‘The Godfather’ made Steven Spielberg want to quit filmmaking: “There was no reason I should continue”
As the 1960s came to an end, the landscape of cinema began to change dramatically. The Hays Code, which prevented explicit violence and sexuality, among other things, from being shown in the mainstream, was scrapped in 1968. Subsequently, movies such as Bonnie and Clyde and Easy Rider signalled a new era for American filmmaking due to their nihilistic and tragic themes, offering a considerably more pessimistic view of the country.
This phenomenon was known as the New Hollywood movement, with auteurs such as Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, and Francis Ford Coppola rising to prominence. Taking inspiration from foreign cinema and the avant-garde, these directors strayed away from glossy Hollywood endings, unafraid to centre brutality and hopelessness in their narratives.
One of the most significant movies to be released during this era was The Godfather. Adapted from Mario Puzo’s novel, Coppola’s movie experienced fraught production, and the young director had no idea that what he was making would become a defining work of cinema. Starring Marlon Brando as the Corleone patriarch, Vito, The Godfather charted the rise of his son Michael, played by newcomer Al Pacino, as he becomes a mafia heavyweight.
When The Godfather was released, the epic took everyone by surprise, and it instantly broke box office records to become the highest-grossing movie ever made. The film is often considered a proto-blockbuster, paving the way for huge cinematic hits which would soon come to dominate the decade. In 1975, a movie often considered the first real blockbuster – Jaws – was released, taking the crown from Coppola’s work to become the highest-grossing of all time.
Directed by Steven Spielberg, the film was tremendously popular – its tale of a popular beach resort terrorised by a killer shark making for the perfect twisted summer hit. It propelled Spielberg to success, who had only made two movies before Jaws – Duel and The Sugarland Express. While both were received fairly well, it was Jaws that took Spielberg to unprecedented heights. Yet, before he made his famed masterpiece, the director felt like giving up because of one specific movie – The Godfather.
Providing DVD commentary for The Godfather, Spielberg revealed that he “was pulverised by the story and the effect the film had” on him, leading him to have doubts about his own career. “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… In a way, it shattered my confidence.”
Luckily, Spielberg didn’t quit, and as a result, he ended up becoming the most successful director in cinema history, with countless blockbuster smashes to his name, from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to Jurassic Park and Saving Private Ryan.
