Steven Spielberg (116 page)

Spielberg recalled his meeting with John Ford in Lane, “‘I Want Gross.’” Information on Spielberg’s lunch with Orson Welles is from the author’s interview with Gary Graver and from Jonathan Rosenbaum, “Afterword” to Welles,
The
Cradle
Will
Rock:
An
Origi
nal
Screenplay,
ed. by James Pepper, Santa Teresa Press, 1994; the comments by Spielberg and Welles on Spielberg’s purchase of a Rosebud sled are quoted in Frank Brady,
Citizen
Welles:
A
Biography
of
Orson
Welles,
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1989.

Information on Spielberg’s relationship with Steve Ross is from Connie Bruck,
Master
of
the
Game:
Steve
Ross
and
the
Creation
of
Time
Warner,
Simon & Schuster, 1994, and “A Mogul’s Farewell,”
The
New
Yorker,
October 18, 1993; and from Roger Cohen, “A $78 Million Year: Steve Ross Defends His Paycheck,”
NYT,
March 22, 1992. The Warner Bros. “Celebration of Tradition” party was covered by Joseph McBride in “Past, Present Converge on WB Lot,”
DV,
June 4, 1990. Spielberg’s involvement in
Strokes
of
Genius
(PBS) is described in “The Story Behind the Series,”
The
Dial,
May 1984.

Sources on Spielberg’s TV series
Amazing
Stories
include the author’s interviews with Joe Dante, Bob Gale, Richard B. Matheson, Richard Christian Matheson, Peter Z. Orton, and Joan Darling; and articles including Leslie Bennetts, “Spielberg to Produce Adventure Series for NBC,”
NYT,
July 31, 1984; Eric Mankin, “Spielberg to Return to TV with a Weekly Anthology,”
L
AHE,
July 31, 1984; “MCA, NBC Say Spielberg Will Produce TV Series,”
Wall
Street
Journal,
July 31, 1984; Buck, “Spielberg: Raider of the Lost Art of Anthologies”; Morgan Gendel, “It Came from Beyond to NBC,”
LAT,
July 21, 1985; Steve Pond, “Making Little Movies,”
US,
September 23, 1985; Elvis Mitchell, “Amazing Anthologies,”
Film
Comment,
September–October 1985; Paul Bartel, “My Amazing Story,”
American
Film,
October 1985; Breskin; Michael Kaplan, “NBC’s 800-Pound Turkey,”
L.A.
Reader,
January 10, 1986; Tom Carson, “Boy Wonder,”
L.A.
Weekly,
January 10, 1986; Blum; Aljean Harmetz,
“Amazing
Stories
Tries New Tactics,”
NYT,
June 2, 1986; and Turner, “Steven Spielberg: His Stories Aren’t Amazing Enough … Yet.” Sid Sheinberg reacted to Turner’s article in Pat H. Broeske, “Amazing Story,”
LAT,
August 10, 1986. Sources on David Lean’s visit to the set of “Ghost Train” include Breskin and
Royal,
“Always:
An Interview with Steven Spielberg.” Kael’s comment on
Amazing
Stories
is from Blum.

Sources on
Empire
of
the
Sun
include the author’s interviews with Tom Stoppard, Allen Daviau, David Tomblin, David Bale (father of actor Christian Bale), and Gale; additional information is from Jean Oppenheimer’s 1991 interview with Daviau. The film is based on the novel by J. G. Ballard, Simon & Schuster, 1984. Ballard described the filming in his sequel,
The
Kindness
of
Women,
HarperCollins, London, 1991. The fourth-draft shooting script by Tom Stoppard (and Menno Meyjes, who did not receive screen credit) is dated February 2,1987. Ballard talked about his childhood in
The
China
Odyssey:
“Empire
of
the
Sun,
”
a
Film
by
Steven
Spielberg,
Les Mayfield’s documentary about the making of the film (Warner Bros., CBS-TV, 1987); and in “From Shanghai to Shepperton,” an interview in
Foundation,
No. 24, February 1982, reprinted in V. Vale and Andrea Juno, eds.,
Re/Search:
J.
G.
Ballard,
Re/Search Publications, 1984.

Information on Spielberg’s involvement in the restoration of
Lawrence
of
Arabia
is from Morris and Raskin, “
Lawrence
of
Arabia
”:
The
30th
Anniversary
Pictorial
History.
Spielberg’s comment on filmmakers’ moral rights is from David Robb, “Battle over Berne Copyright Treaty Is Heating Up,”
DV,
February 19, 1988; see also Robb, “Mr. Spielberg Goes to Washington,”
DV,
November 18, 1987. Sources on David Lean’s involvement with
Empire
of
the
Sun
and Spielberg’s with Lean’s
Nostromo
project include the author’s interviews with Daviau and Tomblin; Stephen M. Silverman,
David
Lean,
Harry N. Abrams, 1989; Alain Silver and James Ursini,
David
Lean
and
His
Films,
Silman-James Press, 1992 (revised edition); and Kevin Brownlow,
David
Lean:
A
Biography,
Richard Cohen Books (London) and St. Martin’s Press (New York), 1996.

