"I dream for a living." The Steven Spielberg quote appears next to a large black-and-white picture of him smiling on the website of his production company, Amblin.
Judging from the career of the 75-year-old American film director, producer and screenwriter, he appears to be living his dream too. And he's taken generations of film fans along for the ride.
Seen here directing actors Meryl Streep (left) and Tom Hanks on the set of 'The Post'
Born on December 18, 1946, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Steven Allen Spielberg moved several times while growing up, spending part of his youth in Arizona and most of his working life in the mecca of moviemaking, California.
Given his Orthodox Jewish heritage, he grew up listening to stories of how some of his ancestors had perished in the Holocaust. A victim of antisemitic bullying at school, he has admitted to having had issues with his Jewish roots. Decades later, his catharsis came in directing the harrowing Holocaust film "Schindler's List," which would earn him his first Academy Award for best director.
Joining the Boy Scouts aged 12, and wanting to obtain a photography merit badge, he had used his father's 8 mm movie camera and submitted a nine-minute film titled "The Last Gunfight." There was no stopping the amateur filmmaker thereafter, who has cited 1962's "Lawrence of Arabia" as "the film that set me on my journey."
That journey began with him becoming one of the youngest television directors for Universal in the late 1960s, with his first made-for-TV film entitled "Duel" in 1971 receiving generally positive reviews.
In 1974, Spielberg made his debut in a theatrical film, "The Sugarland Express," based on a true story about a married couple on the run and desperate to regain custody of their baby from state-mandated foster parents.
It would also mark the start of a decades-long collaboration with prolific composer John Williams, who composed the scores for all but five of Spielberg's films.
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Steven Spielberg: a selected filmography
'Duel' (1971)
Spielberg's first feature film was not for the silver screen but for television. Due to its success, "Duel" was later released in cinemas. In this cheaply produced, incredibly effective thriller, an aggressive tanker truck driver duels with a car driver in a California wasteland. Originally, Spielberg had intended to dispense completely with dialog.
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Steven Spielberg: a selected filmography
'Jaws' (1975)
It's the film that birthed the concept of the blockbuster. One of the highest-grossing films ever, Spielberg's gory take of Peter Benchley's great white shark thriller is often quoted as a reason for some people's aquaphobia. Scenes of that rapidly approaching dorsal fin accompanied by that unmistakable Oscar-winning soundtrack by John Williams keep viewers riveted to this day.
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Steven Spielberg: a selected filmography
'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (1977)
Richard Dreyfuss plays a telephone lineman who encounters an unidentified flying object and subsequently becomes obsessed with UFOs. Considered to be one of his masterpieces, Spielberg received his first best director Academy Award nomination for this film. Also praised for its special effects, the film won the Oscar for best cinematography.
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Steven Spielberg: a selected filmography
'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (1981)
The intrepid archaeologist Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) races against a group of Nazis intent on seizing a unique religious relic that could further their world domination plans. Channeling old-school adventure films, it is a rip-roaring ride with a rousing soundtrack, special effects and comedic banter with co-star Karen Allen who plays Jones' ex, Marion. And who can forget that pit of snakes?
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Steven Spielberg: a selected filmography
'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial' (1982)
Firmly part of 80s pop culture, E.T. is one of the director's most beloved films. Henry Thomas plays Elliot, a young boy who discovers and befriends the film's titular character, a stranded long-necked alien. It bore the hallmarks of a Spielberg film: stunning special effects (including that bike ride in the moonlight), a John Williams score, and a storyline that had many of us in tears.
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Steven Spielberg: a selected filmography
'The Color Purple' (1985)
An adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name, the film was criticized back then among others for downplaying protagonist Celie's (Whoopi Goldberg) lesbianism. However, critics have acknowledged that by making one of the few commercially successful films about the experience of African Americans, Spielberg had paved the way for similar projects to be approved.
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Steven Spielberg: a selected filmography
'Jurassic Park' (1993)
The film that put dinosaurs back on the map, and computer-generated imagery, or CGI, in our vocabulary. Spawning several sequels, this blockbuster follows paleontologists Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) as they tour an island theme park populated by dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA — with their primal instincts intact.
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Steven Spielberg: a selected filmography
'Schindler's List' (1993)
In stark contrast, this haunting film also released in 1993, was shot in black and white, underscoring the darkness of the Holocaust. The true story of a group of Polish Jews who avoided Nazi extermination camps with the help of German industrialist Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) during World War II, it won seven Oscars, including best picture and Spielberg's first Academy Award as best director.
