Steven Spielberg

This comprehensive and in-depth study delves into the life and works of the most famous director who has ever lived, Steven Spielberg. Spielberg is the medium’s defining artist—the embodiment of the Hollywood ideal: the commercial potential of film married to its creative possibilities. He’s widely popular, but he’s also a stylist, and far darker than he is given credit for. Often, it is this very darkness that speaks to us. But, it’s also his incredible knack for telling stories with lightness that speaks to millions, by mixing the extraordinary with the ordinary. His leading characters, even Indiana Jones, are marked by their vulnerability, their mistakes, their yearning. It's the human touch. There are so many parts to Spielberg's story: the suburban background that supplied the films with a biographical streak; the collaborations (with George Lucas and the Movie Brats in general, with composer John Williams, producer Kathleen Kennedy, editor Michael Khan, stars Richard Dreyfus, Harrison Ford, and Tom Hanks, and mogul and mentor Sid Sheinberg). The myths that bloomed from the making of these films.The nightmare shoot and stubborn shark behind Jaws. The strange ambitions of Close Encounters. Dive bombing with 1941. Inventing Indiana Jones. Re-inventing the blockbuster with Jurassic Park. Venturing into history’s darkest shadows with Schindler’s List. Transforming a genre with Saving Private Ryan. The muscular, unpredictable, confrontational Spielberg of Minority Report, Munich, and Lincoln. And then there is his family. How his films, even late in his career—lionized, untouchable—went in search of approval from his parents. Just as he has craved the approval of his peers. That fateful Oscar took so long in coming... Defining, appreciating, contextualizing, and understanding the films of Spielberg is a tall order. Their simplicity is deceptive. You have to cut through the glow, the adoration, the simple joy that comes with their embrace, and get to the thrust of the filmmaking. Sourcing the inspirations, locating the critical nuance, the nurtured performance, and the recurrent theme—so many of his films have become timeless—this book celebrates all this and more.

Ian Nathan, who lives and works in London, is one of the UK’s best-known film writers. He is the author of nine previous books, including Alien Vault, the best-selling history of Ridley Scott’s masterpiece, Terminator Vault, Tarantino, Tim Burton, The Coen Brothers and Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-earth. He is the former editor and executive editor of Empire, the world’s biggest movie magazine, where he remains a contributing editor. He also regularly contributes to The Times, The Independent, The Mail on Sunday, Cahiers Du Cinema and the Discovering Film documentary series on Sky Arts. 

THE OPENING...  THE NATURAL The early films, the TV episodes, Duel (1971), The Sugarland Express (1974) THE BIG FISH  Jaws (1975) SHOCK AND AWE  Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977),1941 (1979), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) The Inner Circle PHENOMENON  The miracle of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) LOST BOYS  Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), The Color Purple (1985), Empire of the Sun (1987), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Always (1989), Hook (1991) MAKING HISTORY Jurassic Park (1993), Schindler’s List (1993) TIME TRAVELLER  The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Amistad (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001) The Suburban Mogul  BETWEEN WORLDS  Minority Report (2002) Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Terminal (2004), War of the Worlds (2005), Munich (2005), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) STRANGE HEROES  The Adventures of Tintin (2011), War Horse (2011), Lincoln (2012), Bridge of Spies (2015) That Spielberg Touch  FOREVER YOUNG  The BFG (2016), The Post (2017), Ready Player One (2018), West Side Story (2021), The Fablemans (2022) SOURCES