Spielberg Page #15

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he had a capable defense,

which we did.

Why are you citing

the goddamn Constitution

at me?

Tom, if you look me

in the eye

and tell me

we don't have grounds

for an appeal,

I'll drop it right now.

I'm not saying that.

You know what I'm saying.

Tom is saying

there's a cost

to these things.

That's right.

A cost to both

your family and your firm.

Spielberg:

I really believe

in this country,

and I always have.

And it just resonated

throughout my work--

wanting to tell

American stories,

wanting to tell stories

about principled,

ethical people

who, against all advice

and against

most everyone else's

better judgment,

just proceed to do

the right thing.

I'm sure that sounds like

I'm this kind of, you know,

idealist or some sort

of a patriot,

but I am a patriot.

And I'm somewhat

of an idealist, too.

Say all we done

is show the world

that democracy

isn't chaos.

That there is a great

invisible strength

in a people's union.

Say we've shown

that a people can endure

awful sacrifice

and yet cohere.

Mightn't that save

at least the idea

of democracy,

to aspire to?

Eventually to become

worthy of?

Daniel Day-Lewis:

The first thing that

you have to overcome

is the reluctance

to even approach Lincoln

because he's such

a mighty figure.

His experience as a president

was in, you know,

one of the greatest crises

that this country's ever known.

And so, undoubtedly,

of course,

he made decisions that were

extremely unpalatable

to many, many people.

We are

absolutely guaranteed

to lose the whole thing.

We don't need a goddamned

abolition amendment.

Leave the Constitution

alone!

James:

...peace commissioners

appear today, or--

( overlapping voices )

( argument stops )

I can't listen

to this anymore.

I can't accomplish

a goddamn thing

of any human

meaning or worth

until we cure

ourselves of slavery

and end

this pestilential war!

And whether any of you

or anyone else knows it,

I know I need this!

This amendment

is that cure!

Steven worked a long time

to find where the story was

to tell it.

Kushner:
And it took guts

for Steven to make a movie

about Abraham Lincoln

in which Lincoln

shares top billing with

the House of Representatives.

Doris Kearns Goodwin:

He had faith that if he told

a story

that is about democracy

and it's about messiness

and politics--

and people

are on different sides

of the issue,

and people

who were Democrats then

are Republicans now,

and Republicans now

were Democrats then,

was pretty confusing

for people to get a sense

right away

of what the story was.

But he somehow thought

if the American people

can feel this man

and feel what he was doing,

they'll see what democracy is

when it really works.

Schuyler:

A motion has been made

to bring the bill

for the 13th Amendment

to a vote.

- Do I hear a second?

- I second the motion.

- ( gravel bangs )

- So moved, so ordered.

And in the end,

it's not Lincoln's triumph

that's pushed to the fore

in the film.

I think what's really

pushed to the fore

is that it's a triumph

of democracy.

The part assigned to me

is to raise the flag.

And when up,

it'll be for the people

to keep it up.

That's my speech.

( crowd laughing,

applauding )

We are coming,

Father Abraham

300,000 more

From Mississippi's

winding stream

And from

New England's shore

We leave

our ploughs...

( music playing )

( moaning )

Oh, yeah!

( chattering )

Todd McCarthy:

From about the time

of the millennium

in Spielberg's career,

there is something,

whether it's personal,

political, historical,

that pushed him

in a more adventurous

and a darker direction.

I fundamentally

don't buy

that he has

a pessimistic worldview

or that he suddenly changed

and has a more dubious opinion

of the human race,

but still,

there's been

an alteration.

He has been willing

to go places

that he would not have gone

in his earlier films.

( chatter on TV )

All right, Howard Marks.

Where are you?

It was a very complicated

story, "Minority Report."

A very dark story,

actually.

You know, democracy,

freedom of choice,

corruption.

Spielberg:

That dark, futuristic

dystopian tone

was so compelling for me

at that time.

Kushner:

Tennessee Williams

says that artists

are like the canaries

in the coal mine.

And Steven has

an uncanny knack

for feeling what's going on

in the world around him

and what needs to be said

at its moment.

I think he's

a very present filmmaker.

By mandate

of the District of Columbia

Precrime Division,

I'm placing you under

arrest for the future murder

of Sarah Marks and Donald...

Hoberman:

The film anticipated

the whole post-9/11 mentality

of arresting people

before they can commit crimes

and preventive detention

and so on.

Spielberg:

But the movie that I made

that was a real statement

about 9/11

was "War of the Worlds."

( people screaming )

Spielberg:

For me, it began with

what would really happen

if we were invaded

and everything

that we thought

made us invulnerable

to invasion

was all wrong?

( people screaming )

Koepp:

There's a sequence

where Cruise's character

runs through the streets

and the ray is turning

people to dust

and some of that dust

is in his hair.

And he comes home

and sees himself in shock

and realizes

that that's remains

that are in his hair.

- Oh!

- ( water running )

Koepp:

Steven handled that

with great tact.

9/11 was so much a part

of our national psyche,

you didn't have to do much

to evoke the shock we all felt

and the helplessness

we all felt at being attacked.

( all shouting )

( shouting continues )

( screaming )

( shouting continues )

Good afternoon.

I'm Jim McKay speaking to you

live at this moment

from ABC headquarters

just outside the Olympic Village

in Munich, West Germany.

The peace of what is--

would've been called

the "Serene Olympics"

was shattered

just before dawn

this morning about 5:00.

- ( chatter )

- Kushner:
Nobody was

expecting Steven Spielberg,

maybe the world's

most famous Jewish artist,

to weigh in

on the Middle East

because

it's such a minefield,

and Steven

is not a sensationalist

in the sense

of wanting to create,

you know, firestorms

of controversy.

- Jim:
This is

building number 31.

- ( chatter )

At this moment,

eight or nine terrified

living human beings

- are being held prisoner.

- ( chanting )

Spielberg:

I felt I could not

make this one-sided.

And so, I knew

it would be controversial

from the very get-go.

( woman vocalizing )

- ( chatter on TV )

- ( overlapping voices )

Eric Bana:

It was that story

of the group of Mossad agents

who were assembled

to avenge the deaths

of the Israeli athletes

at the Munich Olympics.

It was their job

to go after a list

of targeted men

who were part

of a terrorist group.

And it was

their job to, one by one,

assassinate them.

Daniel Craig:

This movie was trying to affect

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