Steven Spielberg names his favourite directors
With the dawn of the New Hollywood era in the late 1960s and early 1970s, cinema irrevocably changed, welcoming a different style of filmmaking than mainstream audiences were used to. Inspired by European and arthouse sensibilities, American filmmakers experimented with theme and form, often centring bleak storylines with fatalistic attitudes.
Examples of definitive New Hollywood productions include Bonnie and Clyde and Easy Rider, which appeared at the tail end of the 1960s, signalling a meteoric shift in the direction of the film industry. By the 1970s, directors like Francis Ford Coppola added to the movement, creating epic, expansive movies like The Godfather. As movies became more ambitious, the blockbuster soon emerged, with Steven Spielberg at the forefront.
His 1975 movie Jaws was a defining moment in Hollywood history. Aided by its beach setting, Jaws became the movie of the summer, paving the way for yearly summer blockbusters to become a common facet of the industry. In fact, since the release of Jaws, the industry has relied on blockbusters to keep it afloat; without Jaws, it’s hard to imagine the state of modern cinema. The premise of Jaws was relatively simple, yet it tapped into a real fear many Americans possessed. With the shark representing an unknown threat disrupting idyllic American life, Jaws was terrifying, yet viewers couldn’t get enough.
Since then, Spielberg has become one of Hollywood’s most popular and successful directors, with hits such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan and the Indiana Jones series under his belt. However, Spielberg has taken inspiration from the greats before him to earn such a position in cinematic history.
Spielberg has shared lists of his favourite movies over the years, including titles like Walt Disney’s Fantasia and Dumbo, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane and Francois Truffaut’s Day For Night. When it comes to directors, Spielberg has discussed a few famous figures who have shaped his style like no others.
Just like many other filmmakers, Spielberg cites Alfred Hitchcock as one of his favourites, choosing Psycho as his go-to. In Stephen Schochet’s audiobook Tales of Hollywood, he reveals that on the set of Family Plot, Hitchcock was “upset by an uninvited young man hovering around the movie set”, who turned out to be Spielberg. Sadly, the pair never met because Hitchcock refused to meet him, even calling Jaws the “fish movie”.
David Lean is another favourite of Spielberg, referring to Lawrence of Arabia as one of his most beloved movies. He first saw the film when he was 16, stating, “At the time, I didn’t quite understand the impact that it had on me.”
He added: “I couldn’t comprehend the enormity of the experience. So I wasn’t able to digest it in one sitting. I actually walked out of the theatre stunned and speechless.”
Other names Spielberg has mentioned as his favourites include Stanley Kubrick, Michael Curtiz, William Wyler and Victor Fleming. We also can’t forget John Ford, who he met as a teenager and later paid tribute to in his 2022 movie, The Fabelmans. The director, known for westerns like Stagecoach, gave Spielberg some vital filmmaking advice which he carried with him into his own career.
Steven Spielberg’s favourite directors:
- Alfred Hitchcock
- David Lean
- Stanley Kubrick
- John Ford
- Michael Curtiz
- William Wyler
- Victor Fleming
