Steven Spielberg: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers Series)

Steven Spielberg: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers Series)

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<p>Steven Spielberg has become a brand name and a force that extends far beyond the movie screen. Phrases like "phone home" and the music score from <I>Jaws</I> are now part of our cultural script, appearing in commercials, comedy routines, and common conversation. <p>Yet few scholars have devoted time to studying Spielberg's vast output of popular films despite the director's financial and aesthetic achievements. Spanning twenty-five years of Spielberg's career, <I>Steven Spielberg: Interviews</I> explores the issues, the themes, and the financial considerations surrounding his work. The blockbuster creator of <I>E.T.</I>, <I>Jaws</I>, and <I>Schindler's List</I> talks about dreams and the almighty dollar. <p>"I'm not really interested in making money," he says. "That's always come as the result of success, but it's not been my goal, and I've had a tough time proving that to people." <p>Ranging from Spielberg's twenties to his mid-fifties, the interviews chart his evolution from a brash young filmmaker trying to make his way in Hollywood, to his spectacular blockbuster triumphs, to his maturation as a director seeking to inspire the imagination with meaningful subjects. <p>The Steven Spielberg who emerges in these talks is a complex mix of businessman and artist, of arrogance and insecurity, of shallowness and substance. Often interviewers will uncover the director's human side, noting how changes in Spielberg's personal life -- marriage, divorce, fatherhood, remarriage -- affect his movies. But always the interviewers find keys to the story-telling and filmmaking talent that have made Spielberg's characters and themes shape our times and inhabit our dreams. <p>"Every time I go to a movie, it's magic, no matter what the movie's about," he says. "Whether you watch eight hours of <I>Shoah</I> or whether it's <I>Ghostbusters</I>, when the lights go down in the theater and the movie fades in, it's magic."</p>