Articles on the filming of
Empire
of
the
Sun
include Army Archerd’s column,
DV,
February 15, 1985; Todd McCarthy,
“Sun
Rises on Bob Shapiro’s Prod’n Sked,”
DV,
July 26, 1985; “Shapiro, Amblin Option
Empire,
”
HR,
May 2, 1986; James Greenberg, “Spielberg to Direct Amblin Film in China,”
DV,
January 21, 1987; Charles Champlin, “New Day Dawns for
Sun
Writer Tom Stoppard,”
LAT,
December 10, 1987; Dale Kutzera,
“Empire
of
the
Sun
—an Exotic Journey,”
American
Cinematographer,
January 1988; Cathleen McGuigan, “Not Just Child’s Play,”
Newsweek,
February 22, 1988; Jeffrey Jolson-Colburn,
“Empire
Cinematographer Defends Spielberg,”
HR,
March 3, 1988; “Theatrical Cinematography Noted by ASC, Academy,”
American
Cinematographer,
April 1988; and Nora Lee, “Reflections 4: Daviau,”
American
Cinematographer,
August 1988. Spielberg’s comment on his airplane “fetish” is from Bob Strauss,
“Peter
Pan
Takes a Flying Leap,”
LADN,
December 8, 1991. Spielberg’s comment to George Lucas on “films with kids” is from Champlin,
George
Lucas:
The
Creative
Impulse.

Reviews (1987) include Sheila Benson,
“Empire
of
the
Sun
Charts a Boy’s Survival During War,”
LAT,
December 9; Peter Rainer, “Spielberg’s New
Empire,
”
LAHE,
December 9; David Denby, “Empire Builders,”
New
York,
December 14; David Ansen, “A Childhood Lost to War,”
Newsweek,
December 14; Andrew Sarris, “A Boy’s Own Story,”
The
Village
Voice,
December 15; J. Hoberman,
The
Village
Voice,
December 22; and Pauline Kael, “Religious Experiences,”
The
New
Yorker,
December 28.

Spielberg talked about his psychotherapy in Pancol, “Steven Spielberg.” His involvement with John Bradshaw was reported in Sally Ogle Davis, “Oh, Pablum!”
Los
Angeles,
April 1992, and Stephen Farber and Marc Green,
Hollywood
on
the
Couch,
Morrow, 1993.

Information on Spielberg’s involvement in
Rain
Man
is from sources including an interview with Ronald Bass in William Froug,
The
New
Screenwriter
Looks
at
the
New
Screenwriter,
Silman-James Press, 1991; Anne Thompson, “Risky Business,”
L.A.
Weekly,
July 24, 1987; Mitchell Fink, “Spielberg Begs Off,”
LAHE,
October 14, 1987;
LAT
item, November 17, 1987; Donald Chase, “On the Road with Hoffman and Cruise,”
NYT,
December 11, 1988; Griffin, “Spielberg’s Last Crusade”; and Royal,
“Always:
An Interview
with Steven Spielberg.” Royal reported on the development of
Schindler’s
List
in the 1980s; also see notes for chapter 16.

Sources on
Indiana
Jones
and
the
Last
Crusade
include the author’s interviews with Jeffrey Boam, David Tomblin, Gloria Katz, and Willard Huyck. The screenplay by Boam, from a story by George Lucas and Menno Meyjes, was published in 1995 by O.S.P. Publishing as part of
Premiere
magazine’s series The Movie Script Library. Boam’s third revised draft of the screenplay, titled
Indy
III,
is dated March 1, 1988. In 1989, a novelization by Rob MacGregor was published by Ballantine and a children’s adaptation by Les Martin was published by Random House. A documentary film,
Great
Adventurers
&
Their
Quests:
“Indiana
Jones
and
the
Last
Crusade,
”
was directed by Les Mayfield and William Rus for Paramount and CBS-TV (1989). Additional information on the story and screenplay of
Last
Crusade
is from sources including Champlin,
George
Lucas:
The
Creative
Impulse,
and (1989): Richard B. Woodward, “Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch,”
NYT,
May 21; Richard Corliss, “What’s Old Is Gold: A Triumph for
Indy
3,
”
Time,
May 29; and David Heuring,
“Indiana
Jones
and
the
Last
Crusade,” 
American
Cinematogra
pher,
June. Other 1989 articles include Philip Wuntch, “Actor Connery Feels Bond with New Film Image,”
The
Hartford
Courant,
June 4; Richard Gold, “Door Left Ajar for
Indiana
4,
”
Variety,
June 5; and Ben Fong-Torres, “Indiana Jones’ Final Adventure,”
Stars
and
Stripes,
June 19. Reviews (1989) include
Mac.
(Joseph McBride),
DV,
May 19, and Henry Sheehan,
L.A.
Reader,
June 2.

