биография спилберга на английском
Steven Spielberg: Movie Wizard. Стивен Спилберг: Чародей кинематографа
Steven Spielberg: Movie Wizard
He seems to be the all-power wizard and a cinematic magician for us. His films make us scream with laughter or shiver with horror.
The son of a computer scientist and a gifted pianist, Spielberg spent his early childhood in New Jersey and, later, in Arizona. He was eleven when he first got his dad’s camera and began shooting short films about flying saucers and World War Two battles.
At the age of 13 he won a contest with his 40-minute film Escape to Nowhere. At the age of 16 he produced the movie ‘Firelight’ and it was shown at the local cinema.
But a real success came in 1975, when Spielberg created ‘Jaws’. That little fish tale became the biggest hit of its time. This movie opened up the doors for Spielberg to work on many more great projects. And he went on to shake Hollywood with ‘Close Encounters’, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, ‘ET’, and ‘Jurassic Park’.
Today, Spielberg is one of the most financially successful filmmakers ever. But his talents aren’t limited to the movie set. Spielberg has also proved to be one of Hollywood’s most nimble entrepreneurs. His business empire includes video games, toys and even restaurants.
But what is his source of inspiration? He draws it from his 7 children (two of them are adopted). Spielberg likes to spend time with his children. His house resembles a large playground — he keeps there 2 parrots, several snakes, and a fish tank. Ask him where he gets his ideas and he shrugs. «The process for me is mostly intuitive,» he says. «There are movies I feel that I need to make, for a variety of reasons, for personal reasons, for reasons that I want to have fun, that the subject matter is cool, that I think my kids will like it.»
Стивен Спилберг: Чародей кинематографа
Он нам кажется всесильным магом и мастером кинематографа. Его фильмы заставляют нас умирать со смеху или дрожать от ужаса.
Сын ученого-информатика и талантливой пианистки, Спилберг провел раннее детство в Нью-Джерси, а затем в Аризоне. Ему было 11, когда он получил первую камеру своего отца и стал снимать короткометражные фильмы о летающих тарелках и сражениях Второй мировой войны.
В возрасте 13 он выиграл конкурс с его 40-минутным фильмом «Побег в никуда». В возрасте 16 лет он подготовил фильм «Пламя страсти», и его показали в местном кинотеатре.
Но настоящий успех пришел в 1975 году, когда Спилберг создал ‘Челюсти’. Этот маленький рассказ о рыбе стал хитом своего времени. Этот фильм открыл Спилбергу двери для работы во многих крупных проектах. И он стал потрясать Голливуд с «Близкими контактами ‘,’ Индиана Джонс: В поисках утраченного ковчега ‘,’ ET» и «Парк Юрского периода».
В настоящее время Спилберг является одним из самых финансово успешных режиссеров. Но его таланты не ограничиваются съемочной площадкой. Спилберг также оказался одним из самых проворных предпринимателей Голливуда. Его бизнес-империя включает в себя производство видео-игр, игрушек и даже рестораны.
Биография Стивена Спилберга на английском языке
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As an Eagle Scout (he’d later serve on the Advisory Board of the Boy Scouts of America, only to quit over a perceived discrimination against homosexuals) with such enthusiasm and practical experience, you’d have thought he’d walk into film school. Yet Spielberg was twice turned down for the prestigious film course at the University of Southern California, instead studying English at California State University at Long Beach, then moving into film.
Contracted to make TV shows, Spielberg directed episodes of Marcus Welby MD, The Name Of The Game, The Psychiatrist and Owen Marshall: Counsellor At Law. He also made a full-length Columbo movie, and helmed one of the more famous episodes of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery. Here Joan Crawford played a rich blind woman who purchases the eyes of Tom Bosley, who’s badly in debt, in order to gain eight hours of sight. She thinks the operation is a failure but, unbeknownst to her, New York is suffering a power-cut. Spooky stuff, despite the nagging suspicion that New York might have the odd emergency generator.
This episode was superb, with Spielberg drawing an excellent performance from the ageing Crawford. But it was his first TV movie proper that made him. Starring Dennis Weaver as a travelling salesman taunted, menaced and nearly killed by the faceless driver of a monster truck, Duel was a classic, so good it actually opened in European cinemas. Next came spook-flick Something Evil, with Sandy Dennis, and blackmail thriller Savage with Martin Landau, but Spielberg now had his own cinema project in mind. This was Sugarland Express, where Goldie Hawn (desperate to escape her dippy comic image) played a mother who, fearing her child is to be put up for adoption, persuades her hubbie to come on the run. The movie, while often hilarious (the couple are eventually tailed by hundreds of police cars), was also taut and upsetting, brilliantly handled. For his role as co-writer, Spielberg won for Best Screenplay at Cannes.
