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Steven Spielberg: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series)
from: University Press of Mississippi
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.430233092
EAN: 9781578061136
ISBN: 157806113X
Label: University Press of Mississippi
Manufacturer: University Press of Mississippi
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 250
Publication Date: April 01, 2000
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Studio: University Press of Mississippi
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Editorial Review:Steven Spielberg has become a brand name and a force that extends far beyond the movie screen. Phrases like "phone home" and the music score from Jaws are now part of our cultural script, appearing in commercials, comedy routines, and common conversation.
Yet few scholars have devoted time to studying Spielberg's vast output of popular films despite the director's financial and aesthetic achievements. Spanning twenty-five years of Spielberg's career, Steven Spielberg: Interviews explores the issues, the themes, and the financial considerations surrounding his work. The blockbuster creator of E.T., Jaws, and Schindler's List talks about dreams and the almighty dollar.
"I'm not really interested in making money," he says. "That's always come as the result of success, but it's not been my goal, and I've had a tough time proving that to people."
Ranging from Spielberg's twenties to his mid-fifties, the interviews chart his evolution from a brash young filmmaker trying to make his way in Hollywood, to his spectacular blockbuster triumphs, to his maturation as a director seeking to inspire the imagination with meaningful subjects.
The Steven Spielberg who emerges in these talks is a complex mix of businessman and artist, of arrogance and insecurity, of shallowness and substance. Often interviewers will uncover the director's human side, noting how changes in Spielberg's personal life -- marriage, divorce, fatherhood, remarriage -- affect his movies. But always the interviewers find keys to the story-telling and filmmaking talent that have made Spielberg's characters and themes shape our times and inhabit our dreams.
"Every time I go to a movie, it's magic, no matter what the movie's about," he says. "Whether you watch eight hours of Shoah or whether it's Ghostbusters, when the lights go down in the theater and the movie fades in, it's magic."
Lester D. Friedman teaches medical humanities and bioethics at Upstate Medical University and cinema studies in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University. Brent Notbohm of Spring Green, Wisconsin, is a freelance instructor of film production and media studies. He has written and directed several films and videos independently and as a graduate student at Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - An excellent read for Spielberg fans and others
Steven Spielberg: Interviews is a great book on many levels. It's probably one of the only books about Spielberg that shows his more personal side and manner of speaking. The interviews give us a different different perspective of the man and show that he is not what everyone (or me at least) envisioned him to be.
Interesting, information, and with its own of sense of humor, this is definitely a must-read for Spielberg fans, filmmakers, and people period.
Rating: - A BRILLIANT FILMMAKER; A BRILLIANT BOOK!
Steven Spielberg is undoubtedly the greatest movie director of our times. ALL his movies have been box-office hits. He is brilliant and dedicated to his craft! And people adore him! He's way cool ...
That's why it's so exciting to read a book by him, describing the last 25 years of his life. Awesome material!
Can't wait to see more of his movies! Many reviewers are saying that my TOONIES book would make a great movie ... a la Spielberg. I should be so lucky, but was ... Read More
Rating: - Good stuff
There's a lot of really good stuff in here.
First, the interviews span some 25 years, so you get a sense how he's matured and yet how he's stayed the same.
Second, Spielberg is very candid, so interviews with him tend to reveal more than many others.
Third, there's just a lot of good stuff in here, some of which you may have heard and some not. For instance, I had never heard the story of how, as an awkward 12 year old, he and a mentally retarded boy were dead last in a school race ... Read More
Rating:  - An insightful, entertaining read.
I've been waiting a long time for a book like this. Populist filmmakers like Steven Spielberg are too often ignored by publishers who would rather print in-depth literature on the likes of Coppola or Scorsese, so it's nice to see a meaty tome such as this on the bookshelves. Spielberg lets rip on all the stuff you often wondered about whilst watching his films, and proves himself to be rather adept at delivering hilarious anecdotes. Unlike the George Lucas Interviews book, Spielberg isn't shy when ... Read More
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