Steven Allan Spielberg KBE (born December 18, 1946)[1] is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Spielberg is a three-time Academy Award winner and is the highest grossing filmmaker of all time; his films having made nearly $8 billion internationally. Forbes magazine places Spielberg's net worth at $3 billion.[2] As of 2006, Premiere listed him as the most powerful and influential figure in the motion picture industry. Time named him in the '100 Greatest People of the Century'. At the end of the 20th century Life named him the most influential person of his generation.[3]In a career that spans almost four decades, Spielberg's films have touched many themes and genres. During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, three of his films, Jaws, E.T., and Jurassic Park became the highest grossing films for their time. During his early years as a director, his sci-fi and adventure films were often seen as the archetype of modern Hollywood blockbuster film-making. In recent years, he has tackled emotionally powerful issues such as the Holocaust, slavery, war, and terrorism.
Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Jewish parents Leah Adler (née Posner), a restaurateur and concert pianist, and Arnold Spielberg, a computer engineer.[4] Throughout his early teens, Spielberg made amateur 8 mm "adventure" movies with his friends, the first of which he shot at a restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona. He charged admission (25 cents) to his home movies (which involved the wrecks he staged with his Lionel train set) while his sister sold popcorn.
Spielberg became a boy scout and in 1958, he fulfilled a requirement for photography merit badge by making a 9 minute 8 mm film entitled The Last Gunfight.[5] At age 13, Spielberg won a prize for a 40-minute war movie he titled Escape to Nowhere.
At Arcadia High School in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1963, the then 16-year-old Spielberg wrote and directed his first independent movie, a 140-minute science fiction adventure called Firelight (which would later inspire Close Encounters). The movie, which had a budget of US$400, was shown in his local movie theater and generated a profit of $100. A writer for the local Phoenix press wrote that he could expect great things to come.[citation needed]
After his parents divorced, he moved to California with his father. His three sisters and mother remained in Arizona, where he attended Passover seders at the home of Zalman and Pearl Segal on an annual basis. He graduated from Saratoga High School in Saratoga, California, in 1965, which he called the "worst experience" of his life and "hell on Earth".[cite this quote] It was during this time Spielberg attained the rank of Eagle Scout.
After moving to California, he applied to attend film school at the USC School of Theater, Film and Television three separate times but was unsuccessful due to his C grade average. After Spielberg became famous, USC awarded him an honorary degree in 1994, and in 1996 he became a trustee of the university. He attended California State University, Long Beach, to avoid the draft for the Vietnam War. His actual career began when he returned to Universal studios as an unpaid, three-day-a-week intern and guest of the editing department. He got this job by dressing up in a business suit, and walked into Universal Studios during a tour, looking important with a briefcase. He found a closet not being used and called it "his office." While attending college at Long Beach State in the 1960s, Spielberg also became member of Theta Chi Fraternity. In 2002, thirty-five years after starting college, Spielberg finished his degree via independent projects at CSULB, and was awarded a B.A. in Film Production and Electronic Arts with an option in Film/Video Production.
As an intern and guest of Universal Studios, Spielberg made his first short film for theatrical release, the 24 minute movie Amblin' in 1968. After Sidney Sheinberg, then the vice-president of production for Universal's TV arm, saw the film, Spielberg became the youngest director ever to be signed to a long-term deal with a major Hollywood studio (Universal). He dropped out of Long Beach State in 1969 to take the television director contract at Universal Studios and began his career as a professional director.
Spielberg became a boy scout and in 1958, he fulfilled a requirement for photography merit badge by making a 9 minute 8 mm film entitled The Last Gunfight.[5] At age 13, Spielberg won a prize for a 40-minute war movie he titled Escape to Nowhere.
At Arcadia High School in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1963, the then 16-year-old Spielberg wrote and directed his first independent movie, a 140-minute science fiction adventure called Firelight (which would later inspire Close Encounters). The movie, which had a budget of US$400, was shown in his local movie theater and generated a profit of $100. A writer for the local Phoenix press wrote that he could expect great things to come.[citation needed]
After his parents divorced, he moved to California with his father. His three sisters and mother remained in Arizona, where he attended Passover seders at the home of Zalman and Pearl Segal on an annual basis. He graduated from Saratoga High School in Saratoga, California, in 1965, which he called the "worst experience" of his life and "hell on Earth".[cite this quote] It was during this time Spielberg attained the rank of Eagle Scout.
After moving to California, he applied to attend film school at the USC School of Theater, Film and Television three separate times but was unsuccessful due to his C grade average. After Spielberg became famous, USC awarded him an honorary degree in 1994, and in 1996 he became a trustee of the university. He attended California State University, Long Beach, to avoid the draft for the Vietnam War. His actual career began when he returned to Universal studios as an unpaid, three-day-a-week intern and guest of the editing department. He got this job by dressing up in a business suit, and walked into Universal Studios during a tour, looking important with a briefcase. He found a closet not being used and called it "his office." While attending college at Long Beach State in the 1960s, Spielberg also became member of Theta Chi Fraternity. In 2002, thirty-five years after starting college, Spielberg finished his degree via independent projects at CSULB, and was awarded a B.A. in Film Production and Electronic Arts with an option in Film/Video Production.
