberg grew up making movies. He was making amateur 8mm "adventure" movies with his friends as a teenager (scenes from these amateur films have been included on the DVD edition of Saving Private Ryan), and he made his first short film for theatrical release, Amblin', in 1968 at the age of twenty one. (Spielberg's own production company, Amblin Entertainment, was named after this short film.) His true beginnings, like Robert Altman, are from television.

His maiden directorial work was a segment of the pilot film to Rod Serling's Night Gallery. While working on this segment its star Joan Crawford collared a production executive and said, "Keep an eye on this kid, he's going places." After directing episodes of various TV shows, including an early Columbo TV movie and a feature-length science fiction episode of The Name of the Game written by Philip Wylie and called "L.A. 2017", Spielberg directed his first well-known feature with a 1971 TV "movie-of-the-week" entitled Duel (later released to theatres overseas and eventually in the U.S.). This film, about a truck mysteriously terrorizing an average citizen, has become a cult classic, having been released on video several times over the years. Much of his early success was due to Sidney Sheinberg who is credited with discovering him; Spielberg also received an honorary degree from Brown University in 1999.

1970s: Spielberg's move to theatrical films

The Sugarland Express (1974)

Spielberg's debut theatrical feature film, based on the true story of a married couple who lead the Texas police on a highway chase as they embark on a journey to regain custody of their baby. Welcomed with warm reviews, the film nevertheless failed to catch on at the box office, but his producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown were prepared to offer Spielberg a more ambitious directing assignment.

Jaws (1975)

Jaws, a horror film based on the Peter Benchley novel about a killer shark that attacks people off the coast of a New England isle community. Jaws won three Academy Awards (for editing, original score and sound), and grossed over USD$100 million at the box office, setting the domestic record for box office gross. It was also nominated for Best Picture and featured Spielberg's first of three collaborations with actor Richard Dreyfuss.

To this day, Spielberg maintains that Jaws was the hardest film he ever had to make. He would decline offers to direct its sequel by using his new influence to pursue more personal projects.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Rejecting offers to direct Jaws 2 and Superman, Spielberg and actor Richard Dreyfuss re-convened to work on a pet project Spielberg had had in mind since his youth: a film about UFOs, which became Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). The film remains a cult sci-fi classic and has been highly influential ever since.

A hit at the box office, the film also garnered Spielberg his first Best Director nomination from the Academy and was nominated for six other Academy Awards, taking home Oscar in two (Cinematography -- Vilmos Zsigmond, and a Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Editing -- Frank E. Warner)

1941 (1979)

The success Spielberg was beginning to enjoy, as well as his eventual tendency to make films with wide mainstream and commercial appeal, also subjected him to disdain in critical circles by film reviewers. For example, Spielberg's next film was 1941, a big-budgeted World War II comedy farce set in L.A. days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, with the two top stars from Saturday Night Live, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, along with other all-stars. An exercise in excess, the film provided just the ammunition cynical critics would require to take down the young director. Over-budget, over-long (in its extended version), the film flopped with both audiences and critics alike, although in the end it did make a small profit at the box office, and eventually found its audience in television showings. Desperately in need of quick redemption, Spielberg would next team with Star Wars creator George Lucas on a new action adventure film. Expanded versions of 1941 have been shown on network television and later on Laserdisc and DVD and it has earned a cult status partly because of Spielberg's eventual fame and partly because of its camp status.

1980s: Spielberg conquers Hollywood

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

What some would consider Spielberg's greatest film work was still to come, beginning in the 1980s. In 1981, Spielberg teamed up for the first time with his friend George Lucas to make Raiders of the Lost Ark, his homage to the cliffhanger serials of the Golden Age of Hollywood, with Harrison Ford (whom Lucas had previously cast in his Star Wars films) as the dashing hero Indiana Jones. The biggest film at the box office in 1981, and recipient of numerous Oscar nominations including Best Director (Spielberg's second nomination) and Best Picture (the second Spielberg film to be nominated for Best Picture), Raiders is still hailed as a landmark in action cinema.

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

One year later, Spielberg returned to his alien visitors motif with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, this is the story of a boy and the alien whom he befriends (and is trying to get back "home" to outer space). E.T. went on to become the top-grossing film of all time for many years. It was also nominated for many Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. It is considered by Spielberg to be his own personal favorite film from his works.

