Victoria GRABOVSKAYA
Why didn't Mom take Stephen to a psychoanalyst?
Engineer Arnold Spielberg and pianist Leah Posner (Adler is the surname of her second husband) with their children - daughters Nancy, Susan, Ann and son Stephen - lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, were an exemplary family and led a lifestyle befitting an ordinary American unit of society. But for some reason the neighbors did not like the Spielbergs. Maybe because they were almost the only Jews in the area.
Even more, their classmates disliked their son Stephen, who, frankly speaking, did not have the most attractive appearance - he was a thin and pimply teenager with slow reactions. “I first learned what anti-Semitism was when I went to school,” Spielberg recalled. “This is when a whole gang beats one, and only because he is a Jew.”
It is not surprising that Stephen was the “whipping boy” in the class. He returned home from classes in a roundabout way, so as not to catch the eye of the tall dunces from the football team, because it wouldn’t take long to get a black eye from them.
School was a real “Calvary” for him, especially after the incident that happened in physical education class.
The whole class ran cross-country, and Stephen, who did not have any outstanding physical characteristics, finished last along with his oligophrenic classmate. He will never forget these few meters to the finish line: all the schoolchildren were cheering on the mentally retarded runner, and only whistles and hoots rushed after Stephen...
But as soon as the boy opened the doors of his own house, he plunged into the sea, no, into the ocean of love. His parents, especially his mother, allowed him almost everything. They perceived and loved him as he was, did not try to re-educate him, did not break his character, respected the feelings and freedom of their child, and most importantly, they were lenient. But God saw: in order to tolerate Stephen’s antics, one had to have the endurance of a trainer of wild monkeys from the forests of Brazil...
Lea could not find a woman who would agree to work as a nanny for them. “Nobody wanted us to leave home without Stephen. Long before Gremlins, he was already a master of horror,” my mother recalled. The most “terrible horror” was happening in his room. There was so much trash on the floor that you could have grown mushrooms there if you wanted. And when a lizard escaped from the aquarium, it was found only after... three years. Lea only looked into her son’s room once a week, took dirty laundry and immediately slammed the door. Another mother in Leia’s place would give her child such a beating that he would instantly come to his senses! Have you heard anything about that woman’s son?.. And Spielberg invariably takes first place in the ranking of the richest people in show business.
Lea once joked: if she knew even a little about parenting, she would take her son to a psychoanalyst. “But then the film E.T. would not have appeared,” she believes. Although it was still worth showing Stephen to a specialist. Especially after he unscrewed the head of his sister's doll and placed it in the salad bed. The girl became hysterical. Another sister was left speechless for a year when her brother snuck under her window at night and began whispering in an eerie voice: “I am the moon!” I am the moon!”
Needless to say, except for Mom and Dad, no one would even think of calling Stephen a cute little boy. And how his neighbors hated him! Agree, the boy had serious problems... But he was lucky with his parents, who taught their son more than one lesson in the “school of survival”: “If you were offended, find a way to defend your honor. Be smarter, more resourceful, luckier than your offender. You don't know how to run fast, but you have an extraordinary imagination, an amazing fantasy. Let it become your weapon."
It remains to find a way to use this “weapon” for peaceful purposes. By the way, the images born of Stephen's imagination were not always so harmless. For his hated neighbors, he came up with terrible punishments, in comparison with which fiery hell could seem like heaven. Fortunately, he failed to carry out his revenge plan. But he still smeared peanut butter on the windows of particularly nasty neighbors.
Who knows what the boy would have become if not for the story of how...
Stephen's father gave him a movie camera.
When little Stephen was first brought to the cinema, he looked at the screen spellbound, in full confidence that the heroes of the film - the seven dwarfs and Snow White - lived somewhere in the nearby forest and could be visited at any moment for a cup of tea. Imagine his disappointment when the adults explained that Snow White was just the director’s fantasy...
Several years passed, and his parents gave Stephen a movie camera for his birthday. The most real one. Now Stephen could film whatever he wanted: how his mother washed the dishes, how his sister taught homework, how his neighbor, hiding in the garden from his wife, quietly drank whiskey.
Further more. Stephen himself invented his own world, and then captured it on film. In this world he was the smartest and most beautiful, he had many friends, he was understood and loved, and dad and mom never quarreled...
Stephen's parents by that time were on the verge of divorce (they eventually divorced), but lived together so as not to traumatize the children. “My answer to them was to escape into the world of imagination, so that the ends of my nerves would finally stop screaming and crying: Dad, Mom, why did you break up and leave us alone? I dreamed of flying into space or having space enter me,” recalled the future creator of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Artificial Intelligence.”
It was at the insistence of his father that Stephen dedicated one of his first films to World War II. The script was written by the whole family, and the main consultant was the father, who went through the war. Then they made the decorations together. But filming was postponed - there was no money for film. Do you think the parents shelled out the necessary $150 for their son’s film needs? Not at all. They suggested that Stephen take care of the financing himself. The boy carefully calculated the budget, made an editing plan for the film, and eliminated unnecessary scenes. The amount was reduced to $50. But the parents were in no hurry to give this money to their son. Then Stephen contracted to paint the neighbors' fence. This was the beginning of a billion-dollar fortune!
Lea recalled that Stephen, carried away by some new business, never finished painting that fence, so she had to finish the work. We must pay tribute to Leia: she fully and completely assisted her son in realizing his crazy ideas.
One day, Stephen decided to make a science-fiction film about how something terrible seeps out of kitchen cabinets. Filming took place in the Spielbergs' kitchen, and Lea was responsible for organizing the special effects. She bought 30 cans of canned cherries at the supermarket and boiled them until they exploded and splashed the entire room. “After that, for several years, I developed the habit of coming into the kitchen every morning and scrubbing the cabinets of cherries,” admitted the film director’s mother.
