“I don’t dream at night. I dream at day. I dream all day; I’m dreaming for a living.”
The most successful film director of all time is now 75. But how does one chronicle the life of Steven Spielberg? The Hollywood colossus has redefined film-making and shaped the childhood of many over the years.
While words fall short to list all of his achievements and contributions to cinema, this blog is an ode to all things Steven Spielberg.
The Storyteller
The creator of the cinema world's first “blockbuster,” Spielberg has bestowed many jewels upon the crown called Cinema. His movies possess ingredients to educate and entertain in a careful curation of values in nearly equal measure, catering to a wide audience from the popcorn munchers to the history buffs.
From a shark fin terrorizing the residents of Amity Island (and the rest of the world on-screen), iconic scenes like a bicycle-borne kid with an alien flying across the moonlit sky, recognizable logos like a dinosaur skeleton drabbed in black and yellow, to unforgettable characters like Indiana Jones, Steven Spielberg’s world offers something for every cinephile.
The Stargazer
From recruiting classmates in high school to working with Hollywood A-listers, Steven Spielberg’s stint with direction and rise to fame is nothing short of cinematic itself.
Spielberg caught the movie bug early on in his life, and the stories he told the world were inspired by his curious early years. Born on December 18, 1946 to a pianist mother and an electrical engineer father who served in World War II, Steven Allan Spielberg was instilled with creativity from a young age.
He has often discussed his fascination with the sky and the stars, and how his perception of the night sky changed when he was six years old as his father drove him in the middle of the night to watch a cosmic meteor shower. This served as an inspiration for Spielberg to make one of his first feature-length films – Firelight in 1964.
Four years later, Amblin’ was released. A short movie about two hitchhikers who fall in love, it caught the eyes of his future mentor and supporter Sidney Sheinberg, who famously told Spielberg that “a lot of people will stick with you in success. I’ll stick with you in failure.” Soon after, Spielberg’s career as a filmmaker took wings with Universal Studios as his nest.
The Blockbuster
The sheer magic of his movies made Steven Spielberg a force to reckon with. He gained recognition for his work on The Sugarland Express (1974), which was only a glimpse of what the future had in store for him. Jaws (1975) left the audience terrified and cemented Spielberg’s reputation as a film pioneer. His childhood passion for the possibilities of space and his teenage film Firelight (1964) inspired Close Encounters of The Third Kind (1977).
At the age of 30, Spielberg had already achieved more than many could dream of. But if Spielberg’s works were laid out on a topographical map, the Everest of his early filmography was about to be unveiled.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) put him on the world map and only a week later, the world was gripped with fear during the release of Poltergeist. This was the summer of Spielberg and there was no denying it. “Poltergeist is a scream, while E.T. is a whisper,” is how Spielberg put it at the time. Both works were centred on his childhood fears and fascinations.
Making History
“This is the best drink of water after the longest drought of my life,” Spielberg said as his mother wept with pride at the 1994 Oscars, where Spielberg won accolades for Schindler’s List (1993). This was just a year after he captivated the world with his iconic sci-fi Jurassic Park (1993), which featured cloned dinosaurs on an island near Costa Rica. The film was the epitome of consummate Spielbergian entertainment and the beginning of a multi-billion dollar franchise.
Spielberg turned to history and literature as his next muse, dishing out a big-budget war spectacle in Saving Private Ryan (1998), followed by other dramas inspired by true events - War Horse (2011) and Munich (2005) while still dabbling with sci-fi titles such as A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), War of the Worlds (2005) and Ready Player One (2018).
It took more than 30 films and nearly six decades for Spielberg to get involved in the making of a musical, one that was close to his heart. West Side Story (2021) was the byproduct of his memories as a 10-year-old when he first listened to the original album.
Closing Credits
With a plethora of Spielberg's works focusing on family and separation, it isn’t hard to see that family plays a big element in his life. A father of seven, Steven Spielberg has always strived to set an example for his kids. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 and has been nominated for the Oscars a staggering 19 times, winning it thrice, along with a special Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. In 1994, Spielberg launched the Shoah Foundation at the University of Southern California to preserve interviews with survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust.
His legacy continues to be an enticing nexus of pop culture and films, and the basis of childhood memories for many of us.
Feeling inspired by Spielberg's journey? Explore the Visual Effects Art and Design program at VCAD and get started on your own blockbuster journey today!