As an intern and guest of Universal Studios, Spielberg made his first short film for theatrical release, the 24 minute movie Amblin' in 1968. After Sidney Sheinberg, then the vice-president of production for Universal's TV arm, saw the film, Spielberg became the youngest director ever to be signed to a long-term deal with a major Hollywood studio (Universal). He dropped out of Long Beach State in 1969 to take the television director contract at Universal Studios and began his career as a professional director.
Rejecting offers to direct Jaws 2 and Superman, Spielberg and actor Richard Dreyfuss re-convened to work on a film about UFOs, which became Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). One of the rare movies both written and directed by Spielberg, Close Encounters was a critical and box office hit, giving Spielberg his first Best Director nomination from the Academy as well as earning six other Academy Awards nominations. It won Oscars in two categories (Cinematography, Vilmos Zsigmond, and a Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Editing, Frank E. Warner). This second blockbuster helped to secure Spielberg's rise.Spielberg's success with mainstream and commercially appealing films also subjected him to disdain from film reviewers. His next film, 1941, a big-budgeted World War II farce, flopped with both audiences and critics alike.
Spielberg then revisited his Close Encounters project and, with financial backing from Columbia Pictures, released Close Encounters - The Special Edition in 1980. For this, Spielberg fixed some of the flaws he thought impeded the original 1977 version of the film and also, at the behest of Columbia, shot additional footage showing the audience the interior of the mothership seen at the end of the film (a decision Spielberg would later regret as he felt the interior of the mothership should have remained a mystery).
Next, Spielberg teamed with Star Wars creator and friend George Lucas on an action adventure film. Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first of the Indiana Jones films, was an homage to the cliffhanger serials of the Golden Age of Hollywood, with Harrison Ford (whom Lucas had previously cast in his Star Wars films) as the archaeologist and adventurer hero Indiana Jones. It became the biggest film at the box office in 1981, and the recipient of numerous Oscar nominations including Best Director (Spielberg's second nomination) and Best Picture (the second Spielberg film to be nominated for Best Picture). Raiders is still considered a landmark example of the action genre.
A year later, Spielberg returned to the science fiction genre with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. It was the story of a young boy and the alien whom he befriends, who was accidentally left behind by his people and is trying to get back home to outer space. E.T. went on to become the top-grossing film of all time until it was beaten by another of his films, Jurassic Park, in 1993. E.T. was also nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.
Between 1982 and 1985, Spielberg produced three high-grossing movies: Poltergeist (for which he also co-wrote the screenplay), a big-screen adaptation of The Twilight Zone (for which he directed the segment "Kick The Can"), and The Goonies.
His next directorial feature was the Raiders sequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Teaming up once again with Lucas and Ford, the film was plagued with uncertainty for the material and script. Reviews were less positive than they were for its predecessor, and it was criticized for lacking the energy of the original as well as for its questionable depiction of East Indian culture[citation needed]. Nonetheless, the film was still a huge blockbuster hit in 1984. It was on this project that Spielberg also met his future wife, actress Kate Capshaw.
In 1985, Spielberg released The Color Purple, an adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, about a generation of empowered African-American women during depression-era America. Starring Whoopi Goldberg and future talk-show superstar Oprah Winfrey, the film was a box office smash and critics hailed Spielberg's successful foray into the dramatic genre. Roger Ebert proclaimed it the best movie of the year and later entered it into his Great Films archive. The film received eleven Academy Award nominations, including two for Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. However, much to the surprise of many, Spielberg did not get a Best Director nomination.
In 1987, as China began opening to the world, Spielberg shot the first American movie in Shanghai since the 1930s, an adaptation of J.G. Ballard's autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun. The film garnered much praise from critics and was nominated for several Oscars, but did not yield substantial box office revenues. Reviewer Andrew Sarris called it the best film of the year and later included it among the best films of the decade.[9]
After two forays into more serious dramatic films, Spielberg then directed the third Indiana Jones film, 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Once again teaming up with Lucas and Ford, Spielberg also cast actor Sean Connery in a supporting role as Ford's father. The film earned positive reviews and was another box office success, becoming the highest grossing film worldwide that year; its total box office receipts even topped those of Tim Burton's much-hyped Batman film, which had been the bigger hit domestically. Also in 1989, he re-united with actor Richard Dreyfuss for the romantic comedy-drama Always, about a daredevil pilot who extinguishes forest fires. Spielberg's first romantic film, Always was only a moderate success and had mixed reviews.
In 1991, Spielberg directed Hook, about a middle-aged Peter Pan, played by Robin Williams, who returns to Neverland. Despite innumerable rewrites and creative changes coupled with mixed reviews, the film made $300 million worldwide (from a budget of $70 million).
In 1993, Spielberg returned to the adventure genre with the film version of Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park, about a theme park with genetically engineered dinosaurs. With revolutionary special effects provided by friend George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic company, the film would eventually become the highest grossing film of all time (at the worldwide box office) with $914 million. This would be the third time that one of Spielberg's films became the highest grossing film ever.