E.T. originated as a sci-fi suspense thriller called Night Skies. Night Skies also gave birth to Poltergeist, a film that Spielberg co-wrote , co-produced (and some people who worked on the film claim directed) and was released only a week before E.T..

Spielberg also negotiated an unusually lucrative video game licensing deal with Atari for an E.T. video game. This was a famously expensive failure which contributed to the video game crash of 1983.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

His friend George Lucas immediately pulled Spielberg back in as part of their friendly agreement to make more Indiana Jones movies. Plagued with uncertainty for the material, the saving grace for Spielberg during the making of this film would be the meeting of his future wife Kate Capshaw, who was cast as Indiana's new love interest.

The film was a hit though the reviews were less positive than they were for its predecessor. It was criticized for lacking the energy of the original, as well as for its grossly inaccurate and ignorant depiction of Indian culture. The extreme violence and gore would also inspire the Motion Picture Association of America to create the PG-13 rating the following year.

The Color Purple (1985)

In 1985, Spielberg made The Color Purple, an adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Many critics were unsure of whether or not Spielberg could handle such serious material, as his output to that point had been viewed as "lighter" entertainment. Indeed, this proved to be Spielberg's trial by fire in presenting the story of a generation of oppressed African-American women (Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey) during depression-era America. Danny Glover played the abusive patriarch.

The film was another box office smash and hailed by critics as Spielberg's successful foray into the dramatic genre. Roger Ebert entered it into his Great Films archive. It received 11 Academy Award nominations including two for Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. However in one of the most controversial instances in the History of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Spielberg himself went without a Best Director nomination despite the multitude of nominations the picture received.

Empire of the Sun (1987)

1987 was a time when the Chinese economy was beginning to boom, and as the Chinese gates began to open to the world, Spielberg took advantage by shooting the first American movie in Shanghai since the 1930s. The result was an adaptation of J.G. Ballard's autobiographical novel, Empire of the Sun, which told the story of a young boy named Jim (Christian Bale) who is separated from his parents during the sacking of Shanghai in 1938, and is forced to survive through the rest of the war. Spielberg wanted to convey a heartfelt message of innocence being shattered as a result of war, as audiences saw the transformation of Jim from sheltered taipan to a struggling and resourceful war refugee. The film garnered numerous praise from critics, was nominated for several Oscars, but did not attract the kind of box office power that Spielberg's films usually get.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

After two forays into dramatic films, Spielberg returned to familiar territory by re-uniting "one last time" for another Indiana Jones film. With the inclusion of star Sean Connery, Spielberg vicariously fulfilled a lifelong dream to make a James Bond movie. Lucas himself heralded his Indiana Jones creation as an alternative to Bond back when they first discussed films to work on together. The father-son issues in the picture are congruent with much of Spielberg's work, making this Indy film the most personal of the three. Receipient of glowing reviews and big box office receipts, Spielberg, Lucas and Ford left the franchise on a high mark. The development of a fourth Indiana Jones film has been promised but is still pending.

Always (1989)

1989 would mark the first year in which Spielberg would direct two movies. Following on the heels of his last Indiana Jones movie, he would re-unite with actor Richard Dreyfuss with Always. Inspired by the film A Guy Named Joe, Always is the story of Pete, a daredevil pilot who extinguishes forest fires. When killed on his last mission, he becomes something of a guardian angel for a young man named Ted. But when Ted falls in love with the girlfriend Pete left behind, Pete must learn to let go of her and do what's best to influence these characters as they themselves approach another potential tragedy.

Always marked Spielberg's first foray into the romantic genre. A box office flop and victim of mixed reviews, Always stands out (or more precisely doesn't) as arguably Spielberg's most overlooked and forgotten film.

1990s: Spielberg comes of age

Hook (1991)

After the failure of Always, Spielberg headed back to safer waters. In many ways, a Peter Pan story directed by Steven Spielberg seemed like a forgone conclusion. He had tried numerous times to film a live action version of Peter Pan without success. When writer James V. Hart pitched an alternate idea about Peter Pan returning to Neverland as an adult, Spielberg switched gears. Hook focused on a middle-aged Pan (played by Robin Williams), who returns to Neverland to face the title character (Captain Hook, played by Dustin Hoffman). However, by the time the film began shooting, innumerable rewrites and creative changes made by the numerous major Hollywood players attached to the project resulted in a film regarded by most critics as hit-or-miss at best. The film was made for $70 million (at that time a huge amount) and made $119 million domestically, but it was not as successful as some had hoped. Though Peter Pan had grown up, some were wondering if Spielberg himself ever would.

