Steven spielberg biography childhood diabetes
“Catch Me If You Can” is being presented as a bright change of pace for director Steven Spielberg, who described the new chase movie as a way to “cleanse my palate” following the dark, futuristic “Minority Report” and “A.I.: Artificial Intelligence.”
But moviegoers familiar with Spielberg’s work — and we’re talking a large group — should detect a familiar flavor here as the filmmaker continues to work through one of his favorite obsessions.
Sure, the plot involves a guy pulling off scams and eluding the grasp of a pursuing FBI agent. But at the story’s heart is a young man doing what Spielberg characters have done from “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” through “Minority Report”: trying to repair his fractured family.
In this case Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonard DiCaprio) runs away when his parents, the down-on-his-luck Frank Sr. (Christopher Walken) and the French, flirtatious Paula (Nathalie Baye), announce their impending divorce. Frank Jr., accumulates gobs of money by posing as an airline pilot and writing bad checks, but his aim, at least in the movie, is to offer Frank Sr. a new Cadillac and other goodies to entice Paula back.
These elements, Spielberg said, were in Jeff Nathanson’s screenplay when he decided to direct. “But it was a touchstone for me because I’m often reminiscent about the divorce of my parents and the fact that I was able after many years, through my movies, in fact at premieres, to get my mom and dad to start seeing each other again,” Spielberg said during a recent interview in New York City.
Spielberg grew up in Phoenix and moved to Saratoga, Calif., in 1964 while he was a high school student. Joseph McBride’s 1997 biography “Steven Spielberg” describes the move as, in part, an attempt to relieve tension between his parents, Arnold and Leah. The couple finally divorced in 1966, but Spielberg, who ha American filmmaker (born 1944) This article is about the American film director. For other people named George Lucas, see George Lucas (disambiguation). George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman of Lucasfilm before selling it to the Walt Disney Company in 2012. Nominated for four Academy Awards, he is considered to be one of the most significant figures of the 20th-century New Hollywood movement, and a pioneer of the modern blockbuster. Despite this, he has remained an independent filmmaker away from Hollywood for most of his career. After graduating from the University of Southern California in 1967, Lucas moved to San Francisco and co-founded American Zoetrope with filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. He wrote and directed THX 1138 (1971), based on his student short Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, which was a critical success but a financial failure. His next work as a writer-director was American Graffiti (1973), inspired by his youth in early 1960s Modesto, California, and produced through the newly founded Lucasfilm. The film was critically and commercially successful and received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Picture. Lucas's next film, the epicspace operaStar Wars (1977), later retitled A New Hope, had a troubled production but was a surprise hit, becoming the highest-grossing film at the time, winning six Academy Awards and sparking a cultural phenomenon. Lucas produced and co-wrote the sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). With director Steven Spielberg, he created, produced, and co-wrote Indiana Jones films Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), The Temple of Doom (1984), The Last Crusade (1989) and The Kingdom of the BIOGRAPHY: STEVEN SPIELBERG. m., A & E. 3 1/2 Stars SUNDAY NIGHT at 8, the A & E series “Biography” devotes two hours to a man who’s more used to determining, rather than being, the focus of attention: film maker Steven Spielberg. ” T. The Extra-Terrestrial”) share delightful memories of Spielberg on the movie set. Steven Spielberg won the Golden Globe for best director for “The Fabelmans,” a story based on his own early life that the director said he’d been too intimidated to take on for decades. “I’m really, really happy about this,” he said of his third Golden Globe win out of 20 nominations. “But I think there’s five people happier than I am.” They are, Spielberg continued, his sisters and his late parents, especially his mother Leah, who is “up there kvelling about this right now.” The story of a young boy who dreamed of making movies, and the difficulties that caused at times in his family, “The Fabelmans” was long on his mind, but never quite the next thing on his to-do list. “I’ve been hiding from this story since I was 17 years old,” Spielberg said. “I put a lot of things in my way of the story. I told this story in parts and parcels throughout my career. ” ‘E.T.’ has a lot to do with this story,” he said. ” ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ has a lot to do with this story. But I never had the courage to take this story head on.” Years ago, though, screenwriter Tony Kushner, while working on Spielberg’s “Munich,” asked him about his early life, and why he hadn’t told that story yet. They talked more as they collaborated on “Lincoln” and then “West Side Story.” “Nobody really knows who we are until we’re finally courageous enough to tell everybody who we are,” Spielberg said. “When I turned 74, I said, ‘You better do it now.’” Originally Published: George Lucas
Sunday, 8 p.
Oh, Spielberg is as famous as his movies, all right, and, at least lately, has been duly celebrated for them: an Oscar for directing “Schindler’s List,” an American Film Institute Life Achievement award before making “Saving Private Ryan,” and more movies on the AFI’s recent list of 100 Best American Films than any other director.
Even so, he’s basically a shy guy, avoiding the talk-show circuit and doing relatively few interviews. He’s even absent from Sunday’s “Biography” special, “Steven Spielberg: An Empire of Dreams,” seen or heard only on vintage audiotapes or award-show clips.
Clearly, though, this production has his blessing and cooperation. His divorced but amiable parents, Leah Adler and Arnold Spielberg, are interviewed at length, as are his sister Anne and his second (and current) wife, Kate Capshaw.
And, of course, there are the friends and colleagues, ranging from those who worked with the younger Spielberg when they, not he, had the clout (Universal executives Chuck Silvers and Sid Sheinberg, TV star Dennis Weaver) to Liam Neeson and Tom Hanks, the stars of “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan.
Silvers tells a wonderful story of extracting two promises from Spielberg before giving the kid an early break, and Richard Dreyfuss (“Jaws,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”) and Drew Barrymore (“E.
The truly golden elements of this “Biography,” though, are the snippets from Spielberg’s childhood films “Fighter Squad,&rd Related Articles