![]() Director: Steven Spielberg Year Of Release: 1987 Plot: In 1941, the Japanese invade China, taking control of Shanghai. In the ensuing chaos, young British boy Jim Graham, who lives in the city, gets separated from his parents, ending up alone amidst the madness of war. At first living on the streets, Jim eventually ends up in an internment camp, where he develops a fascination with the Japanese airfield next door, as well as the captured American pilots in the camp with him. |
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So you think you know about Steven Spielberg? Youve seen ET, Jurassic Park, Jaws and Schindlers List, and you reckon you could hold you own in a conversation? Yeah, but exactly why do people call him the most successful director ever? Why was he friends with Joan Crawford? And why did he call his production company Amblin? Dont know? Well then, you have a lot to learn…
Born To Make Movies
To be honest, in most conversations you arent gonna need to know much biographical info on Spielberg, just that he was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in December 1946, grew up in Arizona, made loads of short films when he was growing up (including the sci-fi flick Firelight, which would become the inspiration for Close Encounters), failed to get into any of the top universities for film and ended up at Cal State University, Long Beach. Its after all this that things get interesting.
According to Spielberg, he dropped out of university and got into show business by sneaking into Universal and setting himself up in an empty office, then acting like he had every right to be there. Its a great Hollywood tale, but unfortunately complete rubbish, as it was actually through friends of his family that he got a foot-in-the-door job at Universal. An important thing to mention about Spielberg is that, particularly early in his career, he was partial to massaging the truth in order to make his legend grow. For example he used to deliberately knock several years off his age, so that it would look more incredible that he could be directing films at such a young age.
Steve and Joan
Despite the fact that she was more than 40 years his senior, perhaps one of the most surprising aspects of Spielbergs early career was his friendship with movie icon Joan Crawford. While other actresses of the Golden Age had retired into relative obscurity, Joan continued acting up to her death in 1977, despite the fact that she could no longer get good roles. By the time she was in her 60s shed more or less take any role, and her lack of pickiness saw her agree to appear on Rod Serlings horror anthology show Night Gallery, in an episode called Eyes. She reportedly arrived on the set and was immediately horrified that while she had been a great movie star, the studio thought so little of her that they got some kid to direct the episode. The kid was a 23-year-old Steven Spielberg, on one of his first professional assignments. Despite her initial reserve, they ended up firm friends, and by the time theyd finished filming Crawford is known to have said to a reporter, Go interview that kid, because he’s going to be the biggest director of all time!
Families At War
Probably the hoariest old Spielberg chestnut to throw into any conversation is his obsession with the family, and more specifically fathers. Spielberg himself came from a broken home and although he remained in touch with his father, they had a difficult time, with the young Steve feeling somewhat abandoned. This interest in fractured homes has been a recurring theme in his films, and underpinned many of them, particularly early in his career. For example, while ostensibly about aliens coming to Earth, Close Encounters is anchored by a story of a man whose obsession rips his family apart, while Eliotts need for a friend in E.T. can be linked to the fact that his father has left and his mothers still crying about it. Likewise you have a family being attacked in Poltergeist, a child whos separated from his parents in Empire of the Sun, the family-less lost boys of Hook, a fractious father/son relationship in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and A.I. is basically about an abandoned childs search for a loving family.
His other main obsession is World War II, with many of his movies being either set in or directly related to the Second World War, including such unlikely things as the comic book Nazis in Indiana Jones and the farcical (and pretty atrocious) comedy 1941. In fact, of the feature-length theatrical films hes directed, seven are directly related to World War II, while nine feature either absent or neglectful fathers, and five have child characters who have either lost their parents or been abandoned. There is actually a very important link between these two fixations, because despite the problems between him and his father, it was the fact his dad served in South East Asia during WWII that led to his interest in the conflict.
