Steven Spielberg: Interviews, Revised and Updated

by Brent Notbohm, Lester D. Friedman

Overview

More than four decades after the premiere of his first film, Steven Spielberg (b. 1946) continues to be a household name whose influence on popular culture extends far beyond the movie screen. Now in his seventies, Spielberg shows no intention of retiring from directing or even slowing down. Since the publication of Steven Spielberg: Interviews in 2000, the filmmaker has crafted some of the most complex movies of his extensive career.

His new movies consistently reinvigorate entrenched genres, adding density and depth. Many of the defining characters, motifs, tropes, and themes that emerge in Spielberg’s earliest movies shape these later works as well, but often in new configurations that probe deeper into more complicated subjects—dangerous technology rather than man-eating sharks, homicidal rather than cuddly aliens, lethal terrorism instead of rampaging dinosaurs. Spielberg's movies continue to display a remarkably sophisticated level of artistry that matches, and sometimes exceeds, the memorable visual hallmarks of his prior work. His latest series of films continue to demonstrate an ongoing intellectual restlessness and a willingness to challenge himself as a creative artist.

With this new collection of interviews, which includes eleven original interviews from the 2000 edition and nine new interviews, readers will recognize the themes that motivate Spielberg, the cinematic techniques he employs to create his feature films, and the emotional connection he has to his movies. The result is a nuanced and engaging portrait of the most popular director in American cinema history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496824035
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	08/01/2019
Series:	Conversations with Filmmakers Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	244
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Brent Notbohm is professor of film and video and chair of the Communicating Arts Department at University of Wisconsin–Superior. He is also an award-winning independent filmmaker who has directed over thirty films and videos, including the feature film Madison, which won the Jury Prize at the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival. Lester D. Friedman is professor emeritus and former chair of the Media and Society Program at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. He is author, coauthor, and editor of over twenty books and numerous articles, including the first scholarly study of Spielberg’s films, Citizen Spielberg.
Brent Notbohm of Duluth, Minnesota, is an independent filmmaker and a Professor of Film and Video at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. He revieved his M.F.A. from Syracuse University (2000) and his B.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1994).
Lester D. Friedman teaches medical humanities and bioethics at Upstate Medical University and cinema studies in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Revised Edition vii

Chronology xii

Filmography xv

At Sea with Steven Spielberg David Helpern / 1974 3

Filming The Sugarland Express: An Interview with Steven Spielberg Andrew C. Bobrow / 1974 17

Primal Scream: An Interview with Steven Spielberg Richard Combs / 1977 27

Close Encounter with Steven Spielberg Mitch Tuchman / 1978 34

The Mind behind Close Encounters of the Third Kind Steve Poster / 1978 50

Steven Spielberg in His Adventures on Earth Susan Royal / 1982 63

Always: An Interview with Steven Spielberg Susan Royal / 1989 83

Steven's Choice John H. Richardson / 1994 100

Seriously Spielberg Stephen Schiff / 1994 111

A "World" Apart Peter Biskind / 1997 131

Five-Star General Stephen Pizzello / 1998 143

An Interview with Steven Spielberg Steve Head / 2002 150

Spiegel Interview with Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg Spiegel / 2005 160

A Telephone Call with Spielberg Roger Ebert / 2005 167

Spiegel Interview with Steven Spielberg Spiegel / 2006 171

Q&A: Steven Spielberg Jim Windolf / 2008 177

Interview: Steven Spielberg Tempts the Fates with His Animated Tintin Matt McDaniel / 2011 190

Steven Spielberg Interview for Lincoln Will Lawrence / 2013 193

Steven Spielberg on the Cold War and Other Hollywood Front Lines Cara Buckley / 2015 196

Ready Player One's Steven Spielberg and Ernest Cline on Pooling Their Nostalgia to Tell a New Story Josh Rottenberg / 2018 201

Index 207