Why Steven Spielberg called his directing on ‘Saving Private Ryan’ “extraordinarily sloppy”
“Sloppy” isn’t the first word that comes to mind when describing the craftsmanship that won the filmmaker an Academy Award for ‘Best Director’, but Steven Spielberg changed the directorial habit of a lifetime when the cameras started rolling on Saving Private Ryan.
Ever since Jaws first established him as blockbuster cinema’s premier wunderkind, Spielberg’s style gradually became more defined. There were obvious shades of John Ford and David Lean in his work, but his crip, clean visuals, sweeping vistas, and wide-eyed reaction shots quickly became intrinsic to his brand.
Riveting opening sequences, thumping and instantly memorable musical scores, extensive tracking shots, a protagonist trying to hold together a fracturing family, the use of light and shadow, and an overriding sense of wonder are all trademarks he’s refined over the decades, including in Saving Private Ryan.
However, he opted to abandon everything that had served him so well to put a fresh and more visceral spin on his trademarks. The opening sequence in his World War II epic is one of the best ever, but it was unlike anything he’d ever shot, visually and aesthetically. In fact, the entire film is the least Spielbergian entry in his filmography in a stylistic sense, which was entirely by design.
“It’s very hard and rough, and in the best sense, I think it’s extraordinarily sloppy,” he explained to American Cinematographer. “But reality is sloppy; it’s not the perfect dolly shot or crane move. We were attempting to put fear and chaos on film. If the lens got splattered with sand and blood, I didn’t say, ‘Oh my god, the shot’s ruined; we have to do it over again’, we just used it in the picture.”
Nobody’s going to watch Saving Private Ryan and think, ‘Man, that Spielberg sure has gotten sloppy’, but his point is clear. He didn’t even have a shot list in place for the D-Day sequence, which is mind-boggling when there were hundreds of cast and crew members, extras, explosions, and effects happening at once, but it’s not like it didn’t work.
It was a completely new kind of Spielberg flick made in a completely new way, and everyone should thank the cinema gods that Michael Bay decided not to direct it when he was offered the chance. The three-time Oscar winner has made so many classics that it’s debatable if Saving Private Ryan is his best, but what can’t be denied is that it’s his most impactful assault on the senses.
Schindler’s List is arguably more powerful on an emotional level, but in terms of leaving the audience with their jaws on the floor trying to comprehend what they’ve just witnessed, Saving Private Ryan takes some beating. If anyone’s earned the right to call it sloppy, then Spielberg’s the only one.
