Steven Spielberg (121 page)

Spielberg’s practice of taking no money upfront is reported in sources including Galloway, “Dialogue with Steven Spielberg.” In “So, What’s the Spielberg Magic Worth?”
NYT
, November 28, 2005, Laura M. Holson reported the proceeds Spielberg, Cruise, and the studios earned from
Minority Report
. Spielberg’s description of 2003 as DreamWorks’ “first shitty year” is from Kim Masters, “What’s wrong with DreamWorks?”
Esquire
, November 2003. The loss suffered by the animation division in 2003 was reported in its initial public offering (2004) and by Ronald Grover, “DreamWorks’ IPO, Disney’s Nightmare,”
Business Week Online
, July 22. The spinoff of DreamWorks animation was reported in Jill Goldsmith and Nicole LaPorte, “D’Works Does Splits,”
DV
, July 22, 2004; Spielberg’s desire to avoid disclosing details of his compensation is from Grover. DreamWorks’ purchase of Pacific Data Images is discussed by Kimmel, who describes DreamWorks as “a failed dream.” “Our eyes” is from Holson and Sharon Waxman, “Despite Success of
Shrek
, DreamWorks Has Work to Do to Woo Wall Street,”
NYT
, May 17, 2004.

Sources on DreamWorks’ negotiations with Universal (2005), the sale of DreamWorks to Paramount (2005–06), and the resulting problems include Kimmel; LaPorte; Merissa Marr and Kate Kelly, “Aftermath of Fight for Movie Studio Vexes Both Companies,”
Wall 
Street Journal
, February 5, 2006; Marr and Kelly, “Universal Pictures Chairman Jumps to Paramount,”
Wall Street Journal
, February 27, 2006; Peter Bart, “Can this marriage be saved?”
DV
, July 23, 2007; and Tatiana Siegel and Anne Thompson, “D’Works split from Par turns messy,”
DV
, September 22, 2008. Information on the sale of DreamWorks’
live-action
library to the George Soros group is from Kimmel.

Spielberg’s statement “I was saddened” is from Marr, Kelly, and Kathryn Kranhold, “Hollywood Rewrite: Viacom Outbids GE to Buy DreamWorks,”
Wall Street Journal
, December 12, 2005. Rachel Abramowitz described Spielberg’s fatigue in “Spielberg enters a crossfire he could not avoid,”
LAT
, December 18, 2005. Spielberg’s comment about Universal being his “birthplace” is from Marr and Kelly, “Universal Pictures Chairman Jumps to Paramount.”

Spielberg’s consideration of directing
Memoirs of a Geisha
was reported in Shone, “The man who fights fear with film”; and Holson, “So, What’s the Spielberg Magic Worth?” Spielberg’s comment “No one wanted” is from Gabriel Snyder, “Spielberg may downsize pics,”
DV
, June 9, 2006. Spielberg’s taking over
Catch Me If You Can
from Lasse Hallström is from Galloway, “Dialogue with Steven Spielberg.” Spielberg’s flirtation with directing
Meet the Parents
and Kate’s reaction are from Mike Goodridge, “The Spielberg express,”
Screen International
, February 7, 2003. Spielberg discussed his “impulsive decision” to make
Catch Me
in the DreamWorks documentary
Catch Me if You Can: Behind the Camera
(2003) on the DVD edition. The film’s source is Frank W. Abagnale’s memoir, with Stan Redding,
Catch Me If You Can: The Amazing True Story of the Youngest and Most Daring Con Man in the History of Fun and Profit!
, Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1980.

Spielberg discussed the connection he saw between Abagnale’s impostures and his own youthful adventures at Universal in the DreamWorks documentary
Catch Me If You Can: In Closing
(2003), on the DVD edition (“went into a disguise”); and in Steve Head, “An Interview with Steven Spielberg,” movies.ign.com, December 17, 2002 (“broke into”). For the accurate account of Spielberg’s early days at Universal, see chapters 5–7 of this book. Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts discuss the versions put forth in the 2006 Kennedy Center Honors in “The Steven Spielberg Saga: Bedeviled by its Ever-Shifting Details,” Washington Post, December 17, 2006
(The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts
, with Spielberg among the honorees, was broadcast on CBS-TV, December 26, 2006). The “impostor phenomenon” is discussed in Joseph McBride,
Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success
, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1992, and St. Martin’s Griffin, New York, 2000 (revised edition); and Daniel Goleman, “Therapists Find Many Achievers Fear They Are Fakes,”
NYT
, September 11, 1984. Capra’s comment to Spielberg was made in a 1970s syndicated television interview with the two directors by Bob Thomas, provided to the author by Thomas.

