Steven Spielberg

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Steven Spielberg Goes To Bollywood

This week, Steven Spielberg had his first close encounter with Bollywood, as Mumbai?s film industry is called. The director was in India?s film capital, in what was his first trip to the country in 30 years since he came location-scouting in 1983 for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, accompanied by his wife Kate Capshaw, DreamWorks co-chair Stacy Snider and other executives.

Spielberg?s visit, hosted by billionaire Anil Ambani whose Reliance Entertainment is an equal partner in DreamWorks Studios since 2009, was reportedly to celebrate the success of Lincoln. While the film won only two Oscars after garnering a dozen nominations, its box-office collections of over $200 million have more than compensated for that modest showing.

In a Q&A session following an interview with Indian superstar Amitabh Bachhan, Ambani asked him as to how he felt about not getting more Oscar trophies for Lincoln, to which Spielberg reportedly replied that the nominations were ?award enough.?

The film maker, who last shot in India in 1977 for Close Encounters of The Third Kind, is reportedly planning to co-produce a movie with Reliance, according to the Times of India newspaper, that will be set in Kashmir, on the India-Pakistan border, a region whose scenic beauty is marred by ongoing strife.

Looks as though development will bring more reflections on the Indian connection...

russds said:
Yeah, I actually thought it was interesting the article was from an Indian newspaper. It must be an interesting subject, because ToD portrayed Indian's pretty negatively, and back in the day, I think the negativity was more poignant.
We're debating what exactly was portrayed, but as you say:


russds said:
As I was reading the article, I was thinking, would the author bring up ToD? Is that a touchy subject? Did Spielberg know (or ask) going in to the interview that they wouldn't talk about ToD, or controversy, or has it been so many years, that that hatchet has been burred?

I'm very interested in how this will develop...

...the Indian's government demands inspired some questions and trying to answer them I came across some interesting background on the Indian Government and corruption.

russds said:
I guess ultimately I'm glad it wasn't brought up with negativity, but I think it would be interesting to know if Indian's (in general) still don't like ToD, how they feel about it now..30'ish years later. Especially in light of Spielberg's huge success as a film maker and his later films employing themes of Holocaust, war, etc.

I'm interested in how money changes attitudes...
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
While the Jennifer Lawrence casting is a bit of a stretch, I'm excited about It's what I do. I had a the pleasure of e-mailing with Ms. Addario a few years ago over the purchase of one of her prints as she was on her way into Syria. I have a great deal of respect for her and hope Speilberg doesn't muck it up.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
To paraphrase the blog over at Heavy Metal Panel to Panel has dug up a rather fascinating piece of comic/movie/whatever history in which no less than our very own Steven Spielberg pens an angry letter to the magazine over their adaptation of his World War II comedy 1941!

He's none too pleased stating that "[the adaptation] does not represent the intentions of myself, the writers or anyone connected with ?1941.? All of us find the artwork and content to be a savage representation of an otherwise light vomedy about those times. Beyond that, it is off-putting, disgusting and terribly racist."

Full post: Spielberg on Heavy Metal's "1941" Comic: "Nothing Wrong With Beastiality, Cannibalism

<img src="http://www.heavymetal.com/v2/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/tumblr_n3812cpsZ01rr2bhoo1_1280.jpg" width="600" height="800" alt="Spielberg likes bestiality">
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
I had no idea Heavy Metal drew adaptations in cooperation with filmmakers. I thought they had to pay for the movie ticket and publish features months later like the other parody magazines. Were it not for this debacle, Spielberg might have cooperated on a Raiders adaptation... maybe they did and this time he rejected the proofs, stuffed in a drawer somewhere! Doubtful. Heavy Metal did Blade Runner though.
 

ATMachine

Member
Rocket Surgeon said:
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Dear Forry,

Thank you for your kind and very amusing note the other day.

Things are going very well over here in Burbank ? the next RAIDERS movie is in full prep. and casting is insane ? I need a monkey, a great kid and hundreds of fruit bats!!

And they said filmmaking was easy in college!!

Please start another movie mag. I grew up with you ? now I want to grow old with you!

Best of everything,

Steven
This letter is amazing.
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
Attila the Professor said:
What of Richard Brody? Or are you declining commentary on the basis of family connection?

Ha!

