Spielberg Page #14

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jumped at the chance to direct.

But it wasn't

the kind of legacy

I want to leave behind

for my kids.

Hanks:

Steven wanted

"Saving Private Ryan"

to be a different

kind of very tactile

and personal war movie.

We had no idea

that Omaha Beach

was gonna be what it was like

when we started.

He did not describe

anything to us.

He was playing

with our sense of confusion

and panic and fear,

capturing the moment

of our own shock,

or our surprise,

or our own blankness.

And the difference

between standing around

before we're shooting

and saying,

"Hey, ready to do this?

Nice to meet you. Here we go.

Can you swim?

You can't swim?

You better, because you're

in a Steven Spielberg movie.

You better..."

So, we're talking like that.

And then it opened up

and all the powers

of physical moviemaking

went berserk.

- ( loud whirring )

- ( men shouting )

( rapid gunfire )

( explosion )

( rapid gunfire )

Over the side!

( gunfire continues )

- ( bullets whizzing )

- Over the side, boys!

( bullets whizzing )

Spielberg:

I tried very, very hard

to put the audience

as close to the experience

as I possibly knew how to do

so there wouldn't ever be

a safe feeling

in the audience.

And when you narrow

that distance--

if you're successful

in narrowing the distance,

then the audience

really becomes those characters.

( rapid gunfire )

( rapid gunfire )

( rapid gunfire )

Come on.

Edelstein:

In "Saving Private Ryan,"

Spielberg understood

the expressionistic

possibilities of sound.

- ( bullets whizzing )

- ( men shouting )

Edelstein:

You could hear the bullets

streaking along.

You can hear them

penetrate the flesh

and ravage these bodies.

You felt what it was like

to have your ears ringing

in the midst of this

and be completely disoriented.

( explosion )

( sound fades )

Edelstein:

The sheer intensity

of that scene,

the visceral element,

not just metaphorically,

but literally,

is like nothing-- nothing

that had been put

on film before.

( rapid gunfire )

Spielberg:

I decided to shoot the entire

Omaha Beach sequence

in complete continuity,

not knowing

what was gonna come next.

And all my cameramen

were given instruction

to be spontaneous

in what they decided to shoot,

just like a documentary

cameraman would.

And for, like, 27 days,

we literally took the beach

as filmmakers,

one yard at a time.

- ( gunfire )

- ( men shouting )

Mama! Mama!

Maslin:

"Saving Private Ryan"

revealed

certain visceral truths

about war

that people were not

gonna learn from books.

They were not gonna learn

from documentaries.

That was him

at the height of his powers

doing something

that nobody else could do.

- ( gunfire )

- Hanks:
The first time

we talked about the movie,

he said, "I can't wait

to shoot that machine gun nest

at the radar installation."

He had already mapped

this thing out in his mind,

and when we got

to the location,

there was one problem--

the sun wasn't

in the right place.

Steven had thought

the set was built this way,

but it was built

this way.

So, he could not shoot it,

because the sun

was not going to give him

the light that he wanted.

And he was mad,

perhaps with himself

or perhaps with someone

who didn't tell him

what the compass points were.

So, he went on a walk,

and when he comes back,

he says, "Okay, I know

how I'm gonna shoot it."

- ( panting )

- ( rapid gunfire )

And it's a different

perspective

from any other assault

that we had shot in the film.

( explosion )

And if you're not Steven,

if you don't have

this lifetime

of cinematic language

in your head,

that's a different

kind of day.

But because his eye

is so connected to his brain

and every movie

that he's ever seen

and every movie

that he's ever made,

he just went out

and said,

"Here's how we're gonna

do this, and that's it."

Incredible.

( music playing )

Anne:

"Saving Private Ryan"

was in honor of the veterans,

and I think a bit of a homage

to my father

who flew missions

during WWII.

He wasn't in Europe.

He was in India and Burma.

When I was a kid,

my dad was telling

WWII stories all the time.

His veteran friends

would come over to the house

and I'd listen to them

tell war stories.

So, WWII,

that greatest generation,

became something that I wished

I could be part of.

Lucas:
Steven had

a complicated relationship

with his father,

but he was starting

to reconnect and realize

that his first impressions

of a lot of the things he had

weren't necessarily true.

It was complex for me

for a long time,

but at least

I had a art form

that I could

filter it through.

At least I had that.

If movies did

anything for me, it--

I've avoided therapy

because movies are my therapy.

Junior?

- Yes, sir.

- Spielberg:
And this

father-son obsession

I've had in my movies

obviously speaks

to a great deal of feelings

that I've been carrying with me

that I want

to unburden myself of,

and I have.

Do you remember

the last time we had

a quiet drink?

Huh?

I had a milkshake.

Hmm? What did

we talk about?

- ( music playing )

- ( chatter )

We didn't talk.

We never talked.

Maslin:

The absent father

has haunted Steven

throughout his life,

and he has fictionalized it

in all kinds of ways on film.

It's the heart of him.

Arnold:

Although I liked

the movies,

I noticed the absence

of the father

quite significantly.

For a long time,

Steven was very mad at me.

There he is.

( music blaring

over headphones )

- Get a hug?

- Arnold:
I was hurt by it,

but quietly hurt.

Confusing handshake?

Kick in the teeth?

Arnold:

I didn't broach it

with Steven.

I just ate it up

a little bit

and hurt a little bit.

- ( gasps )

- I thought I had

lost you, boy.

( sighs )

I thought

you had too, sir.

Spielberg:

My dad and I finally

resolved our differences,

and we're probably closer now

than we ever were before.

Arnold:

When he made

"Saving Private Ryan,"

he said,

"I made this for my dad."

And that was wonderful.

That made me feel warm

right here.

( horn beeping )

Lawrence Kasdan:

Steven has always had

a big vision

of what movies can be.

He's an American moviemaker.

And it's not

starry-eyed patriotism.

Woman:

Animals!

Kasdan:

He is drawn

to all the themes

that are inherent

in the American character

and the American society

and how it developed.

Insdorf:

There are people struggling

in one way or another

for freedom in these movies.

Give... us free.

He doesn't take freedom

for granted.

Kaminski:

Liberty and equality,

the Constitution,

and the rights

of the individual.

( cheering )

Kaminski:

He's evolved

as a filmmaker.

"Amistad" and "Lincoln"

and "Bridge of Spies"

are all about

the rule of law.

They're all about

the rights of even people

who are either brought here

against their will

or come here to be a soldier

in an opposing army

and are caught.

The law fully covers

everyone.

Tom:

We were supposed to show

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