Of course, the movie made a fortune but Spielberg, considering it to be «blood money», gave his share to various Jewish projects via the Righteous Persons Foundation. He also established the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation which, in 57 countries and 32 languages, taped over 50,000 statements from victims and witnesses of the Holocaust.
Spielberg was now THE major player in Hollywood. Aside from his own monstrously successful projects, he’d been involved in the production of smashes like Deep Impact, Men In Black, Twister and the Back To The Future trilogy. On TV, there was ER and Sea Quest DSV. And there was the animation, a childhood love. Spielberg had his own Amblination studio, and helped make An American Tail, Land Before Time and Fievel Goes West, as well as the TV hits Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs and Pinky And The Brain.
Now came AI: Artificial Intelligence, Spielberg being one of the very few directors with the class and the cajones to take over the project after the death of Stanley Kubrick. Starring Haley Joel Osment as a ‘borg seeking the meaning of humanity, it saw Spielberg once again viewing the world through a child’s eyes, as he had done with ET, Empire Of The Sun and, in a roundabout way, with Duel and Raiders, the heroes of which were most child-like in being confronted and confounded by a cruel (read Adult) world. Arnold’s distance had certainly left its mark. There would have been more, as Spielberg had been down to direct Big, with Harrison Ford in the Tom Hanks role, but he pulled out so as not to steal the thunder of sister Annie who co-wrote the script (and received an Oscar nomination for her pains).
2001 saw Spielberg deliver the film version of another publishing phenomenon, Harry Potter And The Sorceror’s Stone. At least, that’s how the movie was presented even though Spielberg did not direct it. «For me,» he said «that was shooting ducks in a barrel. It’s just a slam-dunk. It’s like withdrawing a billion dollars and putting it into your personal bank accounts». The movie was actually directed by Chris Columbus, but this is seldom mentioned. Though he helmed such mega-hits as Home Alone, Mrs Doubtfire and Stepmom, Columbus’s achievements pale beside those of his producer. Spielberg is now a kind of cinematic brand-name.
After this came another thriller, Catch Me If You Can, this time with old buddy Tom Hanks playing an FBI agent tracking down young con artist Leonardo DiCaprio. Then there would be Indiana Jones 4, written by Frank «Shawshank Redemption» Darabont, and once again starring Harrison Ford and Spielberg’s wife, Kate Capshaw.
Топик Steven Spielberg: Movie Wizard
He seems to be the all-power wizard and a cinematic magician for us. His films make us scream with laughter or shiver with horror.
The son of a computer scientist and a gifted pianist, Spielberg spent his early childhood in New Jersey and, later, in Arizona. He was eleven when he first got his dad’s camera and began shooting short films about flying saucers and World War Two battles.
At the age of 13 he won a contest with his 40-minute film Escape to Nowhere. At the age of 16 he produced the movie ‘Firelight’ and it was shown at the local cinema.
But a real success came in 1975, when Spielberg created ‘Jaws’. That little fish tale became the biggest hit of its time. This movie opened up the doors for Spielberg to work on many more great projects. And he went on to shake Hollywood with ‘Close Encounters’, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, ‘ET’, and ‘Jurassic Park’.
Today, Spielberg is one of the most financially successful filmmakers ever. But his talents aren’t limited to the movie set. Spielberg has also proved to be one of Hollywood’s most nimble entrepreneurs. His business empire includes video games, toys and even restaurants.
But what is his source of inspiration? He draws it from his 7 children (two of them are adopted). Spielberg likes to spend time with his children. His house resembles a large playground — he keeps there 2 parrots, several snakes, and a fish tank. Ask him where he gets his ideas and he shrugs. «The process for me is mostly intuitive,» he says. «There are movies I feel that I need to make, for a variety of reasons, for personal reasons, for reasons that I want to have fun, that the subject matter is cool, that I think my kids will like it.»
Steven Spielberg
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Steven Spielberg, in full Steven Allan Spielberg, (born December 18, 1946, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.), American motion-picture director and producer whose diverse films—which ranged from science-fiction fare, including such classics as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), to historical dramas, notably Schindler’s List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998)—enjoyed both unprecedented popularity and critical success.