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Steven Spielberg: a selected filmography
'Saving Private Ryan' (1998)
Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including best picture, Spielberg won his second best director Oscar for this film, which was the biggest commercial success of any release in the United States in 1998. Depicting the invasion of Omaha Beach by US troops on D-Day, the 27-minute-long opening scene is considered one of the most memorable in war film history.
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Steven Spielberg: a selected filmography
'A.I. Artificial Intelligence' (2001)
In this Pinnochio-like tale set in the future, David (Haley Joel Osment), a highly advanced robotic boy, longs to become a human child to win his foster mother's love, and embarks on a journey of self-discovery. Initiated originally in the 1970s by the late Stanley Kubrik, director of "2001: A Space Odyssey," Spielberg was asked by the former's estate to helm the project in 1999.
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Steven Spielberg: a selected filmography
'Minority Report' (2002)
Based on a science fiction novella by Philip K. Dick, this action-thriller is set in Washington D.C. in 2054, where the police use psychic technology to arrest and convict murderers way before they commit their crime. Tom Cruise plays the head of this Precrime unit, who then finds himself accused of the future murder of a man he hasn't yet met.
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Steven Spielberg: a selected filmography
'Munich' (2005)
After a terrorist organization kills 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, a team of five men, headed by Avner Kaufman (Eric Bana), is assigned to kill the terrorists as revenge. Kaufman starts questioning the morality of the mission as they work off the hit list. Released during Christmas 2005, it wasn't a box office success owing perhaps to the film's dark subject.
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Steven Spielberg: a selected filmography
'The Post' (2017)
This dramatic look at how the Washington Post released the Pentagon Papers features top notch performances by Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. Portraying Katharine Graham — the first female publisher of a major American newspaper — and the Post's editor Ben Bradlee, they capture the journalistic buzz of exposing a massive cover-up of government secrets related to the US handling of the Vietnam War.
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Steven Spielberg: a selected filmography
'West Side Story' (2021)
Marking his first foray into musicals, Spielberg's adaptation is his reimagining of the musical about star-crossed lovers set in 1957 New York City. While it has already spurred Oscar buzz in some circles, other critics have not been all too kind in their reviews, with The New Yorker bluntly stating that Spielberg's remake "is worse than the original."
Author: Brenda Haas
Evoking various emotions
But it would be a mechanical shark that sometimes failed to function that would seal his reputation as a filmmaker who could draw the crowds and rake the dollars — breaking box office records at the time.
1975's "Jaws" is now considered the first-ever summer blockbuster. The sight of that dorsal fin swiftly slicing through the waters accompanied by John Williams' ominous two-note "shark theme" signaling impending danger remains spine tingling to this day.
There was no stopping Spielberg thereafter. His films — often featuring children or adults from fractured middle-class families or ordinary people doing extraordinary things — evoke a gamut of emotions.
He stoked our primal fears with "Jaws" or "War of the Worlds" (2005); brought out our inner child through "E.T." (1982) and "The Adventures of Tintin" (2011); made us consider worlds beyond ours in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977), kept us riveted by the derring-do of his famed archaeologist Indiana Jones in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) or rooting for journalists unearthing uncomfortable truths in "The Post" (2017). We watched agog as long-extinct predators were resurrected and roamed the earth again in " Jurassic Park " (1993), and in horror at the violence of war in "Saving Private Ryan" (1998), which earned him his second Academy Award for best director.
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12 spy films set in Germany
Tom Hanks among spies in Berlin
Many parts of Steven Spielberg's movie were shot in and around Berlin. It re-enacts the first of a series of spy swaps that took place on Glienicke Bridge, which became known as the "Bridge of Spies," hence the title of the film. Spielberg isn't the first filmmaker to portray secret agents in Germany. Here are more examples.
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12 spy films set in Germany
'5 Fingers'
The film "5 Fingers" (1952), directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, is about a famous secret agent during World War II who worked for the Nazis - widely known by his code name, Cicero. Although other spy movies were filmed on location, this one was mainly shot in the studio.
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12 spy films set in Germany
'Spy for Germany'
This West German thriller, originally titled "Spion für Deutschland" (1956), also depicts the actions of a German secret agent during World War II. Starring Martin Held and Nadja Tiller, it was filmed both in Berlin and the US.
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12 spy films set in Germany
'The Dirty Game'
Werner Klinger, who directed "Spy for Germany," was also among the four filmmakers who helmed this 1965 anthology spy film. It is made up of stories directed by a German, a French, an Italian, and a British filmmaker. Shot in Berlin, it starred Henry Fonda and Robert Ryan.
