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 contextualising 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.