The Spielberg–Irving divorce was disclosed in “Spielberg, Irving Agree to Divorce,”
HR,
April 25, 1989, and “Legal File,”
LAT,
June 30, 1989. Spielberg’s net worth of “well over $225 million” was reported in “The 400 Richest People in America,”
Forbes,
October 26, 1987. Estimates of Irving’s settlement were made in “Bermuda Shorts,”
LAHE,
May 31, 1989 ($93 million), and “Steven Spielberg Finally Suffers a Big-Budget Flop—His Marriage,”
People,
May 8, 1989 ($112.5 million). Amy’s comment “I started my career …” is from “No Family Ties,”
People,
April 3, 1989. Matthew Robbins discussed the marriage in Schiff. Rumors about Spielberg–Irving marital problems were printed in Cyndi Stivers, “Unswerving Irving,”
US,
October 3,1988; Liz Smith column, LAT, November 3, 1988; Jahr; “Morning Report,”
LAT,
March 24, 1989; Mitchell Fink, “The Altar of Doom,”
LAHE,
April 25, 1989; and “A Year of Rumors Becomes a Fact,”
USA
Today,
April 25, 1989. Their agreement to alternate work assignments was reported in Maureen Orth, “Amy Irving,”
Vogue,
March 1988, and Leslie Bennetts, “Amy Irving,”
Cosmopoli
tan,
November 1988. Amy also discussed her problems balancing career and marriage in Jahr and Patrick Pacheco, “The Amy Chronicles,”
LAT,
April 17, 1994. Their Malibu house fire was reported in “Spielberg’s Beach House Catches Fire,”
LAHE,
July 25, 1988, and
Variety
item, August 3, 1988.

Kate Capshaw was linked to Spielberg in such articles as Fink’s “The Spielberg Watch,”
LAHE,
August 10, 1988, and “The Altar of Doom” (which also reported on denials of marital problems and a Spielberg–Capshaw romance). Capshaw recalled their 1989 London stay in Salamon, “The Long Voyage Home.” Kate’s adoption of Theo was reported in an
LAHE
item, May 17, 1989; Salamon reported the child’s subsequent adoption by Spielberg. Information on the birth of Sasha Spielberg (1990) is from Army Archerd’s column,
DV,
May 15, and “Born,”
Time,
June 4. The Spielberg–Capshaw wedding (1991) was reported in “Close Encounter,”
LAT,
October 14; “Spielberg–Capshaw,”
HR,
October 14; Liz Smith column,
LAT,
October 15; “And Daddy Makes Three,”
Newsweek,
October 28; and
People
item, October 28. Information on Amy’s relationship with Bruno Barreto and on their son, Gabriel, is from Archerd’s column,
DV,
April 25, 1989; Ann Trebbe, “Spielberg and Irving to Divorce,”
USA
Today,
April 25, 1989; “Cash Is Better,”
LAHE,
August 31,1989; Beth Kleid, “Crossing Motherhood,”
LAT,
May
7,
1990; “Born,”
Time,
May 21, 1990; Leslie Marshall, “Desert Bloom,”
In
Style,
January 1996; and Dotson Rader, “‘I Have a New Life,’”
Parade,
March 24,1996. Spielberg’s comment
on the two worst times in his life was made on
The
Barbara
Walters
Special
(1994). His 1989 comment on Amy is from Griffin, “Spielberg’s Last Crusade.”

The revised shooting script of
Always
by Jerry Belson and Ron Bass (based on the 1943 film
A
Guy
Named
Joe
)
is dated May 4, 1989; Bass did not receive screen credit (Diane Thomas also worked on the script without credit). Information on the film includes MGM’s announcement of the project as
A
Guy
Named
Joe,
HR,
July 10, 1980; Army Archerd’s column,
DV,
October 9, 1981; Robert Osborne, “Rambling Reporter,”
HR,
February 1, 1985, and October 29, 1987; Joy Horowitz, “Development Hell,”
Ameri
can
Film,
November 1987; “Rewrite of a Rewrite,”
LAHE,
April 4, 1989; “Short Takes,”
DV,
June 1, 1989; Charles Fleming,
“Always
on Time,”
LAHE,
August 18, 1989; “Role Reversal,”
People,
August 21, 1989; Christopher Perez, “A Close Encounter with Steven Spielberg,”
The
Village
View,
December 22–28, 1989; and Steve Dollar, “‘Boy Wonder’ Director of
Jaws
Grows Up,”
Long
Beach
Press-Telegram,
December 23, 1989. Reviews and commentary include
Mac.
(Joseph McBride),
DV,
December 18, 1989; Henry Sheehan, “Spielberg:
Sometimes
Brilliant,”
L.A.
Reader,
January 5,1990; David Denby, “Flying Low,”
New
York,
January 8, 1990; and Harvey R. Greenberg, M.D., “Spielberg on the Couch,”
Movieline,
December 1991, reprinted in Greenberg’s book
Screen
Memories:
Hollywood
Cinema
on
the
Psychoanalytic
Couch,
Columbia University Press, 1993. Diane Thomas’s death was reported in Leonard Greenwood, “Writer of
Romancing
the
Stone
Killed,”
LAT,
October 23, 1985.