The director Steven Spielberg admits he’ll “never be as good as”
While many talented directors attempt to step outside of their comfort zones and experiment with different styles, very few of them can attain the kind of success that Steven Spielberg has achieved with his unimaginably diverse portfolio. From sci-fi gems like E.T. to seminal thrillers like Jaws, Spielberg has done it all.
It isn’t just the versatility that shines through in his body of work but his ability to conceptualise and work on completely different projects at the same time. The greatest example of this is his incredible run in 1993 when he delved into genre filmmaking with Jurassic Park while also embarking on the most important movie of his illustrious career: Schindler’s List.
That isn’t the only time that Spielberg has managed to pull something like that off. During a conversation with The Herald Times, the acclaimed filmmaker was asked about his 2018 sci-fi action flick Ready Player One. While the Indiana Jones director was exploring virtual reality through cinema, he was also working on The Post, the critically praised political thriller which garnered a wave of Oscar nominations.
Spielberg explained: “I had locked my final cut on Ready Player One, and I was required once a week to spend three hours with (Industrial Light & Magic) on a Skype call (to review the film’s visual effects). In that small window when my time was only going to be needed on Ready Player One once a week, that’s when I read Liz Hannah’s first draft screenplay (for The Post). It spoke to me. There was an urgent contemporary political message in the material, and I thought I would not be taking anything away from Ready Player One if I jumped into this right now.”
While talking about his ability to oscillate between movies that require very different thought processes, Spielberg immediately cited the example of the pioneering filmmaker William Wyler. Known for timeless classics such as The Best Years of Our Lives and Roman Holiday, Wyler left an indelible mark on the frameworks of American cinema.
The director added: “Among my favourite directors is William Wyler, who never came out of the same hole twice. I’ve always admired those directors who were able to so totally reinvent themselves stylistically. To be able to go from Mrs. Miniver to Ben-Hur, to go from The Big Country to Funny Girl — those were the directors I admired. I basically lit candles to the directors that I couldn’t pigeonhole. I’ll never be as good a director as William Wyler, but to be eclectic like he was — that was always something I wanted.”
Despite the fact that Ready Player One has its fair share of critics, it marked an interesting jump for Spielberg, who engaged with the future while also playing with nostalgic undercurrents. Watch the trailer below.
