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Spielberg at the Smithsonian... What You Would Have Seen and Heard Had You Been Able To Go!
Hey folks, I've received quite a bit of response from folks from AICN that attended the Spielberg tribute at the Smithsonian last night, and while he didn't talk about his upcoming films, I felt that these two... GLAZE and DIMITRI... really covered all the ground... at least from the other reports I got in. However, there is one bit that all the various reports referenced. When a celeb is at an event that you are attending, just be cool. If you see people crowding the celeb... Back off. Give the person some space. If they are there to... circulate the room, hang loose, put your faith in the God of Cool that wields the power to place you in the midst of utter coolness. The only thing that mobbing a celeb will do will be to cause him/her to leave. Touching them is not going to give you the ability to direct STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND to 12 Oscar nominations. It ain't gonna happen like that. The main thing is to be cool. Not in the collar up sort of way, but in the sense of not looking like a bunch of Pavlovian dogs leaping at the sound of the ringing bell. After all... Spielberg is, at the most basic reality of things, a geek. He collects animation art, he bought ROSEBUD at auction, he has videogames in his office and he also directs cool movies. Well, these two seemed to be cool guys, so here they are...
Just got back from the Steven Spielberg tribute and reception. First I must
say that it really sucks to be on call while you are attending an event of
this nature. There I am sitting dead center about halfway back (which is
very close in this small theater) and my pager goes off. Of course I had
set it on buzz rather than beep just in case something like this happened.
I decide that I'm going to ignore it and continue to enjoy the tribute.
About a half an hour later it goes off again and I once again ignore it. It
goes off a third time just before the end of the tribute. I got business
taken care of between the tribute and the reception but I must say that
being on call sucks.
Enough about my problems. Everybody wants to hear about the tribute and the
reception. Rather than go through every detail, I'll give you the
highlights and my impressions.
The tribute was really broken into three parts. First, a too brief showing
of clips from some of his movies, then the presentation of the James
Smithson Bicentennial Medal, and finally a question answer session between
Spielberg and the host.
It was the third part that was the truly enjoyable and informative part of
the evening. Spielberg discussed his career and how he got into the movie
business. It turns out that his first movie was when he was 12 and he only
made it to obtain a Boy Scout Merit Badge. The title of the movie was
Gunsmog. For those of you who have heard all the legends about how he got
his firt job by sneaking onto the set of Universal Studios, well, it turns
out that is true. He escaped from a tour and started exploring sound
stages. He was trying to find a phone when he met the studio librarian who
took an interest in his homemade movies. He gave Spielberg a three day pass
to come back and show his movies. When the three days was up, Spielberg
just walked up to the gate that he had been entering in his best suit and
waved to the guard that had let him in the previous days. The guard just
waved back and let him by. Since he was always hanging around, the people
at the studio started giving him jobs to do. The rest as they say was
history.
Probably the story that sticks out the most in my mind for the evening was
his discussion about the problems surrounding the making of Jaws. What was
scheduled as a 50 day shoot turned into a 155 day shoot and almost ended his
career to hear him tell it. From weather problems to technical difficulties
nothing went as planned. Apparently, there was supposed to be a great deal
more of the shark in his original plans but it kept malfunctioning. This
turned out to be the best fortune this movie could have had. As Spielberg
put it: "It was as if the ghost of Hitchcock was hanging over the set
making sure it was done right. Hitchcock's first rule of suspense is that
you never show the killer. He can be in the same room as the victim but you
never show the killer." The malfunctions of the shark are what led to those
terrifying scenes where you would see the fin momentarily and then it would
submerge and then you would see the jolts as the boat was struck from below.
There were plenty of anecdotes from his career and he talked quite a bit
about his recent movies but there was nothing in those discussions that I
haven't heard before. I think the most interesting parts of the evening
were learning about those little known pieces of his career. Spieberg was
very open and friendly even though he was on a stage in front of hundreds of
people. I was actually surprised at how well spoken he was. I have heard
interviews in the past where he seemed to stutter through half the
questions. That was not the case tonight yet there was never the feeling
that he had prepared answers to the questions ahead of time. All in all,
there was a very informal feel to the entire evening and I think this helped
the fans to appreciate him all the more.