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12 spy films set in Germany
'Torn Curtain'
Alfred Hitchcock filmed his spy thriller "Torn Curtain" in the studio in 1966. However, some scenes were shot on location in Berlin. Camera crews filmed in the German capital and sent their footage to Hollywood so Hitchcock could use the material in his movie. The cast included German actors Wolfgang Kieling and Hansjörg Felmy, along with US stars Julie Andrews and Paul Newman.
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12 spy films set in Germany
James Bond in Berlin: 'Octopussy'
A large part of the 13th movie of the most popular secret agent in film history, James Bond, was shot in Berlin in 1983. Agent 007, depicted by Roger Moore, is seen at Checkpoint Charlie, in front of the Berlin Wall, and does a chase scene on the AVUS highway. Bond's love scenes were filmed in the studio, though.
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12 spy films set in Germany
'The Innocent'
In 1993, John Schlesinger filmed on location in Berlin. "The Innocent" is based on the Cold War "Operation Gold," where CIA and MI6 agents built a tunnel under the Russian sector of Berlin. Anthony Hopkins, Isabella Rossellini and Campbell Scott star in the film.
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12 spy films set in Germany
'Mission: Impossible III'
For the third film in the "Mission: Impossible" series, director J.J Abrams and star Tom Cruise initially planned to film in the German Reichstag. But the German government didn't allow them to shoot in the building - a council decided it should not be used in commercial films. The crew had to build sets in Babelsberg Studio, just outside Berlin.
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12 spy films set in Germany
'The Good German'
"The Good German" (2006) by Steven Soderbergh also demonstrates how studio sets can replace actual locations. The story is set in post-war Berlin, but was filmed in Los Angeles. However, Soderbergh built in archive material of the actual war-torn city in his gloomy film shot in black-and-white.
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12 spy films set in Germany
'Spy Game'
This 2001 spy thriller starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt is set in Berlin, but it wasn't shot in Germany either. Locations in Budapest were used to reproduce the German capital. This can actually be noticed in some scenes: Some elements in the background do not exist in Berlin.
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12 spy films set in Germany
'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'
Currently in theaters, the secret agent comedy "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." contains many scenes set in Berlin in the 1960s. Henry Cavill depicts an American secret agent competing with a Russian spy. The film beautifully recreates the atmosphere of divided Berlin - yet everything was done by computer.
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12 spy films set in Germany
'Homeland'
The fifth season of the popular TV series "Homeland" was shot in Berlin, too. Agent Carrie Mathison is no longer working for the CIA and is hired by a German private security firm. Filming was also done in Babelsberg Studios and in Brandenburg.
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12 spy films set in Germany
On location: Glienicke Bridge
Steven Spielberg filmed his spy movie on location in Berlin. After all, the legendary and mysterious Glienicke Bridge also inspired the title of his film, "Bridge of Spies." Sometimes the actual location simply beats all studio sets and digital reproductions.
Author: Jochen Kürten / eg
Entering new realm
These are but a selection of the films he has directed. The mind boggles at everything else he's produced or written, giving the impression he's covered every genre in the filmmaking book.
Through his production house Amblin Entertainment, which he founded in 1981, he produced hits like "Gremlins," the "Back to the Future" trilogy, "Who framed Roger Rabbit," the "Men in Black" series or "Flags of Our Fathers."
And then with Dreamworks SKG, which he formed in 1994 with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, we were treated to groundbreaking animated films such as "Antz" (1998) and the wildly successful "Shrek" franchise. They however sold their company to Viacom in 2005 for $1.6 billion.
Spielberg will now enter the realm of streaming services too, his company Amblin Partners having signed in June 2021 a deal with Netflix to produce multiple films a year for the streaming giant.
Besides directing, Spielberg also produced various films including the successful 'Shrek' franchise
A journey through genres
Having covered almost all genres from action-adventure, sci-fi fantasy, horror, historical drama, animation, and most recently musicals through "West Side Story," he was recently asked during an interview with Yahoo if there's any genre, he'd like to tackle next.
"I was asked that question over the last 40 years of my career, if not longer, and I always said a musical was the one thing I haven't done," replied the director who also once wanted to do a James Bond film.
"The thing I neglected to say, which I've never done, and the one genre that I haven't really tackled yet, is the Western. So, who knows, maybe I'll be putting on spurs someday, who knows?"
Meanwhile, a fifth "Indiana Jones" is on the cards, as well as a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama called "The Fabelmans."
And dinosaur fans can rejoice: "Jurassic World: Dominion" is scheduled for release in summer 2022.
Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier
