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Steven Spielberg

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Jul 2015

Jurassic World sequel announced

Announcement0 Comments

Universal Pictures announces the sequel to Jurassic World, to be released June 22, 2018. Trevorrow and Derek Connolly, the co-writers of Jurassic World, will write the sequel, although Trevorrow will not direct. No director has been announced. Spielberg returns as executive director and Marshall will resume his role as producer. Pratt and Howard are confirmed to star.

21 Jul, 2015

Sells house for $26 million

Home purchase/sale0 Comments

spielberg houseSpielberg sells his Malibu mansion for $26 million. The house is sold in an off-market deal and not in the multiple listing service. The house features seven bedrooms and ten bathrooms, formal living and dining rooms, a massage room and a home theater. Outside the house are a swimming pool and spa, and a two-bedroom guesthouse. Spielberg bought the property in two separate transactions in 1989 and 2000, paying a total of $6.575 million. When Spielberg and his family were not at home, he rented the property during the summer for $125,000 a month.

25 Mar, 2015

Returns to Warner Bros.

Directs0 Comments

After a fourteen year absence, Spielberg returns to Warner Bros. He is pegged to direct Ready Player One.

We are thrilled to welcome Steven back to Warner Bros. We had an historic series of collaborations in the 1980s and 1990s and have wanted to bring him back for years.

12 Aug, 2014

‘Lightning storm of comic genius’

Tribute0 Comments

hook-williamsSpielberg praises the actor he directed in the lead role of Peter Pan in Hook for his intense comedic performances:

Robin was a lightning storm of comic genius and our laughter was the thunder that sustained him. He was a pal and I can’t believe he’s gone.

18 Jun, 2004

The Terminal

Directs0 Comments

Spielberg directs this drama about a man from a foreign country trapped in an airline terminal for a very, very long time. During his time there he meets new friends, deals with tragedy, and falls in love. Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Chi McBride star.

It was going to be a tremendous performance opportunity for Tom [Hanks], and I wanted to be in on that, around that … I wanted to be in his zone

The Terminal - Trailer.

25 Dec, 2002

Catch Me If You Can

Directs0 Comments

Spielberg directs the true story about a likable young con man, and the FBI agent who attempts to track him down. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the con man, and Tom Hanks plays the agent.

I committed to directing Catch Me If You Can not because of the divorce component, but principally because Frank Abagnale did things that were the most astonishing scams I had ever heard. And I’m a big fan of scams.

Catch Me If You Can Trailer

21 Jun, 2002

Minority Report

Directs0 Comments

Spielberg directs a science fiction film thriller starring Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, and Samantha Morton. The film is set in a futuristic world were special psychics called “precogs” inform police about crimes before they are ever committed.

I went to Scott Frank for the screenplay. He wrote Get Shorty and Out of Sight. I gave him the original short story by Philip K. Dick and he said he didn’t know anything about science fiction. I said, ‘Let me worry about the sci fi element. Just write a terrific detective yarn’.

Minority Report Trailer

29 Jun, 2001

A.I. Artificial Intelligence

Directs0 Comments

Spielberg directs this science fiction film based on a screenplay by Stanley Kubrick. A young boy who is actually a robot lives in a futuristic society where machines have become essentially sentient. Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, and Frances O’Connor star.

I would speculate that Stanley [Kubrick] would have made and told much the same story I told because I based my screenplay on a 90-page treatment [concept] Stanley had prepared from all of his own ideas.

24 Jul, 1998

Saving Private Ryan

Directs0 Comments

Spielberg directs this World War II drama starring Tom Hanks. Noted for its realistic battle scenes, the film follows a group of soldiers after the Normandy landing, searching for a missing paratrooper.

When people see World War II movies, they expect to be entertained. If they see a Vietnam movie, they expect to be shocked. But World War II has become fun: They want a big action-adventure. But it wasn’t an adventure. It was a war.

Saving Private Ryan (1998) - Official Trailer

10 Dec, 1997

Amistad

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Spielberg directs this historical drama based on a true story about a successful mutiny that occurs on a slave ship leaving from Cuba. The men and women onboard the ship are captured on the United States, off the New England coast, and held as escaped slaves. A large portion of the movie plays out as a courtroom drama, showing the trial that occurred after their capture. Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, and Anthony Hopkins star. About showing the film to his children

They walked out of Amistad. I lost my whole family. All my young kids, you know. I wouldn’t ever show them the middle passage and I didn’t let them see the very beginning and they were bored by the legal stuff. They left.