After the tribute was the reception. This was where we were informed that
he was going to be making his way around the room to try to say hello to
everyone. They asked that everyone give him some breathing room though so
that he could get to everyone. Call it fortuitous placement, but I happened
to be standing almost right where he came out into the hall. I managed to
shake his hand and say that really enjoyed his work when a short and fairly
stout lady practically tackled me to get to him. From that moment on, he
was surrounded by people trying to get at him. He was very polite but it
was obvious he was dissappointed in the crowds reaction after they had been
asked to give him a little space. As it turned out, he maybe got to speak
to an eighth of the people in the room and that is an optimistic guess.
The final highlight of the evening was the food and open bar. They had some
of the most incredible pasta dishes I've ever tasted and waiters constantly
circled the room with one morsel or another. I followed the shrimp guy
around for awhile and probably ate two or three courses of shrimp. There
was also never any wait to get a drink which is always a good thing.
I think I can honestly say that it was an enjoyable evening for everyone
and my only complaint was the length of the movie clip segment. It just
didn't come close to doing his career justice.
Glaze
And here's Dimitri's look at the event!
I imagine you'll receive a few reports with probably with some of the
same information, but I thought I'd offer my contribution nevertheless.
I put more time into this report than I should have, so I'd really
appreciate your using at least a partial excerpt. If not - que sera,
sera.
I just returned from the tribute and reception for Mr. Spielberg at the
Smithsonian. For those others that were there, I was the freak wearing
the Indiana Jones fedora. I was torn in my decision to wear said
fedora. I know such an act just screams movie geek, but I decided it
would be a nice way to honor Mr. Spielberg. Even if it elicited a
thought in Mr. Spielberg's head along the lines of: "I have to stay
away from that guy." Anyway, I often wear the fedora, and I have been
told I wear it well.
The auditorium for the tribute was not very large (I'd estimate not much
more than 300 in capacity), and my early arrival earned me a seat in the
fourth row (the first nonreserved row) just left of center. The
proceedings began about twenty minutes late. Two Smithsonian
representatives spoke about the Smithson Bicentennial Award, its
history, and its meaning. After showing a brief video presentation of
clips from Mr. Spielberg's movies and highlights of some of his
humanitarian efforts, Mr. Spielberg was called to the front and
presented the award. Mr. Spielberg thanked the Smithsonian for honoring
the cinema by choosing him as a recipient. He recalled as a child how
he collected everything that he could, but that his mother always threw
out his collections after a couple of years. Conversely, he speculated
that Mr. Smithson's mother allowed him to maintain his collections in
light of the Smithsonian's vast and diverse exhibits. He did say that
this medal made him feel as if he was a bit of a relic, but he did not
think that he was quite ready for dusting.
Next, Richard Schickel from Time Magazine conducted an interview with
Mr. Spielberg. Aside from questions that Mr. Schickel had prepared, he
also used questions collected from the audience. I had many questions
to ask, but I only wrote down three concerning Mr Spielberg's feelings
on the MPAA and the ratings system, the prospect of a fourth Indiana
Jones movie, and Mr. Spielberg's feelings about the title change for the
new video release of Raiders. My first question was touched upon, but I
imagine many people submitted that question. Also, it wasn't taken at
quite the angle that I desired.
I imagine some of these stories might be old news to those of you that
have seen Spielberg interviews, but I'll go ahead and include what I
remember.
Mr. Schickel did not do a great job in interviewing Mr. Spielberg, but
Mr. Spielberg's energy, enthusiasm, and anecdotes more than made up for
that. Mr. Spielberg spoke about his childhood and his early experience
with film. I need to go to sleep, so here were the highlights:
1) I learned that Mr. Spielberg began making movies in order to fulfill
a merit badge for Boy Scouts.
2) He told stories about his early days of sneaking on the Universal
lot. He sneaked off a tour bus and watched television shows being
made. He befriended a Universal librarian who gave him passes to the
lot for a few days. After he ran out of passes, the security guard
recognized him and waved him through regularly.
3) His first "work" was in the editing room. Some guys asked him to
collect the film from cans in three rooms down the hall. The first room
was devoid of film, as was the second room. However, he found a barrel
of film and a heavyset man in the third room. When he tried to take
that film, the man and he got into a minor scuffle. That man was Marlon
Brando. He was doing his own editing on a personal documentary of his.
The guys had played a joke on him.
4) Mr. Spielberg spoke of the Jaws production as a debacle, a
well-known tale. Spielberg mentioned that he should have hired an ocean
expert. The schedule was originally 50 days, but it ended up on the
order of 150 days. There were days when no successful shots would be
made. (He also mentioned that he considered Jaws to be a sea sequel to
Duel.) However, he mentioned the setbacks were a blessing of sorts. He
made a humorous remark about Hitchcock's spirit dictating that there
were not be many successful shots of the shark as were planned, since
Hitchcock's mantra was that the less the murder weapon is seen, the more
effective the suspense. Of course, Hitchcock was still alive during the
making of Jaws, but it was a clever remark nonetheless.
5) Mr. Spielberg said that he thought the ratings system was o.k. as it
was, but Schickel's question was more geared toward societal influence
on children than it was geared toward the R/NC-17/censorship issue. I
was more interested in the R/NC-17 aspect. Mr. Spielberg did mention
the need for some sort of middle ground between the content that is
produced and the responsibility of parents.
6) When asked to compare and contrast 1941 and Saving Private Ryan, Mr.
Spielberg said that one was a comedy and the other was a drama. He said
that one thing the two had in common was that the audiences at both
movies could have heard a pin drop. That drew a big laugh. Mr.
Spielberg mentioned reluctantly screening 1941 recently at Barry
Sonnenfeld's house, and he said that it wasn't "half bad." An open
ended statement about the other half drew a laugh as well. In all
seriousness, Mr. Spielberg did mention that he fulfilled his goals on
1941, and in the end that is all that he needs to satisfy himself as a
filmmaker.
7) Mr. Spielberg mentioned reading the book from which Schindler's List
was adapted just after finishing E.T. It took him ten years for him to
find the confidence to make the film. He was concerned about being
overly sentimental, especially since it was such a personal issue for
him. I was somewhat affected by his description of learning his numbers
as a young boy from one of his relative's concentration camp tattoos.
8) He mentioned some of his other movies that were personally
significant. E.T. was about his parents' divorce and feeling
alienated. He also related to the alienation of A Color Purple. He
mentioned that - as he said at the Oscars - Saving Private Ryan was all
along a project for his father. Mr. Spielberg was very pleased with
some of the stories he heard about the film's effect on people.
9) Mr. Spielberg decried the switch to digital. He said that he'll
stick with film as long as he can. He mentioned that this was a point
of departure between him and Mr. Lucas. (Mr. Spielberg used a pun about
a disturbance in the Force at one point earlier in the interview, but I
don't recall the specifics.)
10) When asked what inspires him, Mr. Spielberg spoke about Kate
Capshaw and his children as constant sources of inspiration. He also
joked about an old live-in girlfriend inspiring him to make films
because he was eager to get out of the house. A final joke was that a
different girlfriend inspired to make films in a more positive manner.
That is all I recall from the interview. There was no mention of
Minority Report or the state of the Indiana Jones franchise. The crowd
adjourned to the Smithsonian Castle for the reception.
I have mixed feelings about the reception. One of the Smithsonian
officials told us that Mr. Spielberg would be very informal and wander
around the room. However, the instant that he appeared, the people
swarmed. Mr. Spielberg was very generous, and I heard that some people
were greedily monopolizing him. I had some clever prepared statements
that I know would have made him smile, but I never braved the crowd. I
had hoped to not be so pushy and perhaps passively be in the path of his
making his way across the room, but he was gone before I knew it. I
suppose that's another regret for my long list, but I do not even know
what the value would have been in just saying that I shook his hand and
trying to speak over the crowd. Perhaps someday I'll achieve a level of
greatness such that this will all seem silly, but I doubt it.
The reception wasn't a total wash for me. I drank some wine and tried
some of the snacks. I did speak to a couple of other film fans. It was
nice to meet you, Matt and Todd. (I think those were your names.) That
reminds me. We tried asking Mr. Schickel a question about the ratings
system, since we believed him to be the writer of that first Eyes Wide
Shut review, but he was uninterested in talking to us. He mumbled that
there should not be any ratings and walked away.
Forgive the typos, Ain't It Cool readers. It's almost time to wake up
for work. Good night.
Sign me,
Dimitri
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I hate the fact that people have to swarm all over Spielberg, give him room and he would be much happier to talk with fans.
He is a human being who makes great films and many fans have a great opportunity to talk to him and they mess it up by overcrowding him. I know it is hard but really, control yourself. I would be excited too, but I want to converse properly about films with Steven (I wish).
I was hoping to read something on the Indy films.
Oh, I'm first again -
great reporting, Glaze & Dimitri...I almost felt that I'd attended the salute to mr. spielberg. I must admit to having been quite a fan of the "kid genius" back in the days of "Duel", "Jaws", "CE3K" and "Raiders"...then came that long, frustrating period with "Empire of the Sun", "Always" and "Hook"---I won't even go into the schlock he foisted upon us as a producer via Amblin' during that time--Oy! Thankfully, in 1993 the old steven was back and he hit us with both barrels courtesy of "Schindler's List" & "Jurassic Park". Later, "Saving Private Ryan" showed us further his maturity as a filmmaker (quite a journey from "1941" indeed!). While I'm not overly optimistic about someone so relentlessly upbeat tackling such a wryly cynical author as Phil Dick in "Minority Report", even so I look forward to the return of the wizard of "CE3K" as he again tackles big screen S.F.
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Left at home.
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EOTS is underrated, I really like film, great performances and the first or second serious film from Steveo. This is when he began his change, to be taken more seriously. Jurassic Park isn't a great Steveo film, do you really care for the characters ? NO
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As far as Stevie boy not wanting to go digital, I think he'll change his tune eventually, as the technology improves. When the digital film cameras have higher resolution than 70mm, it's going to be so sweet. We're talking WYSIWYG cinematography. No more film stocks, & no more guessing.
No more transfer prcess, no more mess. Lucas knows what he's doing. -
Even spielberg's misses had beautiful cinematography, production design and scores. They weren't bad films (okay, to me "Hook" was really bad) but for a bit there, steve was trying too hard for respect (and that allmighty Oscar). "Empire of the Sun" is a perfect example where he in his "lost little boy" mode and went way over the top with showy camera moves and thunderous music. "The Color Purple"---what was he even doing within a mile of that great american novel of sisterhood? Again, trying for respect. it reminds me of Marty Scorcese and his "Age of Innocence"--more acadamy pandering when "Mean Streets" & "Raging Bull" shows his true genius. I think spielberg finally got his oscar when he gave up trying to make an oscar-winning movie and just made a deeply felt film about a subject that he knew from personal tragedy: "Schindler's List". As for "Jurassic Park", it was no "Jaws" but at last he managed to shrug off that "E.T." cutsey pie peter pan syndrome and go back to scaring the living crap out of us, as he had at the beginning of his career. I enjoy his work and hope that his best films are yet to come...
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Hey I saw you standing with a few guys talking. Couldn't miss that fedora. I remember thinking that I bet you were one of the AICN people. I was the one in the suit as if that tells you anything.
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...Steven Spielberg : A Biography by Joseph McBride, for all of you who actually believe the storys that surround Spielbergs childhood and early career.And yes,"Empire of the sun" is one of the best movies he's ever made.
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Glaze: Oh, yeah. I remember you. :-) Sorry we didn't get to hobnob. Good report, by the way. ...Reni: My cleverly prepared statements consisted of about two sentences. I couldn't help but thinking about what I wanted to say to him beforehand if I ended up having the chance. If Mr. Spielberg was going to give us little people a chance to interact with him, albeit briefly, I did not want him to feel as if he wasted his time. I certainly do not think he wants to hear people stumbling over: "Um...I'm a really big fan...It's such an honor." ...I heard that some of those people were telling him their life stories. I heard another person handed him videocassettes of personal documentaries he had filmed. Someone else practically auditioned for him. I suppose those people took advantage of the opportunity as they saw necessary. I certainly would not mind letting some of the older people in attendance have the chance to talk to him before I did. After all, I'm only 24. I might have the chance to meet him again someday. However, after such a prestigious and civilized evening, the swarming effect was rather shameful.
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Mr. Spielberg's play on words about a "disturbance in the Force" was in an earlier portion of the interview. It was not in reference to the switch to digital. I do not remember the context. I just thought that someone of you might be interested in the fact that he mentioned Lucas on a few occasions over the course of the interview. Anyway, Mr. Spielberg was rather vehement in sticking with film. This statement of commitment actually drew a good amount of applause. Another statement of his that I forgot to mention that drew a good amount of applause involved his belief in the need for better gun control laws.
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I have to agree with the poster who said Spielberg will change his mind about digital. I have edited in both styles (analog and digital) and have to say for both the director and the editor it is easier to work in and when the "look" of digital improves, it will be easier and look the same. Plus, you don't have to worry about camera assistants screwing up the load. (No offense to you good CAs out there!)
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I guess no one bothered to ask him why he is dragging his feet releasing his movies on DVD....
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He did not address it in the interview, but one of the guys (Todd) I talked to did manage to ask him about that. If he reads this, I'll leave it to him to tell you exactly what Mr. Spielberg said. The response was more or less spoken over a crowd of people. I just recall something about waiting for a certain number of units, but I am not even sure about the units in question.