The Money Pit
When youre talking about Spielberg, it worth mentioning money, as hes generally regarded as the most successful filmmaker ever and also the second richest (behind George Lucas). His personal fortune is estimated at over $3 billion, and he can command ludicrous amounts of money for any movie he makes. For Jurassic Park, when his percentage of the gross and profits was tallied up, he walked away with over $250 million. Even Jurassic Park III, which he didnt even direct, netted him around $75 million. It doesnt hurt either that as a consultant for Universal Theme Parks, he takes home 2% of every penny that goes through the studios parks. He consults on new rides and attractions, and in return pockets more than $30 million a year.
The reason studios are so keen to throw money at him is because his movies earn so much. At one point in the early 90s he managed the incredible feat of being involved in six of the 10 highest earning movies ever made, and Jaws, E.T. and Jurassic Park have all sat at the top of the biggest grossing ever league at some point. Jaws was also particularly important as it was the first movie ever to gross over $100 million at the US box office on its opening run, and is credited with initiating the summer blockbuster phenomenon. The total gross of the movies hes directed is over $3.7 billion in the US alone, with his nearest rival being Robert Zemeckis (Back To The Future, Forrest Gump), who can only muster $1.9 billion (believe it or not, but despite having the two highest grossing movies ever, James Cameron is only the third most successful director ever by this score). He has directed 14 movies which have grossed over $300 million dollars worldwide, which is a feat no one else has come close to, and of the top 100 grossing movies ever, he either directed or produced 12 of them.
Making Your Dreams Work
With Dreamworks, Spielberg isnt the first director to have his own studio. In fact everyone from Charlie Chaplin to Francis Ford Coppola has had a go. Initially set up in October 1994, Dreamworks SKG was designed to be a fully integrated working studio, with film, animation and music arms (rather than a glorified production company, which is what most talent owned studios are). The three main partners each took charge of a different aspect of the company, with Spielberg the public face of the film arm, ex-Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg overseeing animated movies and music executive David Geffen running the Dreamworks record label.
While the music side was a bit of a flop, the film and animation divisions have all seen major successes, such as Saving Private Ryan, Cast Away, Minority Report, What Lies Beneath, Shrek and The Ring, and have won two Best Picture Oscars with American Beauty and Gladiator.
However, despite the initial success, the company ran into trouble because like many film companies, not having a huge back catalogue meant that when the hits dried up for a while, there wasnt a massively valuable set of assets making consistent cash through DVD and TV rights sales to cover all the costs. There were also costly flops like Sinbad, which is believed to have lost $125 million in total, while the companys biggest movies were often made as joint productions with the major studios, which took home more of the profits than Dreamworks did. As a result, the animation division was spun off into a separate company (Dreamworks Animation), while the film arm was sold to Paramount in 2006 in order to stave off bankruptcy.
That wasnt the end of the story though, as part of the deal with Paramount was that while Spielberg agreed he would stay with the studio for three years, after that not only was he free to leave, but he could also take the Dreamworks name with him, which is just what he did. Paramount kept all the movies (barring the animated ones that they never owned), but Spielberg took the name and left Paramount in 2008. He then made a $1.5 billion funding deal with Indias Reliance Big Entertainment (who also took a 50% ownership in the reformed studio). While it took a while to get everything sorted again, Dreamworks is now back making movies as an independent company, with Real Steel (starring Hugh Jackman) and I Am Number 4, now shooting, and others such as Fright Night in development. Whether they can avoid the pitfalls of the first Dreamworks is yet to be seen, but Spielbergs going to have a good go.
Spielberg Facts
Stands 5 7 tall
Married twice. First to Amy Irving, then to Kate Capshaw
Has six children
Applied to the University of Southern California film programme twice and was turned down
Owns one of the original sleds from Citizen Kane
Diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome (a mild form of autism)
Cites David Lean as the biggest influence on his filmmaking
Always watches Seven Samurai, Lawrence of Arabia, It’s A Wonderful Life and The Searchers before he starts directing a movie
Despite dropping out of university at CalArts in 1968, he finally graduated 34 years later, with a degree in film and electronic arts
His production company, Amblin, is named after a short film he directed in 1968
TIM ISAAC
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