William Wyler: The director who Steven Spielberg always wanted to be like
Modern cinema owes many dues to Steven Spielberg, whose emergence in Hollywood in the 1970s helped change the course of the industry. After releasing The Sugarland Express in 1974, the filmmaker made Jaws the following year, which spawned the concept of the summer blockbuster.
The movie, featuring Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider, singlehandedly instilled in movie-goers a widespread fear of sharks. Jaws possessed so much influence that the percentage of American beach-goers reportedly decreased for a short period following the release of the film. Spielberg’s movie was a massive success, earning $476.5 million worldwide. Until the release of Star Wars in 1977, Jaws was the highest-grossing movie ever made.
Spielberg rounded off the decade with another blockbuster hit, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, before launching into the 1980s, which proved incredibly fruitful. He released films such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and three instalments of the Indiana Jones franchise, beginning with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Through the 1990s and onwards, Spielberg showed no signs of slowing down, finding immense box-office success with Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can and Lincoln.
When it comes to Spielberg’s favourite movies, he picked out classics such as Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, Sydney Pollack’s Tootsie and John Ford’s The Searchers when asked by Goop. He also selected two old Hollywood gems, Captains Courageous and The Best Years Of Our Lives.
The latter was directed by William Wyler in 1947, one of Hollywood’s most acclaimed filmmakers. Alongside The Best Years of Our Lives, Wyler also directed Roman Holiday, Ben Hur, Mrs Miniver and Funny Girl. He won three ‘Best Director’ accolades at the Academy Awards, narrowly losing out to John Ford, who holds the record for the most wins with four. Still, Wyler is the most nominated director in Oscar history, with 12 to his name.
For Spielberg, Wyler has always been a huge inspiration. He told the Herald Times, “Among my favourite directors is William Wyler, who never came out of the same hole twice. I’ve always admired those directors who were able to so totally reinvent themselves stylistically. To be able to go from Mrs. Miniver to Ben-Hur, to go from The Big Country to Funny Girl — those were the directors I admired.”
He added: “I basically lit candles to the directors that I couldn’t pigeonhole. I’ll never be as good a director as William Wyler, but to be eclectic like he was — that was always something I wanted.”
Luckily for Spielberg, he and Wyler have ended up holding the same Academy Award record – both having directed 13 ‘Best Picture’ nominees.