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I was actually standing right next to the guy who was trying to give his documentary video to Spielberg. (They were next to the food table at the time) The Smithsonian people were trying to get this guy away from Spielberg but he was too nice to walk away from the guy. He wouldn't take the video at least.
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I wasn't there, but I was at a similar Smithsonian event a couple years ago honoring Jim Henson. Frank Oz was among the guests, and afterwards at the reception he also got mobbed (albiet by a smaller crowd). At least that crowd held back to let Oz get a little something to eat first. But the Smithsonian might want to consider a formal reception line of some sort, and set some specific policies ahead of time to avoid this sort of fiasco. After all, this is Washington - the formal reception line is not terribly unusual in this town.
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Hey Guys, speaking of MINORITY REPORT, I have a website that is dedicated to this movie with all the scoops and other info. It's a big site that is getting popular. Check it out at: http://minorityreport.8m.com
Cya! -
All these people crowded him because he is their Messiah. Steven Spielberg, Jehovah for the '90s.
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NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Heh Heh Heh... ;) Not a Spielberg-directed one anyway. Seriously, though, that sounds like a good idea to me. It's an era that hasn't been covered much on film. I want to see Torquemada now!
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I met Al Gore about two years ago in a crowd of about 50 people for a photo-op. Right after the picture was done, everyone starting surrounding and touching any part of him that they could. It was really quite disgusting. I just stood back and watched. Why do people feel that they need to touch someone famous? Oh well, I guess this is bound to happen with a celebrity in a small crowd. I bet if you played a tape back to the mob showing what went on, half the people wouldn't even realize how vicious they were.
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Although I didn't attend this Spielberg thingie, I HAVE been quite close to many famous people over the years (I was once a seat behind Robin Williams on an airplane). Never have I once had the urge to push myself on them, tell them my life story from DNA up until that moment, show them my family photo albums, or try to give them my own amateur material (be it film, music, or print, whoever the celebrity may be). This kind of behavior is appalling and unacceptible. Spielberg should be commended for putting up with it, but I know there are many celebrities who wouldn't. I mean, how old was the majority of the people who swarmed Spielberg? I'd say they were over 40. And after he politely asked for them to give him some room. The only time in my 23 years I've been star struck was when I shook hands with Ringo Starr, and only because I was shaking hands with a Beatle. I was still cooler and more in control than the screaming women around me, who were touching him and pushing their old, dusty albums in his face for him to sign. I remember reading somewhere that right after Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were married, they were attacked and nearly torn apart by a crowd at the hotel where they were staying. Dick and Liz finally got to their room, but not before they were clawed, scratched, and bruised by the very fans who supposedly loved them. Meeting a celebrity is great, but like Harry said, you have to keep your cool. Shake his or her hand. Leave it at that. Don't tell them your life story. Don't try to give them your material. Don't audition for them right on the spot. And most of all, don't swarm them. They're only human beings, people. Remember that. P.S. I take Richard Schickel's criticism with a grain of salt. I stopped reading his stuff long ago, along with Pauline Kael's, Michael Medved's, and Owen Glieberman's. It seems the only critic I respect today is Roger Ebert (and his late partner, Gene Siskel).
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I don't have much to add except that when I spoke to Mr. Spielberg he stated that he'd begin shooting Minority Report in D.C. in November & that he was looking forward to returning to some more fantastical fare.
I was the guy in the wheelchair for those who may have noticed. -
This has nothing to do with spielburg, but since we're light on news today, what does everyone think of the rumors of a warren beatty presidential bid?
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on the game Virtual Producer.
Check it out at www.virtualproducer.com -
Dimitri, I've seen you in that fedora, and I have to say, I think you look damn sexy. If I weren't a Christian woman, I might be tempted to proposition you. . . .
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Reading these makes me think, wow what a cool guy Steven is! I said before I think he is very overrated. But when you think of him as a "geek" making movies then yeah of course he makes cool movies! I think sometimes we, well I know I do, think that Directors are these gods of the heavens. This happens mainly from a kind of Kubrickism or something. The way people talk about him like he is an untouchable god! I love Kubrick but his movies are not everyones cup of tea. In fact if you like them your in the minority rather than the majority. Why is this man a god! Well for me he is! But its not a good way to think about it. These men (and women - hopefully there will be more) are men, and guys like Speilburg and Lucas are just Geeks who have a cool job making movies for fun! Great stuff good to see people care!
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