Early life and work
Spielberg developed an interest in filmmaking as a child, and during his teens his Escape to Nowhere (1962), a 40-minute war movie, won first prize at a film festival. He next directed Firelight (1964), a feature-length science-fiction yarn, which was followed by an accomplished short about hitchhikers called Amblin’ (1968). An executive at Universal Studios saw the latter film and tendered a contract to Spielberg, who began working in the studio’s television division after attending California State College, Long Beach (now California State University, from which he would eventually receive a B.A. in 2002). He directed episodes of various TV series, notably Columbo, Marcus Welby, M.D., and Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law. In 1971 he made his first television movie, Duel, a taut, almost claustrophobic exercise in psychosis that was more intense than typical TV fare (it was released theatrically in Europe). Although Spielberg permitted star Dennis Weaver—who played a motorist chased by a homicidal truck driver—to register a one-note impression of sweaty terror throughout the movie, his handling of the action sequences was staged and executed with bravado. The success of Duel enabled Spielberg to make theatrically released motion pictures, beginning with The Sugarland Express (1974), a chase picture with deft accents of comedy but an inexorable movement toward tragedy; it was anchored by Goldie Hawn’s performance.
Commercial success
Spielberg’s next movie, Jaws (1975), established him as a leading director, and it was one of the highest-grossing films ever. It featured Roy Scheider as the police chief of a resort town who battles a man-eating white shark. Joining him are Richard Dreyfuss as a marine biologist and Robert Shaw as a shark hunter. The highly praised thriller received an Academy Award nomination for best picture, and its ominous soundtrack by John Williams won an Oscar. The film all but created the genre of summer blockbuster—big action-packed movie released to an audience grateful to be in an air-conditioned theatre—and it established many of the touchstones of Spielberg’s work: an ordinary but sympathetic main character is enlightened through a confrontation with some extraordinary being or force that gradually reveals itself as the narrative unfolds.
After the disappointing 1941 (1979)—which was received as an unfunny comedy, despite the presence of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd—Spielberg directed Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), a loving, expert (if slightly redundant) tribute to old adventure serials. The film and its sequels, which starred Harrison Ford as handsome archaeologist Indiana Jones, used rich colour cinematography, brisk editing, memorable musical soundtracks, and inventive special effects to create a cinematic experience that was typically light yet highly suspenseful. Spielberg received his second Academy Award nomination for best director; the film was also a best picture nominee.
Spielberg’s next film was even more successful. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) was a moving exploration of an alien encounter that cleverly eschewed the epic scale of Close Encounters for the microcosm of its effect on a single California family. Henry Thomas gave a strong performance as the boy who discovers and befriends the stranded alien, and Dee Wallace portrayed his sympathetic mom. The film also featured Drew Barrymore in one of her first roles. As with most Spielberg films to that point, the special effects were a large part of the movie’s appeal—in this case, the wonderfully articulated E.T.—but it was Spielberg’s mastery of human (and alien) emotion that made the movie a blockbuster. Both Spielberg and the film were nominated for Academy Awards, as were Melissa Mathison’s screenplay, Allen Daviau’s cinematography, and Williams’s score; only the latter won.
After directing Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Spielberg adapted Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple (1985). The film explores an African American woman’s almost unbearably harsh, yet ultimately fulfilling, life. Color was roundly criticized for downplaying the novel’s lesbian element, for perpetuating stereotypes about black men, and for sentimentalizing life in the Deep South. Nevertheless, it found an audience that appreciated the cast—which included Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Avery, and Oprah Winfrey, all of whom were nominated for Academy Awards—as well as the script (by Menno Meyjes) and the score (by coproducer Quincy Jones), both of which were also Academy Award-nominated. The film received a nomination for best picture, but Spielberg failed to earn an Oscar nod, a slight that created a small scandal at the time. More important, however, Spielberg had made one of the few commercially successful films about the experience of African Americans, paving the way for similar projects to be green-lighted.
Spielberg chose another critically acclaimed book as the basis of his next film. Empire of the Sun (1987), scripted by Tom Stoppard, was a carefully detailed re-creation of the World War II prison-camp milieu of J.G. Ballard’s autobiographical novel of the same name. But where The Color Purple was able to convey emotional truth, Empire of the Sun almost let the story about its young protagonist (Christian Bale) drown under a wave of pyrotechnics. It was a box-office failure. Spielberg closed out the 1980s with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) and Always (1989), an adaptation of the 1943 film A Guy Named Joe. Although Indiana Jones was a hit, Always failed to find an audience.
Spielberg’s tendency toward broad storytelling may have hampered his attempts at more complex filmmaking, and The Color Purple and Empire of the Sun, in the view of many critics, lacked emotional depth or insight. Yet the aggressive commercialism and optimism of Spielberg’s films became the prevailing style in Hollywood in the late 20th century. His pervasive influence was recognized in 1986 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences when it honoured him with the Irving G. Thalberg Award, given for excellence in producing.
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg Biography
Steven Spielberg (December 18, 1946) is an American director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the founding pioneers of the New Hollywood era, as well as being viewed as one of the most popular directors and producers in film history.
Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. His mother, Leah Adler Posner, worked as a concert pianist and she owned a restaurant. His father, Arnold Spielberg, was an engineer who worked in the field of computing.