Jurassic Park (1993)

In 1993, Spielberg decided to once again tackle the adventure genre, as he directed the movie version of Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park, about killer dinosaurs rampaging through a tropical island resort. The adaptation muted somewhat the novel's message about the consequences of mankind tampering with nature, instead focusing on the adventure aspects of the story. With the aid of revolutionary special effects provided by friend George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic, the film would eventually overtake E.T. as the all-time top grossing film - a position it held for several years (until James Cameron's Titanic).

Spielberg has stated in interviews at the time that the Japanese Godzilla movies provided inspiration for Jurassic Park.

Schindler's List (1993)

It was in that same year that Jurassic Park was released that Spielberg finally received the critical acclaim he had long sought for making Schindler's List (based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a man who sacrificed himself to save 1,100 people from the wrath of the Holocaust). The screenplay, adapted from Thomas Keneally's novel, was originally in the hands of fellow director Martin Scorsese, but Spielberg negotiated with Scorsese to trade scripts (at the time, Spielberg held the script for a remake of Cape Fear). Schindler's List earned Spielberg his first Academy Award for Best Director (it also won Best Picture). While the film was a huge success at the box office, Spielberg claimed not to have partaken in the profits, and instead used the money to set up the Shoah Foundation. Critics maintain that Schindler's List is the most accurate portrayal of the Holocaust, and in 1999 the American Film Institute listed it among the 10 Greatest Films ever Made (#9). Though Spielberg admits it is definitely his most important film, he still holds it second to E.T. as his masterwork. Critics on the other hand don't share Spielberg's sentiment and it is universally regarded as his finest and most mature film.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

1993 was Spielberg's biggest year with the success of Jurassic Park and Schindler's List. Taking a four-year hiatus from directing to spend more time with his family and build his new studio DreamWorks, Spielberg found himself back in the director's chair in 1997. This time, he was helming the sequel to 1993's gigantic Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton's The Lost World. The film was critically panned, but did manage to generate nearly $230 million in domestic box office, giving it the third-highest total for 1997 behind Titanic and Men in Black. In hindsight Spielberg expressed his view that this sequel was a movie he wanted to see, but didn't necessarily want to make himself. Fatigued by the production, he would relinquish the opportunity to direct any more Jurassic Park films.

Amistad (1997)

Spielberg followed his 1993 formula of releasing a dinosaur movie followed by a historical drama by doing it again in 1997. If Lost World was his bid to conquer the box office, Amistad (like Schindler's List) was his bid to win over the critics come awards season. Spielberg released Amistad under the banner of his new studio DreamWorks (formed with former Disney animation exec Jeffrey Katzenberg and media mogul David Geffen). Based on a true story about African slaves who rebelled against their captors, the film received lavish praise from the critics, but was noted for its violent massacre scenes. It did not do well at the box office however, and has been overlooked since its release. It would mark Spielberg's second essay on the treatment of Blacks in American History (the first being The Color Purple in 1985).

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Another of Spielberg's critically acclaimed films, the World War II drama Saving Private Ryan, was released in 1998. The film follows a platoon of soldiers led by Capt. Miller (Tom Hanks), from the landing at Omaha Beach in Normandy to the heart of French resistance, in order to retrieve a missing private (Matt Damon), whose brothers were lost to the war. Spielberg considered it one of his finest works, yet in a highly publicized "showdown", it lost the Best Picture Oscar at the 1999 Academy Awards to Shakespeare in Love. However, Spielberg would win his second Academy Award for his direction in the war epic. The film renowned for its graphic violence has proven highly influential on succeeding war movies like Black Hawk Down and Enemy at the Gates and it has set a standard for realistic depiction of combat. The film was also the first major hit for Spielberg's studio DreamWorks.

The completion of this film would mark a marathon of filmmaking for Spielberg who shot The Lost World, Amistad, and Saving Private Ryan back-to-back-to-back. By decade's end, Spielberg still remained arguably the most influential and powerful filmmaker in Hollywood.

This would also mark the first of three collaborations with star Tom Hanks.

Later on, Spielberg and Hanks, overwhelmed with the success of the film's subject, decided to team together to produce a TV mini-series based on Stephen Ambrose's historical novel, Band of Brothers. The ten-part HBO mini-series follows the trials and accomplishments of the 101st Airborne Division, or Easy Company, also starting from the landing in Normandy, to the Battle of the Bulge, to the capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest in Germany itself. The series was hailed as the greatest TV event of all time, winning a slew of awards both at the Golden Globes and the Emmys.

2000s: Spielberg's experimental period

Spielberg's recent films starting from the end of the millennium are considered markedly different than that of his previous films although many note similar themes being played out in them. Many critics have stated that Spielberg's recent films are an experimental phase. Whether this is intentional on Spielberg's part is unknown. Opinions on his recent films are also markedly different. Some critics stating that Spielberg has lost his touch and whimsy while others believing that Spielberg is entering a new stage of his cinematic life. Critical opinions on his recent films have earned more polarizing views from critics and audiences than his previous films.

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)

In 2001, Spielberg filmed fellow director and friend Stanley Kubrick's final project, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, a project planned by the two directors for many years but which Kubrick was unable to begin during his lifetime. The futuristic story of a humanoid android longing for love, A.I. featured groundbreaking visual effects and a multi-layered, allegorical storyline in keeping with Kubrick's original vision. It starred William Hurt, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor, and child actor Haley Joel Osment as the android boy David. The film polarized both critics and audiences, some stating that the film was overly long and a pretentious impression of Kubrick, while others believing it to be a masterpiece. The legendary director Billy Wilder called A.I. "the most underrated film of the past few years". The film failed to recoup its budget at the US box office though earned profits overseas.

Minority Report (2002)

Following A.I., Spielberg came upon the sci-fi short story written by Philip K. Dick about the future of crime-fighting using precognitive vision. In 2002, Spielberg and actor Tom Cruise collaborated for the first time in the futuristic neo-noir Minority Report, which features Cruise as a D.C. police captain who has been foreseen to murder a man he has not even met. The film was a futuristic homage to film noir, with its intelligent premise, thrilling chase scenes, and whodunnit structure. In typical Spielberg fashion the film earned over $300 million dollars worldwide while earning significant critical acclaim. Roger Ebert, who named it the best film of 2002, praised the film for its breathtaking vision of the future as well as for the way Spielberg blended CGI with live-action. [1] It is regarded as one of Spielberg's best films by critics.

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Shortly after the release of Minority Report, Spielberg and Co. immediately went to work on Catch Me If You Can, a story of the daring adventures of a youthful con artist. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role, with Saving Private Ryan star Tom Hanks as the FBI agent out to catch him. The movie marked a turn of genre for Spielberg, who was at this point seen to be branching out to different kinds of film genres aside from the usual sci-fi fare he was known for. It is arguably his most offbeat film to date. It earned significant critical acclaim and box office success. It also earned Christopher Walken a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The film is particularly known for John Williams' score and its unique title sequence.

The completion of this film once again marked another conclusion to a marathon run of film-making as it closed the hectic back-to-back-to-back filmings of A.I., Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can; a trio regarded as Spielberg's "running-man" trilogy since it shares the common theme of a character fleeing authority.

The Terminal (2004)

Spielberg collaborated once again with Tom Hanks along with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Stanley Tucci in The Terminal, a warm-hearted comedy about a man of Eastern European descent who is stranded in an airport after his home country suffers a civil war during his flight, strongly paralleling the situation of Merhan Karimi Nasseri. It received mixed reviews and performed relatively badly at the box office.

War of the Worlds (2005)

A modernized adaptation of War of the Worlds, featuring Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning, was released in the U.S. on June 29, 2005. As with past Spielberg films, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) provided the special effects.

In his films E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Spielberg portrayed alien visitors as potentially friendly for human beings willing to connect with them. War of the Worlds marked a departure from those optimistic themes; more violent alien invaders wreak havoc upon Earth. The film was a major box office success though critical opinions were mixed.

He was inspired to do the film after his childhood love of the book "The War of the Worlds" written by H. G. Wells.

Munich (2005)

File:TIME Magazine Dec. 12, 2005.jpg
Spielberg on the cover of the December 12, 2005 issue of TIME.

On the same day as the release of War of the Worlds, Spielberg began shooting Munich, a film about the events following the 1972 Munich Massacre. Munich stands as Spielberg's second film essaying Jewish relations in the world (the first being Schindler's List). The film is based on Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team, a book by Canadian journalist George Jonas. Although promoted as non-fiction, the book's veracity has been largely questioned by journalists. It was previously adapted into the 1986 made-for-TV movie Sword of Gideon. [2] [3] The film received strong critical praise, but failed at the US box-office.

The screenplay for Munich was co-written by Eric Roth and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner. The movie is said to be an examination of the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics by the Black September organization, followed by the event's aftermath in which Israel's intelligence agency hunted down and killed the perpetrators. The protagonist, Avner, is believed to be the invention of Jonas' source, Yuval Aviv.[4]

On January 31, 2006, Munich received five Academy Awards nominations, including Best Picture, Film Editing, Original Music Score (by John Williams), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director for Spielberg. This is Spielberg's sixth Best Director nomination.

According to Jonas and Aviv, the Israeli team suffered misgivings about their assignment, two were killed, and the others were abandoned or treated badly by Mossad. None of these claims have been verified by other sources.

Upcoming projects

Also in the works are an Abraham Lincoln bio-pic starring Liam Neeson as the 16th President of the United States, and a 4th Indiana Jones film. Currently the former is under the title Abraham Lincoln Project and scheduled for release in 2007.

Spielberg also served as the executive producer of Memoirs of a Geisha, an adaptation of the best-selling novel by Arthur Golden, a film he was previously attached to as director. He is also an executive producer on the critically acclaimed 2005 TV miniseries Into the West, as well as co-executive producing the new Transformers live action film with Brian Goldmer, an employee of Hasbro. A 4th Jurassic Park film is in development for him to produce as well as a CGI kids-movie called Monster House, which will be co-executive produced with famed filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, marking their first collaboration together since 1990's Back to the Future Part III.

In October of 2005, Spielberg announced that he had been signed by Electronic Arts to direct three video game projects.

Currently, Spielberg and his partner Kathleen Kennedy are producing a trilogy of feature-length live-action Tintin films, which stars Gregory Smith as Tintin and Tom Hanks as Captain Haddock. It is reportedly in development by Universal Studios and DreamWorks, and are scheduled to be released in movie theatres between 2006 and 2008.

It was announced in April 2006 that Spielberg will be producing and appearing in a new reality show competition called On the Lot, in which filmmakers compete for a development deal at Dreamworks.

Themes

Spielberg's films often deal with several recurring themes. Most of his films deal with ordinary characters searching for or coming in contact with extraordinary beings or finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances, this is especially evident in Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Empire of the Sun, Hook, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, War of the Worlds, etc.

The other theme is that of loss of innocence and coming-of-age. In Empire of the Sun, Jim a well-groomed and spoilt English youth loses his innocence as he suffers through World War II Japan. Similarly in Catch Me If You Can Frank naively and foolishly believes that he can reclaim his shattered family if he accumulates enough money to support them.

The most persistent theme throughout his film is tension between parent-child relationships. Parents (often fathers) are reluctant, absent or ignorant. Peter Banning in Hook starts of in the beginning of the film as a reluctant married-to-his-work parent who though the course of his film regains the respect of his children. The notable absence of Elliott's father in E.T., is the most famous example of this theme. Even Oskar Schindler is reluctant to have a child with his wife. There are of course exceptions, Brody in Jaws is a committed family man while John Anderton in Minority Report is a shattered man after the disappearance of his son. This theme is arguably the most autobiographical aspect of Spielberg's films, since Spielberg himself was affected by his parents' divorce as a child.

Another aspect of Spielberg's films and possibly the one most frequently criticized is that most of his films are generally optimistic in nature. Critics often accuse his films for being overly sentimental. There are exceptions, his debut feature The Sugarland Express has a downbeat ending where Ila Fae loses custody of her daughter and most recently A.I. where David never receives acceptance from his real mother.

His 21st century output from A.I. to Munich are considerably bleaker in tone with respect to his earlier films. In A.I, David is shunned and rejected by his family and indeed most of the world at large and ultimately never earns the love of his real mother. While its final coda was widely criticized for being overly sentimental and deus ex machina-esque, on closer inspection it is seen that the mother who accepts him in the end is a simulacrum. Similarly Catch Me If You Can, a jaunty crime-caper ends with a certain irony when it's seen that Frank who continuously rebels against authority figures throughout the film becomes part of the very system he fought against while War of the Worlds was the first time he attempted to show evil aliens. Munich, his latest and most controversial film, is also his most ambiguous as in the end it's uncertain whether the cycle of violence would ever truly end.

Films by Steven Spielberg

See also: List of Steven Spielberg films

Earnings by film

Side projects

Spielberg has produced a considerable number of films, including early hits for Joe Dante and Robert Zemeckis He also produced several hit cartoons (and a few flops), including Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain and Freakazoid!. In 1987 he was awarded The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his work as a creative producer up to that point.

He was also, for a short time, the executive producer of the long-running medical drama ER.

In 1989, he brought the concept of The Dig to LucasArts. He contributed with the project from that time to 1995 when the game was released. He also collaborated with software publishers Knowledge Adventure on the multimedia game Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair, which was released in 1996. Spielberg appears, as himself, in the game to direct the player.

He is one of the co-founders of DreamWorks Pictures (DreamWorks SKG, with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen providing the other letters in the company name), which has released all of his movies since Amistad in 1997.

Following the critical and box office success of Schindler's List in 1993, Spielberg founded and continues to finance the Shoah Foundation, a non-profit organization with the goal of providing an archive for the filmed testimony of as many survivors of the Holocaust as possible, so that their stories will not be lost in the future.

When one of his projects fell through, George Lucas let him direct a few animatics for several sequences in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

Personal life

Spielberg has been married to actress Kate Capshaw, whom he met when he cast her in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom since October 12, 1991.

He has seven children — four biological:

Amy Irving received a US $100 million settlement from Spielberg in their 1989 divorce when a judge controversially vacated what had appeared to be an iron clad prenuptial agreement.

Criticism

Perhaps the most prominent critic of Steven Spielberg is American artist and actor Crispin Glover. In a 2005 essay titled What Is It? Glover says that Spielberg has "wafted his putrid stench upon our culture, a culture he helped homogenize and propagandize." Among Glover’s accusations are that Spielberg purchased the Rosebud sled used in Orson Welles’ 1941 film Citizen Kane for $50,000 but refused to hire Welles to write a screenplay in the later years of his life, that he received money from the United States government to promote his personal religious and cultural beliefs, that his films do not take risks, that he exploited tragedy for personal gain in the films Schindler’s List (although Spielberg was not paid for Schindler's List) and Saving Private Ryan, and that he, as a co-owner of DreamWorks, considered building a studio on the last remaining wetland in Southern California.

Spielberg's films are often accused of leaning towards sentimentalism at the expense of the theme of the film. An instance often cited by science fiction fans is the ending of A.I.: Artificial Intelligence which they believed was too 'happy'. This being a collaboration with Stanley Kubrick whose films such as Dr. Strangelove and A Clockwork Orange are often tinged with pessimism drew a heated debate as to whether or not Kubrick would have liked it or not. Kubrick's long-time assistant Jan Harlan and the film's original story writer Ian Watson have said that the ending is exactly what Kubrick intended. Critics such as anti-mainstream film theorist Ray Carney also complain that Spielberg's films lack depth and do not take risks.

French New Wave giant Jean-Luc Godard famously and publicly slammed Spielberg at the premier of his film In Praise of Love. Godard, who has continuously complained about the commercial nature of modern cinema held Spielberg responsible for the lack of artistic merit in mainstream cinema. Through his film, Godard accused Spielberg of making a profit of tragedy while Schindler's wife lived in poverty in Argentina.

In Spielberg's defense, critic Roger Ebert once stated that 'If only people could look past his popularity they would see how talented he really is.' Some of Spielberg's most famous fans include film legends Ingmar Bergman and François Truffaut.

Spielberg's unabashed support for Israel has also raised criticism. In 2002, a rumor circulated that Spielberg was planning a film about Palestinian suffering during the Israeli/Palestinian feud. The director's spokesman, Marvin Levy, called the report "an obvious, vicious hoax."

During production of Spielberg's controversial film Munich, which deals with the Israeli retaliation to the massacre of the Israeli Olympic athletes during the 1972 Munich Games, the filmmaker retained Arad Communications, a crisis communications firm in Tel Aviv, in order to deflect claims of bias.

Trivia

File:Steven Tiny Toons.jpg
Spielberg in Tiny Toon Adventures with Babs and Buster Bunny.

Urban legends

Spielberg started a fanciful story of how he broke into Hollywood by sneakily squatting in an unoccupied office on the Universal Studios lot. In fact, he had an unpaid summer job on the lot. Another legend is that he found an empty janitors closet and started producing his first movie, Amblin'.

Bibliographies

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