Steven Spielberg#Early life

Spielberg was born on December 18, 1946, in Cincinnati, Ohio.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=80}}{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=35}} His mother, Leah ({{née|Posner}}, later Adler),{{cite web |date=1986 |title=Steven Spielberg's Mother |url=http://fredbernstein.com/info/spielberg_mom.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130323023020/http://fredbernstein.com/info/spielberg_mom.shtml |archive-date=March 23, 2013 |access-date=May 25, 2012 |website=fredbernstein.com |publisher=Doubleday}} was a concert pianist and ran a kosher dairy restaurant,{{Cite web |last=Feder |first=Shira |date=2019-02-01 |title=Steven Spielberg's Family Kosher Restaurant 'The Milky Way' Is Reopening |url=https://forward.com/food/418584/steven-spielbergs-family-kosher-restaurant-the-milky-way-is-reopening/ |access-date=2024-10-13 |website=The Forward |language=en}} and his father, Arnold,{{Cite web |last=Moreau |first=Jordan |date=August 26, 2020 |title=Arnold Spielberg, Father of Steven Spielberg, Dies at 103 |url=https://variety.com/2020/film/news/arnold-spielberg-dead-dies-steven-spielberg-father-1234748936/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184126/https://variety.com/2020/film/news/arnold-spielberg-dead-dies-steven-spielberg-father-1234748936/ |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 17, 2020 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} was an electrical engineer involved in the development of computers. His immediate family were{{cite web |last1=Gross |first1=Terry |author1-link=Terry Gross |title=Steven Spielberg was a fearful kid who found solace in storytelling |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1134314093 |website=Fresh Air |access-date=November 9, 2022 |date=November 9, 2022 |archive-date=November 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221109205319/https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1134314093 |url-status=live }} Reform Jewish/Orthodox Jewish.{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=6}}{{Sfn|Baxter|1996|p=38}} Spielberg's paternal grandparents were Jews from Ukraine;{{cite web |last=Tugend |first=Tom |date=June 13, 2012 |title=A close encounter with Steven Spielberg's dad |url=https://jewishjournal.com/mobile_20111212/105131/a-close-encounter-with-steven-spielbergs-dad/ |access-date=March 9, 2023 |website=The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles |archive-date=July 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707115653/http://jewishjournal.com/mobile_20111212/105131/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last=Gutfreund |first=Debbie |date=January 28, 2017 |title=Steven Spielberg's Jewish Roots |url=https://aish.com/steven-spielbergs-jewish-roots/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926052518/https://aish.com/steven-spielbergs-jewish-roots/ |archive-date=September 26, 2022 |access-date=May 11, 2018 |work=Aish HaTorah}} his grandmother Rebecca ({{née|Chechik}}), was from Sudylkiv, and his grandfather Shmuel Spielberg was from Kamianets-Podilskyi.{{cite web| url=https://jewishjournal.com/mobile_20111212/105131/a-close-encounter-with-steven-spielbergs-dad/| title=A close encounter with Steven Spielberg's dad| work=The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles| date=June 13, 2012| access-date=February 16, 2022| author=Tugend, Tom| archive-date=July 7, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707115653/http://jewishjournal.com/mobile_20111212/105131/| url-status=live}}{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=22}} Spielberg has three younger sisters: Anne, Sue, and Nancy.{{Sfn|Baxter|1996|p=16}} At their home in Cincinnati, his grandmother taught English to Holocaust survivors. They, in turn, taught him numbers:

One man in particular, I kept looking at his numbers–his number tattooed on his forearm ... he started – you know, when–during the dinner break, when everybody was eating and not learning, he would point to the numbers. And he would say, that is a two, and that is a four. And then he'd say, and this is a eight, and that's a one. And I'll never forget this. And he said, and that's a nine. And then he crooked his arm and inverted his arm and said, and see, it becomes a six. It's magic. And now it's a nine, and now it's a six, and now it's a nine and now it's a six. And that's really how I learned my numbers for the first time ... the irony of all that, and the gift of that lesson, never really dawned on me until I was much older.