Sources on Spielberg’s return to California State University, Long Beach, to earn his degree in 2002 include “Steven Spielberg to Graduate from California State University, Long Beach with Bachelor’s Degree in Film and Electronic Arts,” CSU Long Beach press release, May 14; Pat Nason, “Spielberg wraps college career,”
HR
, May 14 (his quote about “post-production”); Joal Ryan, “Mr. Spielberg Goes Back to College,”
E! Online
, May 14 (“I wanted to accomplish”); Stephanie Chavez, “Spielberg to Add B.A. to His Resume,”
LAT
, May 31 (“It was longer” quote from Donald J. Riesh); Chavez, “Spielberg Role as Student a Wrap,”
LAT
, June 1; Ian Hanigan, “Spielberg, an E.T. on campus, gets B.A.,” Long Beach
Press-Telegram
, June 1; Stephen M. Silverman, “Steven Spielberg a Drop-Out No More,”
People
, June 3; Tom Tugend, “Spielberg gets degree,”
Jewish News of Greater Phoenix
, June 14; and
People
item, June 17.

Spielberg discussed
Catch Me
and its reflection of his trauma over his parents’ divorce in “Catching Movies with: Steven Spielberg & Martin Scorsese on
Catch Me If You Can.
” Spielberg’s recollection “I kind of ran away” is from Jeff Giles, “Catch Them If You Can,”
Newsweek
, December 23, 2002. Alan Vanneman analyzes
Catch Me
in “Steven Spielberg:
A Jew in America: Deconstructing
Catch Me If You Can
,” Bright Lights
, August 2003. Spielberg’s comment that he would not embarrass the FBI is from the DreamWorks documentary
The FBI Perspective
(2003), on the DVD edition of
Catch Me
. He mentioned his nostalgia for a more trusting time in America in
Catch Me If You Can: The Film and the Filmmakers
, with the screenplay by Jeff Nathanson, introduction by Frank W. Abagnale, New Market Press, New York, 2002.

Spielberg explained why he made
The Terminal
in the DreamWorks documentary
Take Off: Making The Terminal
(2004) on the DVD edition. Reviews (2004) include Philip French, “Hanks at the point of no return,”
The Observer
(UK), September 5; and J. Hoberman, “Baggage claim,”
The Village Voice
, June 8. Sources on the real-life inspiration for Viktor Navorski, Merhan Karimi Nasseri, include Matthew Rose, “Waiting for Spielberg,”
NYT
, September 21, 2003; Hoberman; and Paul Berczeller, “The man who lost his past,”
The Guardian
, September 6, 2004. Alex McDowell’s terminal set is featured in the DreamWorks documentary
Waiting for the Flight: Building “The Terminal
” (2004) in the DVD edition. Art Kane’s photograph “Harlem 1958” appeared in
Esquire
, January 1959, and is the subject of the 1994 documentary film
A Great Day in Harlem
.

H. G. Wells’s novel
The War of the Worlds
was first published as a serial in
Pearson’s Magazine
, April to December, 1897, and as a book in 1898 by William Heinemann, London. Its genesis is described in James Gunn, “Afterword” to
The War of the Worlds
, Tor, New York, 1988.
War of the Worlds: The Shooting Script
(Newmarket Press, New York, 2005) includes the screenplay by Josh Friedman and David Koepp as well as an introduction by and Q&A with Koepp. Orson Welles’s CBS Radio program
The War of the Worlds
(adapted by Howard Koch) was broadcast on October 30, 1938, by the
Mercury Theatre on the Air
. Spielberg’s purchase of the original script used by Welles on the broadcast is mentioned in Abramowitz.

Reviews of
War
(June 29, 2005) include Roger Ebert, Chicago
Sun-Times
; and A. O. Scott, “Another Terror Attack, but Not by Humans,”
NYT
. How the film’s special effects were achieved is shown on DreamWorks’ documentaries on the DVD edition of the film, including the
Production Diaries
. Kathleen Kennedy’s claim about “the edgier, darker story” is from the DreamWorks documentary
We Are Not Alone
(2005) on the DVD edition. Spielberg’s comment that
War
“preyed on our fears” and his description of his earlier depiction of benign aliens as hypocritical are from the Schickel documentary
Spielberg on Spielberg
.

The development of
Munich
(2005) by Barry Mendel and producer Kathleen Kennedy’s urging Spielberg to make the film were reported in “Steven Spielberg Explores a Definitive Moment in History,”
Munich
Production Notes, DreamWorks; the DreamWorks documentary
Munich: An Introduction by Director/Producer Steven Spielberg
, on the 2006 Collectors DVD edition of the film; and Richard Schickel, “Spielberg Takes on Terror,”
Time
, December 4, 2005 (with the Spielberg quote “I’ll leave it” and the film’s production cost). Spielberg’s comment “I couldn’t live with myself” is from Abramowitz, “Spielberg enters a crossfire he could not avoid.” Ciarán Hinds’s observation on Spielberg is from Killian Fox, “On set with Spielberg,”
The Observer
(UK), January 22, 2006. Spielberg’s recollection of watching the televised coverage of the Munich massacre is from Fox; Abramowitz; and “
Spiegel
Interview with Steven Spielberg: ‘I Would Die for Israel.’”

