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Steven Spielberg

Every so often, someone emerges in a field and manages to not only revolutionize it, but do so several times. American film director and producer Steven Allan Spielberg (born December 18, 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is one of those people, with a career that has gone uninterrupted since the mid-1970s. To put it simply, he is one of the most influential powers in the history of Hollywood.

After playing with his father's 8mm camera as a kid, he enrolled in a community college with a small film program and used those connections to get work directing TV episodes, including the pilot episode ofNight Gallery.^note ThatNight Gallery episode turned out to be quite a Hollywood passing of the torch, since the star was none other thanJoan Crawford. He also worked as an assistant atUniversal's editorial department, and snooped around on film sets to learn more about the trade^note Charlton Heston recounted in his autobiographyIn the Arena how Spielberg tried several times to infiltrate the set of 1965'sThe War Lord, only to be ejected, after which director Franklin J. Schaffner finally gave in and let him watch what was being filmed. In 1971, he got his big break directing the low-budget cult TV filmDuel, a taut thriller that was such a hit that he was allowed to shoot more scenes to give it a cinema release in Europe.

The success ofDuel got Spielberg a lot of attention, enough for him to be brought on as the director for the film that would launch him into the stratosphere:Jaws, thefirstsummer blockbuster (setting the record for all-time highest-grossing movie just beforeStar Wars came out, pushing the record up even further). With basically a blank check, he followed this up with theBenevolent Alien Invasion filmClose Encounters of the Third Kind, the30s serial throwbackRaiders of the Lost Ark (the first of theIndiana Jones films; he directed all but one of the sequels as well) and the family favouriteE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which became the highest-grossing film of all time in its day (hissecond time achieving that milestone).

In 1985, Spielberg branched into directing dramas with his ultra-seriousThe Color Purple (1985), which was nominated for severalOscars; it would not be his last excursion into this genre. He went on to makeJurassic Park in 1993 (histhird time making the most successful movie of all time), which revolutionized the use of CG animation in film.Schindler's List, released the same year, won the multiple Oscars, including Best Picture.Saving Private Ryan won a handful of Oscars itself, andA.I.: Artificial Intelligence saw him taking over directorial reins from his good friendStanley Kubrick, whoDied During Production.Catch Me If You Can teamed him withTom Hanks for the second time afterSaving Private Ryan, and became another acclaimed hit.

Spielberg is also known for being a collaborator with other very popular films includingPoltergeist andThe Goonies (a team effort withRichard Donner andChris Columbus). Even recently he was found working in mega-blockbusters likeTransformers (2007). He was additionally a co-founder of the studioDreamWorks SKG in 1994 alongsideDisney studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg and record producer David Geffen.DreamWorks and Spielberg (as producer) would later go on to make the firstMedal of Honor video game, widely regarded as thePS1'sGoldenEye. He still runsAmblinEntertainment.

Spielberg has been a long-time friend ofGeorge Lucas ever since they met at a film festival when both were in college (Spielberg said he was insanely jealous of Lucas' student film that eventually becameTHX 1138). While their only official collaborations areIndiana Jones, and to a lesser extentThe Land Before Time (Spielberg was supposed to directReturn of the Jedi, issues with the Directors Guild of America stopped that from happening), they frequently spend time together and discuss each other's projects. Spielberg was also a frequent collaborator withStan Winston, the puppeteer and makeup virtuoso who brought the dinosaurs ofJurassic Park and the robots ofA.I.: Artificial Intelligence marvelously to life. He's also famously collaborated withJohn Williams, with the composer providing the scores for virtually all of Spielberg's films.

Aside from film, Spielberg has also done television work. He directed part of the pilot ofRod Serling'sNight Gallery as well as a few TV movies in addition toDuel, and has produced television shows such asAmazing Stories,SeaQuest DSV,ER, andUnited States of Tara.

He's also delved into animation. He collaborated withDon Bluth in the 1980s to produce box office successes likeAn American Tail andThe Land Before Time, also starting his own animation studio,Amblimation, which would go on to produce the somewhat less successfulWe're Back! A Dinosaur's Story,An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, andBalto; it and Bluth would be spiritually replaced by Katzenberg'sDreamWorks Animation (he also had input in DWA's firstShrek 1 movie). He is also known as the executive producer for (and mistakenly believed to have created, thanks toIn Case You Forgot Who Wrote It)Warner Bros. Silver Age cartoonsTiny Toon Adventures,Animaniacs,Freakazoid!,Pinky and the Brain, and some lesser known works, such asHisteria!^note an educational sketch show parodying historical figures and events — and pushing the limits of what can and can't be done on kids' TV, just likeAnimaniacs,Toonsylvania (one of his first animated projects when he createdDreamWorks Studios), and the much-reviledPinky and the Brain spinoffPinky, Elmyra & the Brain.