23 May, 1997

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

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Spielberg directs this sequel to the 1993 hit. A group of researchers are dispatched to another island where a second group of dinosaurs have been left to flourish undisturbed since the events of the first film. Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, and Pete Postlethwaite star.

…with Lost World, I hadn’t directed for three years so I wanted to do something I felt secure making. I didn’t want to make a serious picture like Schindler’s List.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park Official Trailer #1 - Jeff Goldblum Movie (1997) HD

21 Mar, 1995

Wins Oscar

Oscar0 Comments

Spielberg wins his second Academy Award for Best Achievement in Directing for his World War II drama Saving Private Ryan. Kevin Costner presents the award.

Let me just turn my eyes to Mr. Hanks who from the very, very beginning said to me, this is going to be something extraordinary. We weren’t really talking about the film, we were talking about the experience of making “Saving Private Ryan,” and he was right.

Steven Spielberg Wins Best Directing: 1999 Oscars

21 Mar, 1994

Wins Oscar

Oscar0 Comments

Producers Steven Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen and Branko Lustig win the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1993 for Schindler’s List. Harrison Ford presents the award. Lustig:

My number was 83317. I am a Holocaust survivor. It’s a long way from Auschwitz to this stage.

 

 

Wins Oscar

Oscar0 Comments

Spielberg wins the Academy Award for Best Directing in the World War II biographical drama Schindler’s List. Clint Eastwood presents the award.

Let me just start by saying that this never could have happened, this never could have gotten started without a survivor named Poldek Pfefferberg who Oskar Schindler saved from Auschwitz, from Belsen. He’s the man who talked Thomas Keneally into writing the book. I owe him such a debt. All of us owe him such a debt. He has carried the story of Oskar Schindler to all of us. A man of complete obscurity who makes us wish and hope for Oskar Schindlers in all of our lives.

Steven Spielberg Wins Best Directing: 1994 Oscars

15 Dec, 1993

Schindler’s List

Directs0 Comments

Spielberg directs this historical drama based on a true story about a businessman in Nazi Germany who becomes aware of the horrors being perpetrated on the Jews in his workforce, and does what he can to save their lives. The film is noted for its use of black and white photography. Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, and Ben Kingsley star.

On Oksar Schindler: He changed from a great Gatsby to a great rescuer, and it fascinated me. He was like an agent, like a Michael Ovitz, on top of the mountain pulling strings in every fiefdom down below.

Schindler's List - Official® Trailer [HD]

11 Jun, 1993

Jurrasic Park

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Spielberg directs this science fiction adventure based on a novel by Michael Chrichton. A billionaire finds a way to clone dinosaurs and creates a special park designed for the public to see the creatures. Things go disastrously wrong when he brings in a group of experts to preview the park and there is a power outage, releasing the dinosaurs from their cages. Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum star.

Here’s what was scary: We were creating the title characters of a film. These were the stars of the picture, these dinosaurs. And if that didn’t work, nothing about Jurassic Park could have worked. So that was daunting, because I was using Universal’s money to basically make an experimental ­dinosaur picture.

Jurassic Park First Trailer

11 Dec, 1991

Hook

Directs0 Comments

Spielberg directs directs this film about Peter Pan as an adult. When his children are kidnapped by the vengeful Captain Hook, Pan must return to Nevernever land and try to save them. Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman star as Pan and Hook.

I think it’s a film I failed on. I should have told more of the Peter Pan story. And not allowing Robin to be funny was a mistake.

Hook (1991) Trailer

22 Dec, 1989

Always

Directs0 Comments

Spielberg directs this film about an aerial firefighter who dies and comes back as a ghost, watching while his wife deals with the grief of losing him. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, and Brad Johnson.

I think the film owes a great inspiration to…A Guy Named Joe. But it’s not really a remake. It was the basis for a new story.

24 May, 1989

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Directs0 Comments

Spielberg directs the third adventure film in the Indiana Jones series. This time Jones is accompanied by his father—also an accomplished adventurer—as he searches for the fabled holy grail, which supposedly has the power to make people immortal. Harrison Ford and Sean Connery star.

The dad thing was my idea. The Grail doesn’t offer a lot of special effects and doesn’t promise a huge physical climax. I just thought that the Grail that everybody seeks could be a metaphor for a son seeking reconciliation with a father and a father seeking reconciliation with a son. It also gave me a chance to suggest Sean Connery. Who else but Bond could have been worthy enough to play Indiana Jones’ dad?

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Trailer