The Oscars snub that left Steven Spielberg devastated: “I was believing the noise”
Steven Spielberg knows what makes audiences tick. He seems to harness a special knack for conjuring up ideas that will have countless people flocking to cinemas, churning out blockbuster after blockbuster to repeated acclaim. When you think about it, it’s actually somewhat unfathomable that he has been responsible for so many huge films, from family favourites like ET the Extra Terrestrial and Jurassic Park to classics like Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, and Indiana Jones.
With these massive films, Spielberg has mastered the art of accessible storytelling, knowing when to use emotional pull and when to allow action to take over. Telling grandiose stories about normal, everyday people, Spielberg demonstrates the magic to be found in the mundane or the possibility of overcoming great struggles, often turning the everyman into the hero. These are the kinds of stories that attract wide audiences, generating huge amounts of money as a result.
Naturally, then, these movies are typically accompanied by awards buzz, and the filmmaker has been nominated 23 times at the Academy Awards in various categories, winning three – ’Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’ for Schindler’s List, and ‘Best Director’ for Saving Private Ryan.
You’d think that the filmmaker might have won a few more times, considering the number of massive movies he has released over the years, but the Oscars are a notoriously tough competition. At least Spielberg has always triumphed in one area specifically: the box office.
The Oscars snub that shocked Steven Spielberg
Still, he has found himself disappointed at times when the institution has failed to recognise his work, even if impressive box office stats and glowing critical reviews have suggested otherwise. When Spielberg received his breakthrough into Hollywood with Jaws, which helped to usher in a new era of blockbuster cinema, changing the industry forever, he couldn’t help but feel sad when he wasn’t nominated for ‘Best Director’.
While Jaws actually won three Oscars, ‘Best Original Dramatic Score’, ‘Best Sound’, and ‘Best Film Editing’, Spielberg wasn’t nominated for anything. The film might’ve scooped a ‘Best Picture’ nomination, which it lost to Milos Forman’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, but Spielberg really wanted that coveted ‘Best Director’ nomination.
In the documentary Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story, Spielberg revealed that there was a lot of anticipation around a potential nomination, especially considering the sheer amount of success that the movie earned (including a whopping $472 million at the box office).
“When a film is on the cusp of being considered for awards, it’s not so much what you want for yourself — it’s what everyone else says is going to happen for you,” he explained.
“So I just understood, ‘I guess I’m getting nominated,’” the director added. However, he had to deal with a rather nasty shock when that simply wasn’t the case. “So when I wasn’t, I was surprised. And I was disappointed. Because I was believing the noise, and you have to not believe that stuff.”
Instead, it was Forman, Stanley Kubrick, Sidney Lumet, Robert Altman, and Federico Fellini that went head-to-head. Evidently, 1975 was an incredibly stacked year for cinema, but unbeknownst to Spielberg, he would soon ascend the ranks to join these filmmakers as some of the most acclaimed figures in the industry.
