Spielberg Page #8

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- Oh...

- My...

God!

( both screaming )

Spielberg:

I was feeling my oats

after both "Jaws"

and "Close Encounters."

And so I thought,

"I can do a comedy."

Why not?

If I did those two movies,

why can't I do anything?

And I have

a sense of humor.

I go to movies and I laugh

when they're funny.

Why not tackle a comedy?

I felt pretty invulnerable

at that time.

I can assure you

there will be

no bombs dropped here.

Bob Zemeckis and Bob Gale

wrote the script,

and it was lean and mean.

I'm the one

that stretched the humor

and the budget

to its breaking point.

To me, it was an excuse

to just blow a bunch of sh*t up

and try to get

an audience to laugh.

But it was like I committed

a war crime by making "1941."

Everyone was

eviscerating it.

I was really devastated.

Just that feeling of failure,

that cold emptiness,

where every reminder

of the movie,

you get that sick feeling

in the center of your stomach,

and you just

want to go dig a hole

and stick your head in it.

I mean, for the next year,

I put my head in a lot of holes.

And my friend George Lucas

came to the rescue.

( music playing )

George said,

"What are you doing next?"

Lucas:
And Steven

said that he really wanted

to do a James Bond film.

And George said, "I have

something much better

than James Bond."

Lucas:

It's about an archeologist

and he goes hunting

for supernatural artifacts.

And Steven said,

"I love it.

Let's do it."

Spielberg:

He's not a stock,

standard hero.

He's not one of these

"just add water"

and he'll grow into

the hero of your dreams.

There's a human being

under all of that.

That's what made Indiana Jones

accessible to audiences.

- I think

they're trying to kill us.

- I know, Dad!

Well, it's a new

experience for me.

- ( plane engine buzzing )

- Happens to me all the time.

( men yelling )

( music playing )

Lucas:
It's an action-adventure

movie where every reel

is a cliffhanger.

Spielberg:

Just pure escapist

entertainment.

Lucas:

It was gonna be

an all-out "B" movie,

and "B" movies are fun

because they don't take

themselves that seriously.

You do them quick.

You do them dirty.

You cheat on everything

you possibly can

to save as much money

as you possibly can,

and you don't worry

about the fact

that it's not gonna be

"Lawrence of Arabia."

( crowd cheering )

Lucas:

We took it to the studios,

and what I didn't realize

was that Steven didn't have

that great a reputation,

because he was always going

over budget and over schedule.

So, every studio said no.

And some of them even said,

"You know, if you can get

a different director,

we'll do it, but Steven

can't make that film

for $20 million."

So, Steven said,

"I promise you, I will not

betray you.

If it's $20 million,

we will make it for

$20 million."

Spielberg:

My experience

on three cost overruns,

"Jaws,"

"Close Encounters," "'41,"

taught me how to be

more economical

and benefited

"Raiders" immeasurably.

Lucas:
He had something

to prove, but he also didn't

wanna let me down, his friend.

You know, it's like,

it wasn't a studio,

it was us.

Friday night.

If we don't get this,

we don't get the shot.

If we don't get the shot,

we don't get the movie.

If they don't

get the movie,

we're all up the creek.

Spielberg:

George said, "Look,

if you direct this,

you have to shake my hand

right now and promise

if it's a big hit,

you gotta direct two more."

And it was

a great collaboration.

Dad!

- What? What?

- Dad!

- Dad!

- What?

- Head for the fireplace.

- Oh.

Harrison Ford:

The "Indiana Jones" movies

were always more about movies

than they were

about anything else.

They followed

certain film formulas,

which freed them

to do silly stuff.

( music playing )

Tom Stoppard:

There was something

which I simply adored

in "Indiana Jones."

When Harrison

had fallen over a cliff

and his friends

thought he was dead

and they were peering down,

and Harrison had come up

without his hat,

because he'd fallen over

a cliff, for heaven's sake,

and a mysterious breeze

blows the hat into frame.

( chuckles )

Ford:

These movies are clearly

made for an audience.

They're made

for the filmgoer.

They're meant

for the pure joy

of entertainment.

Which doesn't mean

that they can't be

emotionally involving,

which doesn't mean

they can't be smart

from time to time.

( wind gusting )

Ford:

But they have to be

satisfying entertainment.

And Steven and George

have figured out

how to use the engine

of filmmaking

to satisfy an audience

in a way

not so many directors

or producers have.

( music playing )

Hugh Downs:

In the century-long history

of motion pictures,

there has been

one director, just one,

whose movies have earned

a total of a billion dollars--

Steven Spielberg.

Walter Parkes:

Steven is arguably

the most commercial director

in the history

of motion pictures,

and I think it's because

he has a deep understanding

of how the language

of cinema

elicits an emotional reaction

in an audience.

And there's no question

that the idea of making movies

that became phenomenons

was extremely exciting

for Steven.

But it brought

a lot of mixed results.

There were people

that hated him,

people that blamed him

for ruining the movies.

William Goldman

had written specifically

that the blockbuster

and Steven

and George Lucas

had destroyed Hollywood.

Edelstein:

Some people saw Spielberg

as a repressive force,

that he was bringing in

a kind of empty escapism

that was going to take film

in another direction.

And certainly

with the marketing executives

who moved

into the studios

in the late '70s

and the early '80s,

it was clear

that what they saw

were dollar signs.

But I wouldn't blame

Spielberg for that.

Go back to the first review

by Pauline Kael.

She said he was

a great popular entertainer,

that he had a feel

for what audiences

wanted to see.

Why should anybody

apologize for that?

Let me get you

to react to something

that one of your peers said,

another director.

"Steven Spielberg

can't be compared

with people

like Mike Nichols

and Barry Levinson.

There is a place

for mass entertainment,

but it shouldn't

be confused

with art or quality,

award-winning filmmaking."

Sometimes I think

that statements like that

are pretentious

in themselves,

because it sort of says

that, you know,

art is serious

and art can't be--

can't move you.

Art can't be

on a bicycle with E.T.

and fly across the moon,

that that can't be art.

Scott:

If you're making

the kinds of movies

that make the kinds of money

that his movies do,

and if you're making

franchise entertainment

or just something that

appeals to a lot of people

and is unapologetically

mainstream entertainment,

then there's a little bit

of, I think, suspicion.

You know, how can

we take you seriously

as an artist?

Come on, girl,

'cause I'm waiting for you.

( chuckles )

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