Steven Spielberg: The Iconic Filmmaker and His Work [Hardcover]

This comprehensive and in-depth study delves into the life and works of the most famous director who has ever lived, Steven Spielberg.

Spielberg isthe 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 alsohis 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 areso 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 behindJaws. Thestrange ambitions ofClose Encounters. Dive bombing with1941. InventingIndiana Jones.Re-inventing the blockbusterwithJurassic Park. Venturing into history’s darkest shadows withSchindler’s List. Transforming a genre withSaving Private Ryan. Themuscular, unpredictable, confrontationalSpielberg ofMinority Report,Munich, andLincoln.

And then there is his family. How his films, even late in his career—lionized, untouchable—wentin 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, contextuls£