Steven Spielberg reveals the iconic movie that “shattered my confidence”
American director Steven Spielberg joined the likes of Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and George Lucas as an eminent name of the so-called ‘New Hollywood’ era over the latter 20th century. This group of learned film buffs was oft affectionately referred to as the “movie brats”.
Spielberg has worked tirelessly over the past five decades to bring us beloved classics of commendable range, including Jaws, E.T., Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan and Jurassic Park. These movies are just the tip of an iceberg filmography that places Spielberg in a position of unrivalled cinematic majesty.
Spielberg knew he wanted to be a filmmaker from his childhood years. Growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, he began making simple films, and in 1958, he created a short western movie which won him a Boy Scout merit badge. The scout troop screening was met with laughter and applause and had a curious young Spielberg instantly hooked.
Six decades on, the American director has earned three Academy Awards, from eight nominations in total for ‘Best Director’ Oscars, a cherry atop mountainous, universal applause. No doubt, Spielberg and his New Hollywood peers admire at ease their own and each others’ success today, but when the future was still uncertain, anxieties crept into play.
Unlike the world of championship boxing, filmmakers seldom engage in bitter rivalries. However, churning out blockbusting epics and critically lauded gems requires a critical mass of ego and an eye for greatness in would-be rivals.
Though amiably humble, Spielberg has buckets of determination, self-belief, and a discerning eye for cinematic excellence. On one occasion, however, these two traits began to eat away at one another. Upon viewing Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 masterpiece The Godfather, Spielberg’s self-confidence took a blow in a mild echo of Mozart vs. Saleri.
“I was pulverised by the story and the effect the film had on me…I also felt that I should quit, that there was no reason I should continue directing because I would never achieve that level of confidence and ability to tell a story,” Spielberg lamented in praise for The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration DVD bonus features. “In a way, it shattered my confidence.”
Indeed, Coppola had set a bar impossibly high for the dawning movie brat era, which many will argue hasn’t been met since. Still, Spielberg was a mere whippersnapper at the time, with only a handful of minor titles to his name. In 1975, he, too, enjoyed an emphatic break with the innovative seaborne thriller Jaws. Although he remained awed by The Godfather, he never looked back.
Watch the trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather below.