However, Stephen could not be called a hopeless romantic and a disinterested person creating art for art's sake. His entire film process was put on a business track. Stephen reasoned this way: why make films that no one will ever see? The film must have an audience, and the audience must pay money, and with this money the director will make the next film. Well, leave a couple of dollars for ice cream...
Soon, a screening room was set up in the Spielbergs’ living room, where dad’s film projector played not only Steven’s “masterpieces,” but also films taken from local distribution. The sister sold tickets for 25 cents, and during the breaks between shows, members of the household “treated” the audience to popcorn for 10 cents per bag. There was no end to those wishing to visit the “Spielberg cinema”. Both Stephen's classmates and neighbors paid pennies for his "art." And they not only paid, but also took an active part in the filming.
For one of his films, Spielberg needed 75 extras. The young director invited students from three classes, and everyone agreed. “When I showed the film to all this army of scouts, the guys were delighted. They began to applaud and made an incredible noise. At that moment I realized what I had to do for the rest of my life,” Spielberg recalled.
Then he did not yet know that many fascinating stories awaited him ahead, and one of them was about how...
Stephen bought his mother a TV
Sometimes one gets the impression that Steven Spielberg planned his career in advance, wrote its “script” and methodically “played” the prepared text. It happened that some “characters” in his script refused to play their roles. But after a while they still agreed. They just didn't know that it was impossible to say no to Spielberg. “One way or another, he always gets what he wants,” says the director’s mother.
Judge for yourself. At the age of eighteen, Stephen decided to get a job at a reputable film studio in Hollywood, for example, at Universal. But for this he had to provide his painting. To make a film, you need money. Spielberg persuaded his wealthy friend to finance the project. And make no mistake: he made such a film that the studio director immediately signed a contract with him. It’s not for nothing that movie mogul Richard Zanuck said about Spielberg: “It seems that he was born a director and absorbed all the knowledge about cinema with his mother’s milk.”
By the way, about the mother. With his first salary, Stephen bought her a TV. When in 1975 he made the thriller Jaws, which became one of the highest-grossing films in the history of American cinema, he could have already given his mother an entire factory for the production of televisions. And with the money he received in 1993 for the rental of the film “Jurassic Park,” Spielberg could cast her a television the size of a calf from gold (only on the first weekend of release the film grossed more than $50 million with a budget of $80 million, and during the subsequent weeks crossed the 100 million mark).
Spielberg not only caught the “golden calf” by the tail, but also managed to change the consciousness of the American audience. The release of his film Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977 coincided with a real technocratic boom: the first video clip and the first personal computer appeared, and the first serious sale of video equipment was registered. Television is deeply ingrained in the brains of Americans: TV series, quizzes, games, shows have replaced Sunday trips to the cinema.
Spielberg managed to return the viewer to cinema halls. He had something to lure people there. Spielberg's films mixed fantasy with reality: UFOs were perceived as real as a new brand of car, and a small alien could be cared for in the same way as a stray dog.
But Spielberg wouldn't be Spielberg if he was only interested in the creative aspect. His films were, above all, spectacular, programmed for success and took first place in the list of top-grossing films. It’s paradoxical, but true: the more successful Spielberg’s film was at the box office, the more caustic the critics’ attacks became. The director was accused of being frivolous, naive, and being carried away by special effects, as if his films lacked depth and his characters lacked real traits.
His films were nominated for an Oscar each time, but received it only for technical achievements. Spielberg, fearing self-repetition, turned to the genre of psychological drama, but did not gain success in this field. The film “The Color Purple” was called the most unsuccessful in the history of the Oscars. Nominated for 11 statuettes, he received none.
“This is probably the price to pay for success,” says the director. – Actually, in America it is customary to respect those who have achieved a lot solely through work and talent, but I obviously went too far. Although I don’t understand this: is it really difficult for someone to come to terms with the fact that I earned a billion, giving pleasure to the audience - I earned it honestly, without robbing or deceiving anyone?”
You remember what Stephen's mother said, right? No one can say no to her son. So the academicians broke and broke and finally gave Spielberg the main Oscars. But to deserve the award, the director had to film “Schindler’s List” in 1994 (Oscar for best director and best producer), and five years later – the film “Saving Private Ryan” (a prize for best director). Both films were dedicated to the events of World War II.
Of course, Mom shared the joy of victory with Stephen. But Lea wasn't the only one who was worried about him at the ceremony. Next to Spielberg was his faithful wife Kate Capshaw. However, this is a completely different story - about how...
Stephen ruined his wives' film careers
Spielberg had two wives. But why was that? The second one is in place. And she takes this place due to the fact that at one time she made a good impression on Lea. But Stephen’s first wife, Amy Irving, could not boast of the good disposition of her husband’s mother...
Stephen and Amy met on the set of Brian De Palma's 1976 film Carrie. Stephen, being a friend of the director, came to him in his own way, to chat about this and that and tell how the filming of his “Close Encounters” was going. According to Brian, the director and actress fell in love with each other at first sight, and they began novel.
Stephen was in no hurry to formalize the relationship - apparently, his mother’s verdict was decisive. However, a few years later (by that time Spielberg was already a billionaire) they got married. Amy gave birth to a son, Max. But there was no happiness in this marriage...
Amy never stopped dreaming about becoming an actress. She hoped that an influential and wealthy husband would protect her. However, Stephen was in no hurry. Marriage interested him in a completely different aspect. After the divorce, Amy admitted that next to Stephen she felt like a laboratory mouse. He walked everywhere with a small notebook, periodically making some notes. Amy could not shake the feeling that her husband was making notes there about the peculiarities of her behavior. Spielberg also liked to lock himself in a room with strange figurines reminiscent of Indian gods, and in the voice of an offended child he complained to them about a failed marriage.