Munich
is adapted from George Jonas,
Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli
Counter-Terrorist
Team
, Lester & Orpen Dennys and William Collins Sons, Toronto, Canada, 1984, and Simon & Schuster, New York, 1984; the Simon & Schuster paperback edition, 2005, has an introduction by Richard Ben Cramer. Other background on Israel’s targeted assassinations can be found in Aaron J. Klein, translated from the Hebrew by Mitch
Ginsburg,
Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel’s Deadly Response
, Random House, New York, 2005. Jonas criticized
Munich
in his article “The Spielberg Massacre,”
Maclean’s
, January 7, 2006. The confirmation of Israeli hit squads by two Israeli generals was reported in
Munich
Production Notes, “Steven Spielberg Explores a Definitive Moment in History.”

Tony Kushner’s criticism of Israeli policies is from an interview by Ori Nir, “The freedom to dissent,”
Haaretz
, July 4, 2004; see also the anthology edited by Kushner and Alisa Solomon,
Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
, Grove Press, New York, 2003. The identification of “Avner” as Juval Aviv, who served as a source for the film, was reported in David H. Halbfinger, “Next: Spielberg’s Biggest Gamble,”
NYT
, July 1, 2005. The Israeli government’s challenge to “Avner”’s account was reported in Neal Ascherson, “A master and the myths of Munich,”
The Observer
(UK), January 15, 2006. Information on the meetings Spielberg and Kushner had with Aviv and Spielberg’s comments “I trust my intuition,” “If it became necessary,” “the most European,” and “understood more” are from “
Spiegel
Interview with Steven Spielberg: ‘I Would Die for Israel.’”

Leon Wieseltier of
The New Republic
attacked
Schindler’s List
in “Close Encounters of the Nazi Kind,” January 24, 1994, and
Munich
in “Hits,” December 19, 2005. J. J. Goldberg defended
Munich
in “Spielberg’s List,”
The Jewish Daily Forward
, December 23, 2005; and Michelle Goldberg in “The War on
Munich,” Salon
, December 20, 2005. Kubrick’s advice to Spielberg never to offer a definitive statement of thematic intent was reported in Mike Goodridge, “Spielberg Juggles Geisha, Fish, Abe,”
Screen International
, June 29, 2001. Spielberg’s statement “I’m always in favor” is from Schickel, “Spielberg Takes on Terror.” The
Observer
interview with Spielberg’s observation “I find it kind of interesting” is “The eye of the storm” by Andrew Anthony, January 22, 2006.

Spielberg’s and Kaminski’s stylistic influences and shooting locations are discussed in the
Munich
Production Notes: “Steven Spielberg and Janusz Kaminski Update Gritty ’70s Thriller”; and in Windolf, “Q&A: Steven Spielberg.” See also Benjamin B, “The Price of Revenge,”
American Cinematographer
, February 2006. The high security on
Munich
locations was reported in Abramowitz.

Todd McCarthy reviewed
Munich
in
DV
, December 9, 2005. Kushner responded to the controversy surrounding the film in “Defending
Munich
’s Disputed Territory,”
LAT
, January 22, 2006. Family themes in
Munich
were discussed by David Edelstein in “Death of a Hit Man,”
Slate
, December 22, 2005.

The development of the screenplay for
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
(2008) is discussed in J. W. Rinzler, with interviews by Laurent Bouzereau, foreword by Spielberg, preface by George Lucas,
The Complete Making of Indiana Jones: The Definitive Story Behind All Four Films
, Del Rey Books, New York, 2008. That book includes Spielberg’s objections to the alien story; Lucas’s comment “I thought we’d just barely got by”; Spielberg’s remark “too heavy”; and Connery’s rejection of a role in the film. The making of
Crystal Skull
is also chronicled in DreamWorks’ documentaries on the DVD edition (2008); and in Jim Windolf, “Keys to the Kingdom,”
Vanity Fair
, February 2008; and Windolf’s “Q&A: Steven Spielberg” (including Spielberg commenting “I go for geography” and that he likes to find a fresh visual approach for each film) and “Q&A: George Lucas,”
Vanity Fair
online, January 2, 2008. Karen Allen’s observation on the changes Spielberg has undergone since
Raiders of the Lost Ark
is from the DreamWorks documentary
Production Diary: Making of “The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
” (2008) on the DVD edition of
Crystal Skull
.