The movie Steven Spielberg admitted was a “demolition derby”
Etched into the celluloid history with a near unbeatable aura, Steven Spielberg has reigned supreme over the cinematic landscapes for decades as a colossal filmmaking titan. His early years witnessed a rapid, meteoric rise, propelling him into the limelight and solidifying his status as a director and a purveyor of cinematic adventures.
As the decades rolled on, Spielberg gripped the wheel tightly on his directorial journey and branched into production with his Amblin production company, ensuring his vision and narrative pulsated through each frame. Through an enviable catalogue of work, the acclaimed director shaped the horizons of movies and inscribed his name into the culture, philosophy, and the very soul of Hollywood.
His vast and diverse filmography, stretching across every theme, narrative and emotion under the sun, bears witness to a career coloured by triumph, innovation, and cultural impact. However, beneath the gilded tales of box-office successes and cinematic milestones, there is a chapter that Spielberg himself addressed with humility and candid retrospect – one he considered “a demolition derby”.
That film was 1941, an irreverent WWII comedy starring Dan Akroyd, John Candy and John Belushi, whose comic revisionist approach to the war drew the ire of John Wayne. Amidst his sea of achievements, Spielberg identified it as the tumultuous storm in his career, a “demolition derby” that followed the huge success of Jaws. “I wanted to make a really, really funny movie,” Spielberg remarked later to the DGA Quarterly, acknowledging a departure from his well-trodden paths of the past.
However, the challenges loomed large, and the experience was marred by a degree of newfound arrogance and ego, casting a shadow on Spielberg’s otherwise radiant trajectory. “It was a big demolition derby. I have to tell you, when I made 1941, I felt like I was made of Teflon. I felt that anything I put on film was going to succeed; that every laugh I set up would receive not only a laugh but huge applause; that everybody was going to win an Academy Award.”
Riding high on previous successes, Spielberg’s journey with 1941 would be not just a slump in his directorial pathway but a reflective mirror – effectively, a shake-up that allowed him to become the director we know and love today. At the time, however, it was an indulgent exercise that stretched beyond scheduled timelines and basked in a potentially precarious confidence. “It was my longest shooting schedule, and I actually went over schedule further on 1941 than I had on Jaws.”
Speilberg recalled: “I just became so precious and indulgent about getting everything right. I did 20 takes on inserts that should have been done by a second unit.” He would learn from this, famously wrapping up his next project, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, 14 days ahead of schedule. But there was one lasting impact from his work on 1941: “I haven’t really made [another comedy] since, either.”
