Spielberg

---

1

( camera rolling )

( music playing )

Steven Spielberg:

I started making movies

when I was a young kid,

but I remember the time

I almost gave up my dream

of being a movie director.

I must have been 16.

( music playing )

Spielberg:

A movie came into town

called "Lawrence of Arabia,"

and everybody

was talking about it.

I never sat in a fancy

theater seat before.

Premium ticket price,

70mm projection,

stereophonic sound.

And when

the film was over,

I wanted to not be

a director anymore

because the bar

was too high.

There was a scene

where he looked at himself

in that sword/knife,

when he was first

given the robes

and he thought

he was alone.

And he walked

around laughing

and looking at his shadow

where the diaphanous robe

he was holding out

was actually imprinted

- on the sand in shadow.

- ( laughs )

It was a great moment.

And then later,

when they route

the retreating Turks,

you see him again

covered in gore.

And he's got the knife

in the same position

he had it

in his pristine days,

in his glory days.

And he's looking at himself,

who he's become.

It was the first time,

seeing a movie,

I realized that

there are themes that aren't

narrative story themes.

There are themes

that are character themes,

that are personal themes.

That David Lean

created a portraiture,

surrounded the portrait

with a mural

of scope

and epic action,

but at the heart and core

of "Lawrence of Arabia"

is "Who am I"?

- ( gunfire )

- ( all yelling )

Spielberg:

I had such a profound reaction

to the filmmaking,

and I went back

and saw the film

a week later.

I saw the film

a week after that.

And I saw the film

a week after that.

And I realized that

there was no going back,

that this was going to be

what I was gonna do

or I was gonna

die trying.

But this was going to be

the rest of my life.

( music playing )

( explosion )

( music continues )

( roaring )

( distant explosions )

( music continues )

And then trying to get--

it felt lined up.

- Man:
The camera

just gotta go right.

- Just a little bit lower.

That's good right there.

That's perfect.

Yeah, camera has to go

right a bit, please.

Go right.

- Right, right, right, right.

- Man:
Can you get there?

Right there

would be good.

Spielberg:

Every time I start

a new scene, I'm nervous.

And it's like

going to school,

having to take a test.

I never heard the lines

spoken before.

I don't know

what I'm gonna think

of hearing the lines,

I don't know what

I'm gonna tell the actors,

I don't know where

I'm gonna put the camera.

And every single time,

it's the same.

But I tell you,

it's the greatest feeling

in the world.

I'll tell you

why it's a good feeling.

The more

I'm feeling confident

and secure

about something,

the less

I'm gonna put out.

The more I'm feeling,

"Uh-oh, this could be

a major problem

in getting

the story told,"

I'm gonna work overtime

to meet the challenge

and get the job done.

All right, that's done.

I don't know if it's worth it.

Spielberg:

And so, I hate the feeling

of being nervous,

but I need to feel

in this moment

I'm really not sure

what I'm doing.

And when that verges on panic,

I get great ideas.

The more I feel

backed into a corner,

the more rewarding

it becomes

when I figure my way out

of the corner.

I love it.

Next shot.

Good.

- ( music playing )

- ( muffled chatter )

( yelling )

- Did you see that?

- Yes.

( screams )

( muffled screaming )

Martin Scorsese:

I remember when Steven

was in production on "Jaws,"

the word around town

and in the "LA Times"

was that it was folly

and that it was gonna be

a disaster.

Richard Dreyfuss:

"Jaws" started filming

on May 2nd.

I was hired,

I think, on May 3rd,

and they had no shark,

no script, and no cast

when they first started,

so...

The script

was never locked.

We were

rewriting the script

12 hours

before we were shooting

what we just wrote.

You know, it's scary

for a director to not know

if he's gonna be able

to hand pages to his cast

the next morning.

Man:

Guys, we can't shoot

right now.

- Hold on.

- Man #2:
Hold on.

Spielberg:

This is my second day

at sea

and I have

54 more days to go.

And if I survive this,

I'll have learned a lot,

because right now all I can

tell you is

it's twice as slow

shooting at sea as it is

shooting on land.

Bill Butler:
Well, the studio

had never shot a film

on the ocean before.

They would do it

on the back lake.

They would do it

in a studio tank.

They would make

miniature boats.

They would--

everything would be so easy

that you would never

get cold or wet.

But Steven said,

"I'm gonna shoot

in the open ocean."

Roll sound.

Spielberg:

This was supposed

to be a thriller

based on people

like you and me that are

out of our element

and having to fight something

we have no comprehension

how to deal with.

That needs a level

of authenticity

that I thought shooting it

in the back lot

at Universal

in North Hollywood

would not give it.

So, to me,

there was no going back.

It had to be shot

in the ocean.

( music playing )

Spielberg:

I thought it was

gonna be a cakewalk,

but I didn't know anything

about tides or currents.

I didn't know

about how the wind

affects the water,

how the color of the sky

changes the color

of the water,

or how you can't get

anything to match.

It was one nightmare,

worst-case scenario

after the other.

I didn't think

we'd ever finish.

I had just assumed

I'd be fired off the picture.

We were isolated

in the middle of the ocean,

12 miles offshore,

and it was technology

over art every single day.

We'd get a shot,

art was there,

but you couldn't recognize

the art from the effort.

Just trying to hold

a whole movie story

in my head

is a very lonely thing,

because nobody can really

help me with that.

I have to see it

before I film it.

And that's why

it was so scary on "Jaws"--

when I couldn't see it

until I finally did.

Just before I went off

to make "Jaws," I got to meet

Henry Hathaway.

He was kind of

a tough-guy director,

and he said,

"There's gonna be moments

where you're gonna

get to the set

and you're not gonna know

what the hell you're doing.

It happens to all of us.

You've gotta

guard that secret

with your life.

Let no one see

when you're unsure

of yourself.

Hide that

from everybody,

or you'll lose

the respect of everyone."

Man:

Marker.

- Man #2:
Good blood.

- Spielberg:
And... ready?

- And action, Roy.

- Slow ahead.

I can go slow ahead.

You ought to come down

and ladle some of this sh*t.

Spielberg:

And down.

Absolutely everything

was falling apart.

The first time

we tested the shark,

it sunk.

It would come up

out of the water and go...

( vocalizing )

Like that.

Spielberg:

I knew that it's gonna take

three or four weeks

to rebuild the shark,

and so we'd have to make up

something else

that didn't exactly

show the shark

but gave the sense

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