Eventually they broke up. But Amy was not going to leave her husband empty-handed. At that time, Spielberg began an affair with actress Kate Capshaw, who starred in his film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Amy took advantage of this situation and demanded 650 million dollars - half of her husband's fortune at that time. The court considered that the ex-wife would cost 150 million. And with that we parted ways...
The marriage with Kate turned out to be much more successful. Except that Capshaw had to give up his film career and focus solely on his family. She converted to Judaism and found a common language with Stephen’s mother, gave birth to three children, and she and her husband adopted two more. Kate also has a daughter from her first marriage, whom Spielberg adopted.
For Spielberg, communicating with children is one of the greatest pleasures in life. Talking with his offspring, he seems to be drawing inspiration for his films, he feels like Peter Pan - a boy-man, an eternal teenager - the hero of a children's fairy tale, which the director filmed in 1991.
Who is he really? – think numerous spiteful critics of Spielberg. An adult man with the gentle soul of a child or a hardened type who puts on the mask of a naive simpleton, wearing the same jeans, sneakers and a baseball cap? Spielberg's subordinates obviously gravitate toward the second version. In his office, there are all kinds of sweets on the tables, but none of the employees touch them. They remember well the proverb about free cheese, which only comes in a mousetrap, and for some reason they are sure that in this way the chef is conducting an experiment on them.
Employees are constantly on alert, trying to strictly comply with all orders of the boss. Sometimes in their efforts they reach the point of absurdity. Thus, one of the security guards at Dream Works did not allow the director into his own office, demanding that Spielberg show his identification. The security guard did not take into account all the director’s assurances that he was one of the owners of the company. Only after Spielberg showed his driver's license was he able to enter the office. Having reached the office, he immediately thanked the security for their vigilance and responsible performance of their duties.
But the guard lets Spielberg’s mother through without questions. If he tried to detain her, the boss wouldn’t pat him on the head! After all, Stephen loves it when his mother comes to his office. “I love coming back to the office and finding you here. Could you come here more often? - he asks her. You don't yet know the story of how...
Mom made Stephen chicken soup
“We are still incredibly close to my mother. There is nowhere closer, unless I suddenly find myself inside her. But this is a long-past stage,” these words belong to the “great and terrible” Steven Spielberg, owner of a billion dollar fortune, father of seven children, owner of successful film companies, world-famous director and producer. It seems that Spielberg is still doing everything not to upset mommy. He does not drink, does not smoke, is not interested in women, loves his wife and children, and is involved in charity work. But still, like a little boy, he needs his mother’s care.
One day, Leah’s secretary called and said, “Mr. Spielberg is sick and wants you to make him chicken soup. We'll send a limousine to pick him up." Lea was at her Milky Way restaurant at the time and was indignant: “Stephen knows that this is a dairy restaurant, you can’t cook chicken here!” Five minutes later the secretary called again and said: “Mr. Spielberg told you to go home, but they have prepared chicken soup.” And Lea went home and prepared the soup and brought it to the office - who else but her would prepare the kind of chicken soup that her son loves.
Spielberg, in turn, also takes very touching care of his mother. When she starred in the television series Amazing Stories (in a cameo role), she was the only actress who was provided with a personal limousine. “Every time I got into the car, I wanted to shout: “People, look at me!” To which Stephen always said: “Mom, don’t worry, they know.”
“I’m basking in fame,” says Leah. “And all I have to do is be a mother!” Spielberg reciprocates: “I have not finished my journey in exploring what is meaningful and personal to me. My biggest influences were my mother and father. At an early age I was very impressed by films. Sometimes unreal people, sometimes images had a vivid effect on me.” Looks like Steven Spielberg has no intention of growing up. At least while his loving and beloved mother is next to him...
A source of information.
Steven Allan Spielberg was born into a family of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. His ancestors on both his paternal and maternal sides arrived in America from the territory of modern Ukraine. His father was an electrical engineer, his mother a pianist. They met and got married in the USA.
The family of the future celebrity spoke two languages - Russian and Yiddish. Steven Spielberg's father is 99 years old, and, according to the director, he remembers the Russian language perfectly. The hero of the day himself admits that he can confidently pronounce only one word in Russian: “Yes.”
While studying at school, Steven Spielberg was the only Jew in his class, and he often received punishment from his peers for belonging to this nationality. Therefore, the boy’s favorite pastime was watching TV at home. Parents were against this hobby. The director recalls that his father often covered the screen with a blanket and deliberately left a hair on it. However, the resourceful teenager carefully removed the “evidence” from the TV so that by the time his parents returned from work, he carefully put it back in its original place. Despite the odds, it was his father who gave Stephen his first portable movie camera.
Steven Spielberg (1984). Photo: East News
During his school years, Spielberg was nicknamed “the movie camera man.”
In his youth, Spielberg preferred to gain knowledge and skills in practice, rather than at the school bench. However, he had to enroll at the University of California in order not to go to fight in Vietnam. According to the director, he was very afraid of the draft board. However, this did not stop him from leaving university to start making films. And only 33 years after this event, Spielberg returned to the university and graduated from it. The director admitted that his own children pushed him to this act: they did not strive to get an education, citing their father’s biography and assuring others that success can be achieved without a diploma. And after the famous director finally became a certified specialist, the children followed his example and also received an education.
Steven Spielberg's height is 171 cm.
Steven Spielberg with his daughter (2011). Photo: East News
Today, Spielberg is the highest-grossing director and producer of all time. He is the winner of four Oscar awards: the first - for his contribution to the development of production in the United States, the second and third - for directing and producing the film "Schindler's List", the fourth - for the film "Saving Private Ryan". In total, Spielberg's films were nominated for an Oscar about 50 times.
Queen Elizabeth knighted Steven Spielberg "for his invaluable contribution to the development of the film industry."
Spielberg opened the doors to Hollywood for many actors, but few people know that it was he who opened the doors to big cinema for Whoopi Goldberg. Having played the main role in the film “The Color Purple Fields” (in Russia this film did not receive wide popularity, but in the USA it became very successful: just look at the 11 Oscar nominations), she immediately entered the category of sought-after and highly paid actresses. For this role, Goldberg received a Golden Globe award. The film is dedicated to discrimination against women in the southern states in the first half of the 20th century.
Steven Spielberg on the set of Jaws (1975). Photo: East News
The director is married for the second time. His first wife was actress Amy Virgin, who gave birth to Spielberg's son. The director married actress Kate Capshaw for the second time, who played the frivolous singer in his film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. In 1993, two years after their wedding, Kate converted to Judaism, her husband's religion. In total, the Spielbergs raised seven children, including son Stephen and daughter Kate from previous marriages, three common children and two adopted children. Today the couple has four grandchildren.
Steven Spielberg is a godfather who played (at the age of seven) one of the main roles in his film E.T.
In order to work on the sci-fi film “Artificial Intelligence,” Spielberg refused to direct “Harry Potter.”
. Photo: East News
Steven Spielberg's net worth is estimated at $4 billion.
The director suffers from claustrophobia: he feels uncomfortable in airplanes, elevators and any other enclosed spaces. According to Steven Spielberg, one habit that helps him cope with stress is biting his nails. He has no other harmful addictions.
The surname Spielberg consists of two parts: spiel translates as “sharp”, berg - “mountain”. Thus, translated from German, this word means “sharp mountain.” Shpilberg's transcription is also adopted in Russian.
Name: Steven Spielberg
Age: 71 years old
Place of Birth: Cincinnati, USA
Height: 171 cm Weight: 70 kg
Activity: film director, screenwriter, producer
Family status: married
Steven Spielberg: biography
The full name of this talented director, who created the highest-grossing films, is Steven Allan Spielberg. The rental of his masterpieces amounted to almost 8.5 billion dollars. He won an Oscar three times.
Steven Spielberg: childhood, family
The brilliant producer and screenwriter was born into a poor Jewish family in Ohio. Father and mother raised four children. The head of the family is an engineer; my mother accompanied concerts and played piano.
But soon the career of a pianist was forgotten for the sake of the children. But the creative seed from the mother firmly sprouted in the children. Therefore, two of them (Anne and Stephen) connected their biographies with creativity. Sister Ann became an actress, and Steve himself became a famous box-office director.
The family moved in search of a better life; in Scottsdale the boy went to school, where he encountered bullying against Jews. Parents have long noticed that their son was attracted to cinema. No matter how difficult it was, Steven received an eight mm camera from his mom and dad. There was an opportunity to practice filming your own amateur short films.
Steven Spielberg: films
The boy began by filming horror films in which blood was replaced with cherry juice. The sisters were “actresses” for their brother and portrayed aliens. And Stephen made a film about the war with the sound effects of firecrackers and burning curtains. The teenager turned 12 years old when he took part in his first film festival. One of his works was recognized as the best.
A few years later, the parents invested their money in the filming of the film “Heavenly Lights” about an alien intelligence that abducted people to show them in its menagerie. The film lasted two hours, Stephen involved local schoolchildren in the creation of the film. We did everything with our own hands, our parents helped. The film was shown in the city cinema. This is how Spielberg’s cinematic biography began.
Since the age of 19, Stephen has tried twice to pass exams for film school. The young man was denied admission, and the admissions committee issued a conclusion: “mediocrity.” The guy began to study at a technical college, continuing to do his favorite thing. His film "Emblin", which lasted 26 minutes, attracted the attention of the Universal film company. Spielberg was offered a contract.
At first, TV series were filmed, but soon the talented young man tried his hand at creating his first disaster film. The producers gave me the opportunity to make a full-length film and were not mistaken, because the audience liked this work. And the next film, Jaws, made Steven Spielberg famous.
Popularity of Steven Spielberg
Recognition of the director and real fame awaited new films. These films were the box office films “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “E.T.” Both films grossed a thousand million dollars. Spielberg felt a new surge of strength and created a satire film, an adventure film, an action film and others. Since 1984, the director created his own film company, Amblin Entertainment. Many films are known to viewers all over the world, and the sensational films about the Jurassic period demonstrated the incredible imagination and fantasy of the director.
Famous actors such as Liam Neeson and Tom Hanks work with Spielberg. Russian viewers are familiar not only with the titles, but also with the films themselves: “Catch Me If You Can”, “Terminal”, “War of the Worlds”, “Bridge of Spies”. Stephen has not lost his diversity of talent since childhood, so he sometimes tries himself as an actor, writes scripts for his films, and is a producer of several projects.
Steven Spielberg: biography of personal life
There is no consistency in the biography of Spielberg's personal relationships. He had an affair with actress Amy Virgin for three years. The woman left him, but then the couple decided to get back together and even got married. A son was born, but after some time the couple became participants in a high-profile divorce proceeding. The wife sued her husband for a hundred million dollars.
Two years later, Stephen walked actress Kate Capshaw down the aisle. Now the couple has a daughter, Sasha, a son, Sawyer, and a daughter, Destri. In addition to them, the famous director’s family raised Kate’s daughter from her first marriage, Jessica, Stephen’s son from his wife Amy Virgin, and Theo, a boy adopted by the couple. They later adopted Michaela. Children are drawn to creativity in different ways: through video games, as actresses and actors, musicians and models.
Spielberg continues to create popular films, only now they have become family films or about people of the future. The list of future works will include Spielberg's favorite genre - a dramatic thriller with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. The director did not change his beloved Indiana Jones; it is planned to film the fifth part of the sequel.
Steven Spielberg has many significant awards. One he is very proud of. He was awarded the title of honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II herself. He is an honorary member of the American Society for his ethical treatment of aliens. The director created the computer game Medal of Honor.
Born December 18, 1947 in Cincinnati (Ohio).
Parents:
Mother - Leah Posner, former. concert pianist, owner of the Milka Way dairy restaurant. Father - Arnold Spielberg, a World War II veteran (aviation radio operator), computer engineer, one of the pioneers of computer science in America.
“One of my grandfathers is from Odessa, the other is from a small village, also in Ukraine.
Russian is in our blood. My mother and father always sang Russian lullabies to me.
“Sleep, my beautiful baby, bayushki-bayu.” (S. Spielberg).
The parents have four children: Stephen and three sisters - Nancy, Susan and Ann.
The charity organization “Children at Heart”, founded by Nancy Spielberg, is engaged in charitable activities in relation to children from the contaminated Chernobyl zone of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
Susan Pasternak's sister is married to the great-nephew of the writer Boris Pasternak.
Steven Spielberg has been married twice. First wife - actress Emmy Irving (shared son - Max)
during the divorce she received 150 million dollars. (1991).
His current wife, actress Kate Cashpaugh, converted to Judaism upon marriage.
There are seven children in the family - three common, two from first marriages (each) and two adopted children.
The “computerization of the entire country” program contributed to the constant relocation of young Stephen’s family (to his father’s place of work). From Cincinnati (Ohio) there were moves to Haddonfield (New Jersey), Scottsdale (Arizona), Saratoga (California).
“I was less than 12 years old, but I already knew for sure that I wanted to connect my life with cinema.” (S. Spielberg).
In 1970, Spielberg entered the University of California, where he completed his studies 33 years later (2003), receiving a bachelor's degree, having already been an honorary Doctor of Arts from five universities. Spielberg became interested in filmmaking from an early age, making his first amateur film at the age of 12, based on his own script and with actors. At the age of 13 he won a competition
the 40-minute war film “Escape to Nowhere”, and at the age of 16 he directed the amateur film “Firelight” (duration -
140 minutes).
The first film that brought Spielberg worldwide fame, Jaws, was released in 1975. The film was shot in 2 years
before Star Wars, was nominated for an Oscar, but did not receive the award.
Since then, Spielberg has been awarded an Oscar four times (5 thousand members of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences vote for the Oscar!): “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” (the film received 4 “0” Oscars). 1982
“Jurassic Park” (7 Oscars). 1993
"Schindler's List" (5 Oscars). 1993
“Saving Private Ryan” (5 Oscars). 1998
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Spielberg's work has been awarded 5 Golden Globe awards, 4 awards from the American Academy of Science Fiction,
Grammy Awards.
His films were awarded in more than 75 nominations.
In recognition of his cinematic achievements, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain elevated Spielberg to the rank of knight.
he was awarded the "Honorary Nobility" of Great Britain.
The role of the public organization “Shoa Visual History Foundation”, founded by Spielberg in 1994, whose main goal is to cultivate tolerance and humanism, is highly noted in the world. The Shoah Foundation (“shoah” is Hebrew for “catastrophe”, “calamity”) collects and archives video recordings of historical testimonies of Holocaust survivors. The Foundation has collected more than 52 thousand testimonies from people from 56 countries. Half of this material has already been transferred to digital form,
so that the collection is available for inspection and reading throughout the world. Films have been made based on documentary videos
in Poland (Andrzej Wajda), Russia (Pavel Czuchray), Argentina and Hungary. Foundation videos are used in many countries
for educational purposes in order to overcome prejudice, intolerance and fanaticism.
In 2004, with the assistance of the Shoah Foundation, the Italian Holocaust Museum was opened at the Villa Torlonia, which for 18 years was the residence of Benito Mussolini. For his services to perpetuating the memory of Holocaust victims in documentaries and feature films, Italian President Carlo Azelino Ciampi included Spielberg in the list of Knights of the Grand Cross of the Republic (2004). In the same year, Spielberg won the Daviddi Donatello Award (Italy).
S. Spielberg: “I consider the implementation of the project “The Visible History of the Shoah Victims” to be the main achievement in my career.
This horror of the 20th century
eka should not be repeated in the 21st century.
I am proud to have helped survivors tell the world about the Nazi nightmare."
Spielberg's unique and outstanding contribution to world cinema was recently recognized by the Mikhail Gorbachev Foundation.
Spielberg was awarded the World Awards, which honor "People Who Changed the World" (previously honoring
Pope John Paul P, Paul McCartney, JK Rowling, etc.).
The films shot by Spielberg are among the thirty highest-grossing films of all time. This is Jaws, Indiana Jones
and the Last Crusade", "Jurassic Park", "The Lost World", "Saving Private Ryan". The film "Artificial Intelligence", which embodied Stanley Kubrick's 30-year dream, became a tribute to his memory.
“Kubrick has been my teacher throughout my life.
And it continues to be so
I just continue to watch his films.”
Spielberg has the most expensive insurance in the world. $1.2 billion - this is how the loss of one of the most powerful studios in the world - the film company Dream Works Pictures SKG (founded by Spielberg in 1994) is assessed in the event of Spielberg's death.
Steven Spielberg has earned the reputation of a cinematic genius. His work, which embodies everything that millions of people
loved and hated all over the world in Hollywood cinema, it leaves no one indifferent.
Writer, director and producer Steven Spielberg does not like to be called a “master”:
“Master, in my understanding, is synonymous with “canon.” Something frozen."
Today, the media are reporting on many of Spielberg’s hidden creative plans - from making a film about romantic love to filming the largest horror film “City of Skeletons” (and purchasing 20 thousand skeletons in all countries of the world for this purpose).
Spielberg has two main hobbies. Personal and charitable. He collects stories about aliens and... buys treasured Oscar statuettes at auctions.
He buys them in order to donate them to the museum of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Over the years, he acquired three statuettes - awarded to Betty Dzvis for his role in the film “Isabelle” (purchased for $578 thousand), awarded to Clark Gable for his role in the film “It Happened One Night” ($607 thousand) and Bette Davis for her role in the film “Dangerous” ($180 thousand).
The European interclub HOUSE OF DERIBASA (headquarters - Berlin) awarded Steven Spielberg the International Deribasov Prize (in the category “Odessa Genetic Roots”). The prize in this category is awarded for high professional excellence, outstanding social contribution and achievement of world fame, which, according to the deep conviction of Odessa residents, were the result of a happy accident - the birth of the laureate or his ancestors in Odessa and the inheritance of Odessa genes by the laureate.
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Steven Spielberg in Ukraine for the first time
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In October 2006, Steven Spielberg visited Ukraine for the first time to take part in the presentation of the full-length documentary film “Say Your Name,” dedicated to the Holocaust.
His first words at the airport were: “Finally, I’m in my homeland!” //See also http://od.vgorode.ua/news/9/90036/
Steven Spielberg actively supports Holocaust research projects, being the founder of the Shoah Foundation.
The producers of the film “Say Your Name” were Steven Spielberg and, on the Ukrainian side, businessman philanthropist Viktor Pinchuk, son-in-law of Vice President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma.
The director of the film is the famous Ukrainian documentarian Sergei Bukovsky.
The film was created on the basis of documentary evidence of Nazi atrocities.
STEVEN SPIELBERG AWARDED THE SECOND ODESSA AWARD
For outstanding personal contribution to the development of world cinema, the establishment of high humanistic ideals and the strengthening of friendly relations between the peoples of Ukraine and the United States of America
Steven Spielberg was awarded the Honorary Badge of the Odessa City Mayor “For Services to the City.”
On behalf of the Odessa mayor's office, the award was presented to Steven Spielberg in Kyiv by the head of the Department of Cultural Affairs
and art of the Odessa City Council Roman Brodavko.
This is the second Odessa award for the director (after the International Deribasov Prize, 2004).
October 2006
Engineer Arnold Spielberg and pianist Leah Posner (Adler is the surname of her second husband) with their children - daughters Nancy, Susan, Ann and son Stephen - lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, were an exemplary family and led a lifestyle befitting an ordinary American unit of society. But for some reason the neighbors did not like the Spielbergs. Maybe because they were almost the only Jews in the area.
Even more, their classmates disliked their son Stephen, who, frankly speaking, did not have the most attractive appearance - he was a thin and pimply teenager with slow reactions. “I first learned what anti-Semitism was when I went to school,” Spielberg recalled. “This is when a whole gang beats one, and only because he is a Jew.”
It is not surprising that Stephen was the “whipping boy” in the class. He returned home from classes in a roundabout way, so as not to catch the eye of the tall dunces from the football team, because it wouldn’t take long to get a black eye from them.
School was a real “Calvary” for him, especially after the incident that happened in physical education class.
The whole class ran cross-country, and Stephen, who did not have any outstanding physical characteristics, finished last along with his oligophrenic classmate. He will never forget these few meters to the finish line: all the schoolchildren were cheering on the mentally retarded runner, and only whistles and hoots rushed after Stephen...
But as soon as the boy opened the doors of his own house, he plunged into the sea, no, into the ocean of love. His parents, especially his mother, allowed him almost everything. They perceived and loved him as he was, did not try to re-educate him, did not break his character, respected the feelings and freedom of their child, and most importantly, they were lenient. But God saw: in order to tolerate Stephen’s antics, one had to have the endurance of a trainer of wild monkeys from the forests of Brazil...
Lea could not find a woman who would agree to work as a nanny for them. “Nobody wanted us to leave home without Stephen. Long before Gremlins, he was already a master of horror,” my mother recalled. The most “terrible horror” was happening in his room. There was so much trash on the floor that you could have grown mushrooms there if you wanted. And when a lizard escaped from the aquarium, it was found only after... three years. Lea only looked into her son’s room once a week, took dirty laundry and immediately slammed the door. Another mother in Leia’s place would give her child such a beating that he would instantly come to his senses! Have you heard anything about that woman’s son?.. And Spielberg invariably takes first place in the ranking of the richest people in show business.
Lea once joked: if she knew even a little about parenting, she would take her son to a psychoanalyst. “But then the film E.T. would not have appeared,” she believes. Although it was still worth showing Stephen to a specialist. Especially after he unscrewed the head of his sister's doll and placed it in the salad bed. The girl became hysterical. Another sister was left speechless for a year when her brother snuck under her window at night and began whispering in an eerie voice: “I am the moon!” I am the moon!”
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Needless to say, except for Mom and Dad, no one would even think of calling Stephen a cute little boy. And how his neighbors hated him! Agree, the boy had serious problems... But he was lucky with his parents, who taught their son more than one lesson in the “school of survival”: “If you were offended, find a way to defend your honor. Be smarter, more resourceful, luckier than your offender. You don't know how to run fast, but you have an extraordinary imagination, an amazing fantasy. Let it become your weapon."
It remains to find a way to use this “weapon” for peaceful purposes. By the way, the images born of Stephen's imagination were not always so harmless. For his hated neighbors, he came up with terrible punishments, in comparison with which fiery hell could seem like heaven. Fortunately, he failed to carry out his revenge plan. But he still smeared peanut butter on the windows of particularly nasty neighbors.
Who knows what the boy would have become if not for the story of how...
Stephen's father gave him a movie camera.
When little Stephen was first brought to the cinema, he looked at the screen spellbound, in full confidence that the heroes of the film - the seven dwarfs and Snow White - lived somewhere in the nearby forest and could be visited at any moment for a cup of tea. Imagine his disappointment when the adults explained that Snow White was just the director’s fantasy...
Several years passed, and his parents gave Stephen a movie camera for his birthday. The most real one. Now Stephen could film whatever he wanted: how his mother washed the dishes, how his sister taught homework, how his neighbor, hiding in the garden from his wife, quietly drank whiskey.
Further more. Stephen himself invented his own world, and then captured it on film. In this world he was the smartest and most beautiful, he had many friends, he was understood and loved, and dad and mom never quarreled...
Stephen's parents by that time were on the verge of divorce (they eventually divorced), but lived together so as not to traumatize the children. “My answer to them was to escape into the world of imagination, so that the ends of my nerves would finally stop screaming and crying: Dad, Mom, why did you break up and leave us alone? I dreamed of flying into space or having space enter me,” recalled the future creator of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Artificial Intelligence.”
It was at the insistence of his father that Stephen dedicated one of his first films to World War II. The script was written by the whole family, and the main consultant was the father, who went through the war. Then they made the decorations together. But filming was postponed - there was no money for film. Do you think the parents shelled out the necessary $150 for their son’s film needs? Not at all. They suggested that Stephen take care of the financing himself. The boy carefully calculated the budget, made an editing plan for the film, and eliminated unnecessary scenes. The amount was reduced to $50. But the parents were in no hurry to give this money to their son. Then Stephen contracted to paint the neighbors' fence. This was the beginning of a billion-dollar fortune!
Lea recalled that Stephen, carried away by some new business, never finished painting that fence, so she had to finish the work. We must pay tribute to Leia: she fully and completely assisted her son in realizing his crazy ideas.
One day, Stephen decided to make a science-fiction film about how something terrible seeps out of kitchen cabinets. Filming took place in the Spielbergs' kitchen, and Lea was responsible for organizing the special effects. She bought 30 cans of canned cherries at the supermarket and boiled them until they exploded and splashed the entire room. “After that, for several years, I developed the habit of coming into the kitchen every morning and scrubbing the cabinets of cherries,” admitted the film director’s mother.
However, Stephen could not be called a hopeless romantic and a disinterested person creating art for art's sake. His entire film process was put on a business track. Stephen reasoned this way: why make films that no one will ever see? The film must have an audience, and the audience must pay money, and with this money the director will make the next film. Well, leave a couple of dollars for ice cream...
Soon, a screening room was set up in the Spielbergs’ living room, where dad’s film projector played not only Steven’s “masterpieces,” but also films taken from local distribution. The sister sold tickets for 25 cents, and during the breaks between shows, members of the household “treated” the audience to popcorn for 10 cents per bag. There was no end to those wishing to visit the “Spielberg cinema”. Both Stephen's classmates and neighbors paid pennies for his "art." And they not only paid, but also took an active part in the filming.
For one of his films, Spielberg needed 75 extras. The young director invited students from three classes, and everyone agreed. “When I showed the film to all this army of scouts, the guys were delighted. They began to applaud and made an incredible noise. At that moment I realized what I had to do for the rest of my life,” Spielberg recalled.
Then he did not yet know that many fascinating stories awaited him ahead, and one of them was about how...
Stephen bought his mother a TV
Sometimes one gets the impression that Steven Spielberg planned his career in advance, wrote its “script” and methodically “played” the prepared text. It happened that some “characters” in his script refused to play their roles. But after a while they still agreed. They just didn't know that it was impossible to say no to Spielberg. “One way or another, he always gets what he wants,” says the director’s mother.
Judge for yourself. At the age of eighteen, Stephen decided to get a job at a reputable film studio in Hollywood, for example, at Universal. But for this he had to provide his painting. To make a film, you need money. Spielberg persuaded his wealthy friend to finance the project. And make no mistake: he made such a film that the studio director immediately signed a contract with him. It’s not for nothing that movie mogul Richard Zanuck said about Spielberg: “It seems that he was born a director and absorbed all the knowledge about cinema with his mother’s milk.”
By the way, about the mother. With his first salary, Stephen bought her a TV. When in 1975 he made the thriller Jaws, which became one of the highest-grossing films in the history of American cinema, he could have already given his mother an entire factory for the production of televisions. And with the money he received in 1993 for the rental of the film “Jurassic Park,” Spielberg could cast her a television the size of a calf from gold (only on the first weekend of release the film grossed more than $50 million with a budget of $80 million, and during the subsequent weeks crossed the 100 million mark).
Spielberg not only caught the “golden calf” by the tail, but also managed to change the consciousness of the American audience. The release of his film Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977 coincided with a real technocratic boom: the first video clip and the first personal computer appeared, and the first serious sale of video equipment was registered. Television is deeply ingrained in the brains of Americans: TV series, quizzes, games, shows have replaced Sunday trips to the cinema.
Spielberg managed to return the viewer to cinema halls. He had something to lure people there. Spielberg's films mixed fantasy with reality: UFOs were perceived as real as a new brand of car, and a small alien could be cared for in the same way as a stray dog.
But Spielberg wouldn't be Spielberg if he was only interested in the creative aspect. His films were, above all, spectacular, programmed for success and took first place in the list of top-grossing films. It’s paradoxical, but true: the more successful Spielberg’s film was at the box office, the more caustic the critics’ attacks became. The director was accused of being frivolous, naive, and being carried away by special effects, as if his films lacked depth and his characters lacked real traits.
His films were nominated for an Oscar each time, but received it only for technical achievements. Spielberg, fearing self-repetition, turned to the genre of psychological drama, but did not gain success in this field. The film “The Color Purple” was called the most unsuccessful in the history of the Oscars. Nominated for 11 statuettes, he received none.