Spielberg's next film Schindler's List was based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a man who risked his life to save 1,100 people from the Holocaust.[10] Schindler's List earned Spielberg his first Academy Award for Best Director (it also won Best Picture). With the film a huge success at the box office, Spielberg used the profits to set up the Shoah Foundation, a non-profit organization that archives filmed testimony of the Holocaust survivors. Some critics maintain that Schindler's List is the most accurate portrayal of the Holocaust, and in 1999 the American Film Institute listed it among the 10 Greatest American Films ever Made.
Steven Spielberg (USA, Ohio állam, Cincinnati, 1946. december 18.) 4-szeres Oscar-díjas (ebből az egyik életműdíj) amerikai filmrendező, producer, KBE (a Brit Birodalom lovagja), a legsikeresebb filmrendezők egyike.Az elmúlt években erős érzelmi töltetű témákat érintett filmjeiben, mint a holokauszt borzalmai a Schindler listájában, rabszolgaság az Amistadban, a háborús viszontagságok a Ryan közlegény megmentésében és a terrorizmus a Münchenben. Nem korhatáros filmjeinek egyik gyakran visszatérő témája az a gyermeki, néha talán naiv hit és rácsodálkozás, ami megjelenik például a Harmadik típusú találkozásokban, az E.T.-ben, a Hookban és az A.I.-ban is, valamint az apafigura nehéz szerepe.
Amerikai zsidó családban született Cincinnatiban. 1959-ben, 13 évesen a szüleitől kapott Super 8-as kamerával elkészítette első kisjátékfilmjét, a The Last Gun című filmet. Spielberg 1965-ben iratkozott be a Kaliforniai Egyetem rendezői szakára. Három évvel később abbahagyta tanulmányait. 1968-ban Amblin című kisjátékfilmje következett, amiről 1984-ben saját filmgyártó cégét is elnevezte. A filmet még abban az évben be is mutatták az Atlantai Filmfesztiválon. Ugyanebben az évben, 20 évesen megjelent a Universal Pictures stúdió bejáratánál öltönyben, egy üres diplomatatáskával a kezében és besétált a kapun, mintha ott dolgozna. Hónapokon keresztül minden nap bement reggel és távozott este, senkinek sem tűnt fel, hogy mit keres a falakon belül egy fiatal fiú. Elfoglalt egy üres íróasztalt és úgy csinált, mintha dolgozna. Egy nap azonban megbízták egy asszisztensi munkával. 22 évesen televíziós rendezőként debütált. 1969 és 1973 között a Columbo és még számos sorozat epizódjait rendezte. A hetvenes években a sci-fi és a horror műfajához fordult. Első játékfilm hosszúságú, de még tévéfilmje, a Párbaj volt, amit 1973-ban mutattak be. 1974-ben a Sugarlandi hajtóvadászattal óriási sikert ért el. 1977-ben elkészítette a Harmadik típusú találkozásokat a magyar származású Zsigmond Vilmos fényképezésében.
Spielberg legtöbb filmje óriási pénzügyi bevételeket produkált. A pár tízmillió dollárból készült mozik számos esetben 400 millió dolláros rekord eredményeket értek el. Spielberg vezette be Hollywoodban először, hogy a rendezői gázsi mellett részesedést kért filmjei után a bevételből. Filmjeinek gyakran a saját producere is volt Kathlen Kennedy és Frank Marshall mellett. Közreműködött más rendezők filmjeiben is, legtöbb esetben a Universal forgalmazásában. 1993-ban a Schindler listája megszerezte neki a régóta vágyott Oscar-díjat is a legjobb rendezésért. A DreamWorks SKG filmgyártó és filmforgalmazó céget 1994-ben alapította David Geffen és Jeffrey Katzenberg társaságában. 2001-ben újra beiratkozott a Kaliforniai egyetemre, s bár az órákat nem látogatta, írt dolgozatokat, gyakorlati munkákat adott le, konzultált professzoraival, s végül egy év alatt összegyűjtötte a megfelelő számú kreditet. 37 évvel beiratkozása után átvehette rendezői diplomáját.
Spielberg legtöbb filmje óriási pénzügyi bevételeket produkált. A pár tízmillió dollárból készült mozik számos esetben 400 millió dolláros rekord eredményeket értek el. Spielberg vezette be Hollywoodban először, hogy a rendezői gázsi mellett részesedést kért filmjei után a bevételből. Filmjeinek gyakran a saját producere is volt Kathlen Kennedy és Frank Marshall mellett. Közreműködött más rendezők filmjeiben is, legtöbb esetben a Universal forgalmazásában. 1993-ban a Schindler listája megszerezte neki a régóta vágyott Oscar-díjat is a legjobb rendezésért. A DreamWorks SKG filmgyártó és filmforgalmazó céget 1994-ben alapította David Geffen és Jeffrey Katzenberg társaságában. 2001-ben újra beiratkozott a Kaliforniai egyetemre, s bár az órákat nem látogatta, írt dolgozatokat, gyakorlati munkákat adott le, konzultált professzoraival, s végül egy év alatt összegyűjtötte a megfelelő számú kreditet. 37 évvel beiratkozása után átvehette rendezői diplomáját.
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