The filmmaker who influenced Steven Spielberg more than “anybody else”
Only a few auteurs can claim to have positively changed the trajectory of the form, with Steven Spielberg being one of them. It reflects the gravity of his efforts that just last year, he released The Fabelmans, a widely celebrated semi-autobiographical tale based on his youth and early years as a filmmaker. Spielberg would have had no right to make such a sincere journey into the past without having such a lengthy history of timeless movies to his name.
Whether it be Jaws, E.T., the Indiana Jones franchise, or even A.I. Artificial Intelligence, a film he completed for the late Stanley Kubrick, the list of culturally significant moments Spielberg has brought to life is remarkable. In addition to having a knack for creating bonafide classics, the director also manages to toe the line between blockbuster and critical acclaim, in what is an undeniably rare feat.
As he has made clear many times over his career, Spielberg is a lifelong student of cinema in all its forms, and this holistic view has undoubtedly had a significant impact on how he’s managed to embed himself so deeply into the fabric of Western culture. Part of this decades-long study of cinema has been that he has paid close attention to some of the finest to have done it, including his late friend Stanley Kubrick.
Kubrick pioneered modern cinema, and his efforts such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange remain highlights of the 20th century. A master of reinvention, Spielberg once described Kubrick as “a chameleon”, a tag that also best characterises his own approach to movies, having explored many different genres and styles in his time.
“He was a chameleon,” Spielberg said of Kubrick. “He never made the same picture twice. Every single picture is a different genre, a different story, a different risk. The only thing that bonded all of his films was the incredible virtuoso that he was with craft.”
Despite the evident parallels between Spielberg and Kubrick, by the Jurassic Park director’s admission, there is another creation who influenced him more than “anybody else”. This was animator, producer and business tycoon Walt Disney. The Chicagoan, who passed away in 1966, pioneered American animation and developed the iconic character Mickey Mouse with Ub Iwerks in 1928. As a film producer, he still holds the record for most Academy Awards earned and nominations by an individual, winning 22 Oscars from 59 nominations.
Developing synchronised sound, full-colour three-strip Technicolour and various other aspects, Disney’s features such as 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and 1940’s Pinocchio remain highlights, as do later post-war efforts such as Sleeping Beauty and Mary Poppins. A lover of cartoons as a child, Spielberg was rapt by Walt Disney’s pictures, which set him on his path to becoming a legendary auteur of his own.
The director told Rolling Stone in 1985: “I came screaming home from Snow White when I was eight years old and tried to hide under the covers. My parents did not understand it, because Walt Disney movies are not supposed to scare but to delight and enthrall. Between Snow White, Fantasia and Bambi, I was a basket case of neurosis.”
“My father took me to the Magic Kingdom in 1959,” he added. “I was afraid of everything: the crazy eyeball of the sea serpent in the submarine ride; the witch from Snow White offering me a poison apple; Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Yet it was the kind of scary that tickles. It took me several trips back and a little more growing up before I recognised the twinkle in Mr. Disney’s eyes”.
Spielberg concluded: “Actually, I was probably more influenced by Walt Disney than by anybody else. I loved cartoons as a kid, and I remember that I was more frightened by the Night on Bald Mountain sequence in Fantasia than by anything I ever saw in a movie before or since.”