During his childhood, Steven would face the separation of his parents. He was left in the care of his father who was constantly traveling because of his work, so he lived in different cities such as Haddon Township, New Jersey, and Scottsdale, Arizona. His family followed the beliefs of Orthodox Judaism, which is against the Nazi political project and its consequences, the Holocaust. Perhaps this ideological environment helped him to create one of his best films, Schindler’s List, based on the novel by Thomas Keneally.
Being only 13, Spielberg started shooting short films, which got him a prize for his 40-minute war movie called Escape to Nowhere. Years later and with more experience, he got offered to make a production of more than two hours. Then, he would be part of a film called The Last Gunfight. He was not widely recognized, but at age 18 he directed and wrote his first feature film, Firelight (1964). This science fiction movie was written alongside with his sister Nancy; who also collaborated in the acting cast. Fortunately, the film was screened commercially in a cinema in the city where he lived part of his youth, Phoenix.
In Los Angeles, Steven Spielberg tried to enter the University of Southern California to study cinematography but failed in the attempt. After two unsuccessful attempts, he abandoned the idea of entering the university and applied successfully to the California State University in Long Beach. Although he had to stop his academic process in 1968, the following year. With the knowledge acquired from the time that he was at the university, he worked in the production of Amblin’ with which he would win an award in the Atlanta Festival. Soon after, Universal Studios would offer him a contract to work on his Night Gallery program.
Spielberg would go back to the California State University, Long Beach and obtain his degree. After that, he would expand his film studies at California State College, where he studied film. Later on, he started his most important project of his life and was the establishment of his first film production, his first short film, Amblin.
In the early 70s, Steven focused on shooting short films, episodes of series and telefilms, one of the most successful was the film The Devil On Wheels, directed by him along with Alfred Hitchcock and starring the popular character “Colombo”. The film had excellent reviews when it appeared on the giant screen of several countries in Europe, still today it is conceived as one of the best suspense films.
Another of Steven’s major films was The Sugarland express in 1974, which is a dramatic feature film starring Goldie Hawn, William Atherton, and Michael Sacks. This film considered at the time not suitable for over 18 years of age. Steven was inspired by the life story of Lou Jean Poplin, who, in order to save his son from adoption, decided to kidnap a Texas social services agent, creating a tense situation across the state for defying authority.
A year later Steven would direct Jaws (1975), a film that showed to the spectators, genres such as terror, suspense, and adventure. Although it was a film totally applauded by the critics, Steven had to face complex situations in the production such as lack of budget, problems to meet the schedule of the film, problems with the mechanical replica of the shark, among others. The same year, the famous director began to innovate with a film of fictional style, although for him it was not something totally new because years before he dabbled in that genre with the movie “Firelight”.
In 1977, Spielberg would premier the popular film, with the production company Columbia, called Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which was a totally innovative film because it narrated the relationship of humanity with UFOs in an almost spiritual way, breaking with the schemes of previous films related to life on other planets. On the other hand, Close Encounters of the Third Kind saved Columbia producer from an imminent bankruptcy situation.
Steven was a curious person and always looking to innovate the film market, put aside the genre of science fiction to influence the adventure, with the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. However, this movie did not have much acceptance by the spectators. Consequently, he decided to resume the line of the previous success with E.T. the alien. This work played a very important role in Steven’s life because E.T. represented the imaginary friend that Spielberg created to cope with the great pain that his parents’ divorce generated. This was the highest grossing and moving science fiction movie of the moment.
In his long career as a filmmaker, there are several productions, some more popular than others, but undoubtedly all of them of great quality. Productions such as Gremlins (1984) and Schindler’s list (1993) with which he won seven Oscars.
Later, he would win three more Oscars with Jurassic Park (1993), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Minority report (2002) which is a mixture of suspense and science fiction starring Tom Cruise, took the first place in the North American movies’ gross income. More of his memorable productions are Munich (2005) that narrates the terrorist attack in the Olympic Games of Munich 1972, and also War of the Worlds (2005). Later on, he would participate in the fourth movie of Indiana Jones: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).
In 2011, he premiered The Adventures of Tintin which would lead him to obtain the Golden Globe for Best Animated Film and also presented War Horse, movie nominated to the Oscars. Then, he would premier Lincoln (2012).
His hectic and devoted life to the cinema can lead us to imagine that his sentimental life was scarce, but, although he is not known for having many close relationships, Spielberg would maintain a long relationship with the actress Amy Irving. Sadly, they would break up and would share the custody of their son, Max Samuel. Soon after, he started a relationship with the actress Kate Capshaw, who he met during the auditions for the movie Indiana Jones. They were married on October 12, 1991. Since then they have built a beautiful marriage with seven children.