Classic Movies: steven spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE (born December 18, 1946) is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. Forbes magazine places Spielberg's net worth at $3.1 billion. In 2006, the magazine Premiere listed him as the most powerful and influential figure in the motion picture industry. Time listed him as one of the 100 Most Important People of the Century. At the end of the twentieth century, Life named him the most influential person of his generation. In a career of over four decades, Spielberg's films have touched on many themes and genres. Spielberg's early sci-fi and adventure films, sometimes centering on children, were seen as an archetype of modern Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking. In later years his films began addressing such issues as The Holocaust, slavery, war and terrorism.
Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director for 1993's Schindler's List and 1998's Saving Private Ryan. Three of Spielberg's films, Jaws (1975), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Jurassic Park (1993), broke box office records, each becoming the highest-grossing film made at the time. To date, the unadjusted gross of all Spielberg-directed films exceeds $8.5 billion worldwide.

Perhaps the western world's most famous living filmmaker, Steven Spielberg succeeded in combining the intimacy of a personal vision with the epic requirements of the modern commercial blockbuster. Though his astonishing success delayed his acceptance as a serious artist for many years, few could deny that Spielberg's work decisively influenced twentieth century filmmaking through his potent visual imagery and universally recognizable emotion. If nothing else, Spielberg's films were landmarks in special effects, both in their visual and aural aspects, and they additionally possessed an uncanny knack for eliciting audience response. Spielberg's success also allowed him to pursue numerous philanthropic and cultural projects like no other filmmaker of his generation. An active supporter of projects that affected modern Jewish life, Spielberg served as chairman for the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, an ambitious project devoted to filming interviews with Holocaust survivors. In addition, he was a vocal champion of artists' rights and creative freedoms, whilst continuing to deliver beloved films that resonated with moviegoers the world over.

"Spielberg was far more collaborative than I ever imagined he would be. He really wanted ideas and encouraged people to give their input. Everyone had told me he shoots fast and that was so true - it makes your head spin. I had also been told he is very technical, which I didn't find at all. He was far more of an actor's director." --Jude Law to The Daily Telegraph, February 17, 2001.