On top of everything else, he has also worked extensively with theUniversal Studios parks as a creative consultant. He helped oversee the development of both Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure, as well as many attractions; includingE.T. Adventure^note which he also appears inAs Himself,JAWS,Kongfrontation,Back to the Future: The Ride,Jurassic Park River Adventure,The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man,Men in Black: Alien Attack,Transformers: The Ride, and so on.

Spielberg has been married toKate Capshaw since 1991, and was married toAmy Irving from 1985 to 1989. He has seven children: one son by Irving, twodaughters and a son by Capshaw, an adopted son and daughter with Capshaw, anda stepdaughter from Capshaw's previous marriage.

In 2018, Spielberg became the first-ever director to have his total worldwide box office cross $10 billion. Even with the plethora of honors he's received over the course of his career, he has said that his Oscars pale in comparison to the honor of being selected as a bearer of the Olympic Flag in theSalt Lake City games of 2002.

Works Spielberg directed:

Films Spielberg produced, but didn't direct:

Works Spielberg executive produced, but didn't direct:

Video games Spielberg was involved in:

Works Spielberg was involved in that he didn’t direct, produce or executive produce:

Tropes associated with Spielberg's filmography.

• Adolf Hitlarious: After applying it in some level on films like1941 and two of theIndiana Jones movies (Raiders of the Lost Ark andIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade), he put on record that he swore off ever using this trope again after filmingSchindler's List, thinking that portraying the Nazis as anything else but pure unmockable evil was just in poor taste. This is one of the variousReal Life Writes the Plot elements that led to a plannedWho Framed Roger Rabbit sequel set duringWorld War II to be scrapped and forcedIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to use Russian Communists as the villains.Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny went back to using Nazi villains once Spielberg stepped down as director andJames Mangold took over, though Spielberg remained on board as a producer and loved the final film when he saw it.
• Associated Composer: All thoseleitmotifs you currently have stuck in your head are composed byJohn Williams, who has scored all but four of Spielberg's films sinceThe Sugarland Express. (The sole exceptions areThe Color Purple (1985), which they mutually agreed would be better served with music byQuincy Jones;Bridge of Spies, due to a health issue;Ready Player One, due to time constraints^*post-production for Spielberg's other filmThe Post, as well asThe Last Jedi, were both occurring concurrently with that ofReady Player One; andWest Side Story, due to the film having a built-in soundtrack from theoriginal musical.)
• Author Appeal: In most of Spielberg's films, fathers or father-figures are eitherabsent oraloof.Severalessays have analyzed this as a manifestation of Steven's childhood getting projected into his art (his ownfather strongly disapproved of his interest in movies, though he admittedhe was wrong after Steven's incredible success).
• Bittersweet Ending: A good chunk of his movies have either this or happy endings, if the hero dies it will be a dignifiedHeroic Sacrifice or be remembered in the end for what they've done.
• Black-and-White Morality: Unsurprisingly, any of his films that deal withthe Third Reich fall squarely into this. EvenSchindler's List, which makes a point of showing the title character as a deeply flawed and imperfect man, makes clear that his vices are not in the same league as those of the Nazi characters.
• Celebrity Cameo: Spielberg has a brief cameo at the end ofThe Blues Brothers, where he plays the Assessor of Cook County, Illinois (i.e. the guy they actually need to pay the $5000 bucks to save the orphanage to). He also appearsAs Himself inAustin Powers in Goldmember.
• Central Theme: Spielberg's films touch upon several recurring themes, depending on the film. These films include coming across the extraordinary, faith, and tension of parent-child relationships (especially difficult father-son relationships). His family-friendly films often deal with themes of growing up, family, and feelings of wonder and the power of imagination.
• Creator Backlash: Spielberg admitted that, even while makingThe Lost World: Jurassic Park, he came to see it as "this big silent-roar movie" that failed to inspire his enthusiasm. Later, his view of the film softened: he has said, "It wasn't as good as the first one but it was very successful".
• Creator Cameo: He has a small appearance in his 1972Made-for-TV MovieSomething Evil (a rare non-Universal TV effort), is heard as the coast guard inJaws before Quint breaks the radio, walks alongside George Lucas in an airport inIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and watches a CNN broadcast inThe Lost World: Jurassic Park. For a case where he produced, inGremlins Spielberg is the guy driving the trolley while Billy's dad is on the phone.
• Creator Thumbprint:
  • It's not surprising to learn thatJ. J. Abrams is directly inspired by Spielberg's style, considering that Spielberg himself had a tendency to includeLens Flares in his own films, though most of these from intense light sources that often backlit actors.
  • Characters often talk over each other, resulting in two conversations simultaneously occurring or eventually merging in a scene.
  • There's a reason whyMystery Science Theater 3000 andRiffTrax often joke that any shot of a character staring in awe at something offscreen is guest directed by Spielberg.
  • Spielberg had a streak of films with WWII-era airplanes appearing in them, starting modestly withClose Encounters of the Third Kind and continued much more prominently in1941, theIndiana Jones movies,Empire of the Sun andAlways.
• Daddy Issues: Characters who have troubled relationships with their father are very common. This likely comes from Spielberg'smore complex relationship with his own father.
• Development Hell: Spielberg was announced to helm aBlackhawk film in early 2018 withDavid Koepp at the script. Outside of a late 2020 update on Instagram about the script by Koepp in which he indicated to still be working on it, nothing has seemingly moved forward on the project, likely a result of Warner Bros' well-documented executive leadership problems during that period.
• Disappeared Dad: Divorce and absent fathers is a common topic in Spielberg's films, likeE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial andWar of the Worlds. Said to have been partiallydrawn from his parents divorce in his youth.
• Emotional Torque:His main motivation in filmmaking.
• Enforced Method Acting: He's renowned for finding creative ways to coax performances out of child actors, most famously inClose Encounters of the Third Kind.
• Fanservice: Almost totally averted in Spielberg's works. Sexuality is usually offscreen, nudity is rarely seen, and when nudityis seen it's usually forFan Disservice, as with a murder scene inMunich or concentration camp prisoners inSchindler's List.
  • One of the very rare straight examples (combined withNaked People Are Funny) is actually a parody of aFan Disservice scene in an earlier Spielberg film. In the opening scene ofJaws, a young woman goes skinny-dipping on a beach in the early hours of the morning, only to be eaten by a shark. In the opening scene of1941, a young woman goes skinny-dipping on a beach in the early hours of the morning only to be rather surprised by a surfacing Japanese submarine; unlike in the previous scene, she escapes after suffering nothing more than aNaked Freak-Out. Bonus points because it was the same actress in both scenes.
• The Film of the Book:Jaws,The Color Purple (1985),Empire of the Sun,Hook,Jurassic Park andThe Lost World: Jurassic Park,Schindler's List,Catch Me If You Can,War of the Worlds,Munich,War Horse,Lincoln,The BFG, andReady Player One.
• First Contact: Spielberg made four films with this theme:Close Encounters of the Third Kind,E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,War of the Worlds (2005), andIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Only the third one shows the aliens as clear villains.
• Friend to All Children: His works use a lot of child actors and he's known for being one of the better directors to deal with kids, always able to get good performances out of them but never forgetting that they're still kids and need to have a normal childhood.
• Genre-Prolific Creator: While often associated with science fiction (Close Encounters of the Third Kind,E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,A.I.: Artificial Intelligence,Minority Report,Ready Player One), he's done monster movies (Jaws,Jurassic Park), action adventure (Indiana Jones), comedy (1941), romance (Always,The Terminal), war epics (Empire of the Sun,Schindler's List,Saving Private Ryan,War Horse), crime dramas (The Sugarland Express), disaster movies (War of the Worlds), fantasy (Hook,The BFG),biopics (Catch Me If You Can^note Although later research found it was all widelyBased on a Great Big Lie.,Lincoln),period pieces and historical dramas (The Color Purple (1985),Amistad), political thrillers (Munich,Bridge of Spies,The Post), suspense thrillers (Duel), comic book movies (The Adventures of Tintin), even a musical (West Side Story).
• Gorn: "Gorn" might be too strong a word, butSchindler's List,Saving Private Ryan andMunich don't shy away from what happens when people suffer violent deaths.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: More common than his critics who find him too family-friendly would imagine; in particular, his espionage movies.
• Growing Up Sucks: Many of Spielberg's films thrive on innocent, naïve and escapist adventure stories, often shown from a child's point of view. Half of the time they are boyish fantasies. This has led many movie critics to compare him to a cinematicPeter Pan character, whose films never touch upon real adult issues. Spielberg even made a Peter Pan film,Hook! The criticism has died out a little from the moment Spielberg started making more adult films such asThe Color Purple (1985),Schindler's List,Saving Private Ryan,Munich andLincoln, but even in these serious films you'll find lighthearted and comedic moments.Terry Gilliam once (quite unfairly) criticized Spielberg for always wanted to leave his audience withhappy endings and answers to everything. A few of Spielberg's films. most notablyHook andReady Player One, set out about averting this trope, emphasizing the joys of adulthood and engaging with the world and forming relationships in a more mature way.