Just slipped my mind. Brody is a solid critic and I tend to agree with his broad take on a given review -- but to me, he's just there.

In this week's review, Lane does his usual exceptional work in reviewing The Founder -- compellingly calling it the first film of the Trump era and effortlessly tossing out observations about things like Michael Keaton's mannerisms ("[Keaton] has that trick, honed over many movies, of glancing to one side before delivering a line, especially a question, as if all the information were secret and the surrounding world were populated by spies"). This is a just another day at the office for Lane.

Brody on the other hand falls into reviewer traps like a too by-the-numbers plot summary in a review like he recently did for Hidden Figures. So, as I said, Brody is just there -- so when i see his name, I shrug and move on. With Lane, I get excited and with Debby -- well, I just don't expect too much.
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
HBO documentary, Spielberg, premieres October 7.
In his earlier days in Hollywood, Spielberg directed Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Drew Barrymore in E.T., Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Christian Bale in Empire of the Sun. More modern audiences know him now for Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks, Lincoln starring Daniel Day-Lewis, and Catch Me If You Can starring Leonardo DiCaprio. All these actors — among more than 80 subjects interviewed for the documentary — will appear in Spielberg.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
Moedred said:
HBO documentary, Spielberg, premieres October 7.

According to the director of that documentary, Susan Lacy, Spielberg goes on to (again) state that Temple of Doom is his least favorite of the series.

tumblr_mq49usknIl1qfr6udo1_400.gif


Keep collecting those Ls, Steve.

Any feature that involves Disney & Spielberg will be a retread of Skull & Crusade. You can put money on it.
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Le Saboteur said:
Any feature that involves Disney & Spielberg will be a retread of Skull & Crusade. You can put money on it.

I hope it's the later. I really do. It has some flaws but from a screenplay standpoint it's near flawless for what it set out to do.
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
Le Saboteur said:
According to the director of that documentary, Susan Lacy, Spielberg goes on to (again) state that Temple of Doom is his least favorite of the series.

Not surprised.

Anything in life worth doing is worth overdoing. Spielberg doesn't understand this.

Time and again, when things don't go this way, he spitefully tanks the project with over-the-top elements to the story like the raft drop.

Wasn't he still in a relationship with Amy Irving while he was flirting with Capshaw during the filming?

That said, I'm very interested in Christian Bale's perspective. I rail against Spielberg but respect Empire of the Sun.
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
Joe Brody said:
Not surprised.

Anything in life worth doing is worth overdoing. Spielberg doesn't understand this.

Time and again, when things don't go this way, he spitefully tanks the project with over-the-top elements to the story like the raft drop.

Wasn't he still in a relationship with Amy Irving while he was flirting with Capshaw during the filming?

That said, I'm very interested in Christian Bale's perspective. I rail against Spielberg but respect Empire of the Sun.

"As a result, they broke up in 1979, but remained close friends. Then in 1984 they renewed their romance, and in November 1985, they married, already having had a son, Max Samuel. After three and a half years of marriage, however, many of the same competing stresses of their careers caused them to divorce in 1989."

ToD was filmed between April and August 1983. So he was seeing Kate in the interim before restarting his relationship with Irving. He and Capshaw didn't marry until '91, two years after his divorce from Amy Irving.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
Pale Horse said:
I hope it's the later. I really do. It has some flaws but from a screenplay standpoint it's near flawless for what it set out to do.

A warmed over retread of Raiders of the Lost Ark that turns its supporting cast into idiots? Yes, yes it does.

HBO has otherwise put up the trailer for "Spielberg".


 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
HBO's Spielberg is very good. It's not quite chronological and they get to Indy around the one hour mark. Ford gives a quote but I can't quite remember he it was on video. Cate Blanchett and Karen Allen appear only on the extras. Kate Capshaw plays a large role and Spielberg's mother, whom the doc is in memory of. I got the impression all the decades of father issues reenacted on film are behind him.
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
Just saw that Spielberg signed a deal with Apple to create new content.

Let the U2 jump-the-shark jokes commence.
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Here's an excerpt from James Cameron's interview with Spielberg.

You can wander through some of his Story of Science Fiction book here and here.

(The art looks nice, but since the content is primarily audio, why not an audiobook?)
 

Grizzlor

Well-known member
Wow, that's pretty impressive that they kept the choice-making as part of the video. The video itself is of course terrible!
 
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