“This is probably the price to pay for success,” says the director. – Actually, in America it is customary to respect those who have achieved a lot solely through work and talent, but I obviously went too far. Although I don’t understand this: is it really difficult for someone to come to terms with the fact that I earned a billion, giving pleasure to the audience - I earned it honestly, without robbing or deceiving anyone?”
You remember what Stephen's mother said, right? No one can say no to her son. So the academicians broke and broke and finally gave Spielberg the main Oscars. But to deserve the award, the director had to film “Schindler’s List” in 1994 (Oscar for best director and best producer), and five years later – the film “Saving Private Ryan” (a prize for best director). Both films were dedicated to the events of World War II.
Of course, Mom shared the joy of victory with Stephen. But Lea wasn't the only one who was worried about him at the ceremony. Next to Spielberg was his faithful wife Kate Capshaw. However, this is a completely different story - about how...
Stephen ruined his wives' film careers
Spielberg had two wives. But why was that? The second one is in place. And she takes this place due to the fact that at one time she made a good impression on Lea. But Stephen’s first wife, Amy Irving, could not boast of the good disposition of her husband’s mother...
Stephen and Amy met on the set of Brian De Palma's 1976 film Carrie. Stephen, being a friend of the director, came to him in his own way, to chat about this and that and tell how the filming of his “Close Encounters” was going. According to Brian, the director and actress fell in love with each other at first sight, and they began novel.
Stephen was in no hurry to formalize the relationship - apparently, his mother’s verdict was decisive. However, a few years later (by that time Spielberg was already a billionaire) they got married. Amy gave birth to a son, Max. But there was no happiness in this marriage...
Amy never stopped dreaming about becoming an actress. She hoped that an influential and wealthy husband would protect her. However, Stephen was in no hurry. Marriage interested him in a completely different aspect. After the divorce, Amy admitted that next to Stephen she felt like a laboratory mouse. He walked everywhere with a small notebook, periodically making some notes. Amy could not shake the feeling that her husband was making notes there about the peculiarities of her behavior. Spielberg also liked to lock himself in a room with strange figurines reminiscent of Indian gods, and in the voice of an offended child he complained to them about a failed marriage.
Eventually they broke up. But Amy was not going to leave her husband empty-handed. At that time, Spielberg began an affair with actress Kate Capshaw, who starred in his film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Amy took advantage of this situation and demanded 650 million dollars - half of her husband's fortune at that time. The court considered that the ex-wife would cost 150 million. And with that we parted ways...
The marriage with Kate turned out to be much more successful. Except that Capshaw had to give up his film career and focus solely on his family. She converted to Judaism and found a common language with Stephen’s mother, gave birth to three children, and she and her husband adopted two more. Kate also has a daughter from her first marriage, whom Spielberg adopted.
For Spielberg, communicating with children is one of the greatest pleasures in life. Talking with his offspring, he seems to be drawing inspiration for his films, he feels like Peter Pan - a boy-man, an eternal teenager - the hero of a children's fairy tale, which the director filmed in 1991.
Who is he really? – think numerous spiteful critics of Spielberg. An adult man with the gentle soul of a child or a hardened type who puts on the mask of a naive simpleton, wearing the same jeans, sneakers and a baseball cap? Spielberg's subordinates obviously gravitate toward the second version. In his office, there are all kinds of sweets on the tables, but none of the employees touch them. They remember well the proverb about free cheese, which only comes in a mousetrap, and for some reason they are sure that in this way the chef is conducting an experiment on them.
Employees are constantly on alert, trying to strictly comply with all orders of the boss. Sometimes in their efforts they reach the point of absurdity. Thus, one of the security guards at Dream Works did not allow the director into his own office, demanding that Spielberg show his identification. The security guard did not take into account all the director’s assurances that he was one of the owners of the company. Only after Spielberg showed his driver's license was he able to enter the office. Having reached the office, he immediately thanked the security for their vigilance and responsible performance of their duties.
But the guard lets Spielberg’s mother through without questions. If he tried to detain her, the boss wouldn’t pat him on the head! After all, Stephen loves it when his mother comes to his office. “I love coming back to the office and finding you here. Could you come here more often? - he asks her. You don't yet know the story of how...
Mom made Stephen chicken soup
“We are still incredibly close to my mother. There is nowhere closer, unless I suddenly find myself inside her. But this is a long-past stage,” these words belong to the “great and terrible” Steven Spielberg, owner of a billion dollar fortune, father of seven children, owner of successful film companies, world-famous director and producer. It seems that Spielberg is still doing everything not to upset mommy. He does not drink, does not smoke, is not interested in women, loves his wife and children, and is involved in charity work. But still, like a little boy, he needs his mother’s care.
One day, Leah’s secretary called and said, “Mr. Spielberg is sick and wants you to make him chicken soup. We'll send a limousine to pick him up." Lea was at her Milky Way restaurant at the time and was indignant: “Stephen knows that this is a dairy restaurant, you can’t cook chicken here!” Five minutes later the secretary called again and said: “Mr. Spielberg told you to go home, but they have prepared chicken soup.” And Lea went home and prepared the soup and brought it to the office - who else but her would prepare the kind of chicken soup that her son loves.
Spielberg, in turn, also takes very touching care of his mother. When she starred in the television series Amazing Stories (in a cameo role), she was the only actress who was provided with a personal limousine. “Every time I got into the car, I wanted to shout: “People, look at me!” To which Stephen always said: “Mom, don’t worry, they know.”
“I’m basking in fame,” says Leah. “And all I have to do is be a mother!” Spielberg reciprocates: “I have not finished my journey in exploring what is meaningful and personal to me. My biggest influences were my mother and father. At an early age I was very impressed by films. Sometimes unreal people, sometimes images had a vivid effect on me.” Looks like Steven Spielberg has no intention of growing up. At least while his loving and beloved mother is next to him...