• Heroic Sacrifice: When good people die in Spielberg's films, they often sacrifice themselves to a greater cause. See Eddie Carr inThe Lost World: Jurassic Park and Miller inSaving Private Ryan.
• Kid Hero: Children are often cast as heroes in Spielberg's films or they are at least deemed very important to the progression of the story.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": One of the most accomplished, legendary directors in film history. Has big-name actors champing at the bit to work with him. Still so impressed byAnthony Hopkins that he couldn't bring himself to call Hopkins anything but "Sir Anthony" for the entire shoot ofAmistad. (Hopkins prefers "Tony".)
• Military Super Hero: In Spielberg's work, soldiers are always cast as brave ordinary people one should look up to, especially if they are American. They won't be perfect people, but they always live up to their duty and dowhat is right. There's also a strong theme in his more recent work of joining the armyfor the greater good. InWar of the Worlds andLincoln a youngster wants to join the army, in both occasions because he wants to do his patriotic duty and help his country out. Needless to say, in both cases the boys survive.
• The Oner: Unlike many other directors, Spielberg's oners are on the short end of the scale (averaging about 1-1:30), and he rarely calls attention to them. Many of them are more "invisible coverage" of a scene, essentially moving around actors, the camera and action to create "separate shots" but without breaking up the action. Some great examples includes Marcus and Indy's dialogue at Indy's home inRaiders of the Lost Ark (1:36) or the dialogue above the ferry inJaws (1:43). His motion capture films likeThe Adventures of Tintin andReady Player One all have extensive Oners, however all due in part by what seems to be Spielberg's realization that the limits of a real life cinematographer are missing in the world of animation.
• Parental Issues: In Spielberg's work a lot of troubled father-son relations can be found or adults who don't like children. These two tropes keep reappearing in almost every film he makes.
• Parents as People: A recurring theme throughout his filmography is realistic parental figures who generally mean well and love their kids but have their own flaws and biases and sometimes don't know what is best or how to relate to them. While they are never shown as perfect, they are almost always given a lot of sympathy and understanding.
• Patriotic Fervor: Spielberg is quite proud of his home country and likes to show it in his work, especially when American soldiers fight Nazis. However he is also critical of blind patriotism as in1941, racism (Amistad,The Color Purple (1985),Lincoln), theRed Scare (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,Bridge of Spies), anti-immigrant attitudes (The Terminal), and also corruption (The Post). He also took a small jab at imperialism inWar of the Worlds with a character commenting "occupations never work", referencing the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
• Production Posse:
  • Has often worked with producers Bonnie Curtis,Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Gerald R. Molen, and Colin Wilson. Starting withBridge of Spies he has also worked with Kristie Macosko Krieger (who started out as his assistant on various films).
  • John Williams has composed the scores to all but four of his movies:The Color Purple (1985) was scored byQuincy Jones,Bridge of Spies which was scored byThomas Newman,Ready Player One which was scored byAlan Silvestri, andWest Side Story, for which David Newman rearrangedLeonard Bernstein's original score.
  • Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski and production designer Rick Carter have worked on nearly all of Spielberg's movies since the 90s.
  • Costume designer Joanna Johnston has worked with Spielberg seven times sinceLast Crusade, while Mary Zophres has worked with him 3 times.
  • Editor Michael Kahn has edited all of Spielberg's films since their first collaboration onClose Encounters of the Third Kind (with the exception ofE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial).
  • Spielberg has worked with writerDavid Koepp five times, andTony Kushner four times.
  • Tom Hanks has worked with Spielberg five times,Harrison Ford has worked with him four times (five if you count hisDeleted Role inE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial),Richard Dreyfuss has worked with him three times, andMark Rylance is set to work with him four times. He's also made two films each withDaniel Craig,Tom Cruise,Morgan Freeman,Ben Kingsley,Simon Pegg,Jesse Plemons,Amy Ryan,Meryl Streep, andRobin Williams.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Heavily on the idealistic, often whimsical side. Even in his films portraying the harsh realities of war, there's a certain lever of optimism and wonder.
• Stock Parodies: He directed several films that are frequently parodied in pop culture. These include:
  • Jaws ("Jaws" Attack Parody)
  • Jurassic Park (Jurassic Farce)
  • The first fourIndiana Jones films (Raiders of the Lost Parody)
• Summer Blockbuster: He invented and popularized the genre afterJaws became the best-selling film of all time in 1975. He broke his own record twice with the release ofE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) andJurassic Park (1993).
• Special Effects: Spielberg's films are known for their technical achievements in the fields of special effects,most notably inE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial andJurassic Park (1993). However, they always complemented the stories and the characters instead of the other way around.
• Tear Jerkerinvoked: Despite being a special effects innovator Spielberg is known for his emotional depth in his stories and has a great sense ofCharacter Development, though sometimes he is accused of taking it to over-the-top levels.
• Thematic Series: Spielberg considersDuel,Jaws andJurassic Park to be one, and has also connectedE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,Close Encounters of the Third Kind andWar of the Worlds (friendly aliens, enigmatic aliens, hostile aliens). Other possible thematic series includeA.I.: Artificial Intelligence,Minority Report andReady Player One (dystopian scifi exploring the evolution of technology) andEmpire of the Sun,Schindler's List andSaving Private Ryan (films exploring the personal impact of World War II on the survivors).
• What Could Have Been:
  • George Lucas wanted him to directReturn of the Jedi, but the Director's Guild of America wouldn't allow it because Lucas was no longer a member of the Guild.
  • He was approached to directThe Phantom Menace, but he declined, and later apparently offered to directAttack of the Clones, but Lucas turned him down. Spielberg later helped direct a few parts ofRevenge of the Sith.
  • He's always wanted to direct aJames Bond movie, butEon Productions headAlbert R. Broccoli rejected him twice. The first time, early in his career, Broccoli turned him down because he was young, inexperienced, and unknown. Spielberg approached Broccoli again after directingJaws, but Broccoli wouldn't hire him because he was afraid he'd demand too much money and ask for too much creative control.
  • Being a big fan ofMortal Kombat, he was originally going to have a cameo in thefirst film adaptation of the games, where he'd be directing one of Johnny Cage's movies, but scheduling conflicts forced him to drop out at the last minute. The character he would have portrayed ultimately appears to be aCaptain Ersatz of him.
  • He was attached to direct the firstHarry Potter movie but backed out for a few reasons. One is that he wanted to make the film animated butWarner Bros. andJ. K. Rowling weren't sold on the idea. Two was that he didn't have much experience working with kids or making movies for kids at that point, which is whyChris Columbus was eventually picked to direct. Another is that he considered it too much of a built-in slam dunk and wanted something he saw as more "challenging" to make work.
  • He was going to have a small cameo inCasper that was actually filmed, but later cut for pacing.
  • He was developing a game calledLMNO with EA Los Angeles (formerlyDreamWorks Interactive). It would have been a first-person parkour game involving a character named Eve and a road trip to protect her. It was cancelled in 2010.
  • Interstellar was written for him to direct. Many have noted that a certain plot twist near the end would fit far better into a Spielberg film than aChristopher Nolan one.
  • He spent several months working onRain Man before commitments toIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade forced him to drop out. He gave all his notes to the film's eventual director,Barry Levinson, and would eventually work with the film's lead actors,Dustin Hoffman andTom Cruise, onHook andMinority Report andWar Of the Worlds, respectively.
  • Even before he directedWest Side Story, he had long desired to direct a musical. He once noted that1941 was planned as one but changed during its chaotic production. Later he was attached to a project about opera divas but that was shelved. The closest he came was the opening ofIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
  • Spielberg and David Koepp were announced to work on aBlackhawk film adaptation in 2018 (whether it was to be set in theDC Extended Universe or not had never been made clear).DC Films' infamous tendency to announce projects and never commit to them, their string of huge box office bombs between 2020 and 2023 and the restructuring as DC Studios with an impendingContinuity Reboot have prevented it from getting off the ground.
  • Was initially attached to directCruising in the early 1970s, but dropped out after three years due to being unable to come up with a satisfactory script.
  • Spielberg was attached to direct a film adaptation ofRobopocalypse in the early 2010s, withDrewGoddard writing the screenplay, but the project was eventually put on hold due to concerns over the budget. In March 2018, it was announced thatMichael Bay was taking over as director, but the project has continued to languish inDevelopment Hell since.