In 1952, his family moved to Haddon Township, New Jersey, after his father was hired by RCA.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=48}} Spielberg attended Hebrew school from 1953 to 1957, in classes taught by Rabbi Albert L. Lewis.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=53}} In early 1957, the family moved to Phoenix, Arizona.{{cite magazine|first=David|last=Denby|title=Steven Spielberg at Seventy|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/16/steven-spielberg-at-seventy|magazine=The New Yorker|date=January 16, 2017|access-date=May 11, 2018|archive-date=May 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511161155/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/16/steven-spielberg-at-seventy|url-status=live}}{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=9}} Spielberg had a bar mitzvah ceremony when he was thirteen.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=36}} His family was involved in the synagogue and had many Jewish friends.{{Sfn|Pogrebin|2005|p=30}} Of the Holocaust, he said that his parents "talked about it all the time, and so it was always on my mind".{{Sfn|Pogrebin|2005|p=30}} His father had lost between sixteen and twenty relatives in the Holocaust.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=22}} Spielberg found it difficult accepting his heritage; he said: "It isn't something I enjoy admitting{{nbsp}}... but when I was seven, eight, nine years old, God forgive me, I was embarrassed because we were Orthodox Jews. I was embarrassed by the outward perception of my parents' Jewish practices. I was never really ashamed to be Jewish, but I was uneasy at times."{{cite web |last=Jungreis-Wolff |first=Slovie |date=August 22, 2015 |title=Steven Spielberg, E.T. and Growing Up Jewish |work=aishcom |url=http://www.aish.com/f/p/Steven-Spielberg-ET-and-Growing-Up-Jewish.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511145732/http://www.aish.com/f/p/Steven-Spielberg-ET-and-Growing-Up-Jewish.html |archive-date=May 11, 2018 |access-date=May 11, 2018 |publisher=Aish HaTorah}}{{Cite news |last=Rader |first=Dotson |date=March 27, 1994 |title=Steven Spielberg: 'We Can't Just Sit Back and Hope' |page=163 |work=Parade |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120499389/steven-spielberg-article-page-1/ |access-date=March 10, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309165802/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120499389/steven-spielberg-article-page-1/ |url-status=live }} Spielberg was the target of anti-Semitism: "In high school, I got smacked and kicked around. Two bloody noses. It was horrible."{{cite web|first=J.D.|last=Reed|title=Steven Spielberg|url=http://people.com/archive/steven-spielberg/|work=People|date=March 15, 1999|access-date=May 11, 2018|archive-date=May 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511215012/http://people.com/archive/steven-spielberg/|url-status=live}}{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=22}} He gradually followed Judaism less during adolescence, after his family had moved to various neighborhoods and found themselves to be the only Jews.{{Sfn|Pogrebin|2005|p=29}}{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=20}}

He recalls his parents taking him to see Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). He had never seen a movie before, and thought they were taking him to the circus. He was terrified by the movie's train crash, and at age 12, he recreated it with his Lionel trains and filmed it. He recalls: "The trains went around and around, and after a while that got boring, and I had this eight-millimeter camera, and I staged a train wreck and filmed it. That was hard on the trains, but then I could cut the film lots of different ways and look at it over and over again." This was his first home movie.{{cite news| author=Roger Ebert| title=Steven Spielberg's legacy| work=Chicago Sun-Times| date=December 18, 1997| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/steven-spielbergs-legacy}}{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=11}} In 1958, he became a Boy Scout, eventually attaining the rank of Eagle Scout.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=78}} He fulfilled a requirement for the photography merit badge by making a nine-minute 8 mm Western, The Last Gunfight.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=77}}{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=12}} Spielberg used his father's movie camera to make amateur features, and began taking the camera along on every Scout trip.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=83}} At age 13, Spielberg made a 40-minute war film, Escape to Nowhere, with a cast of classmates. The film won first prize in a statewide competition.{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=16}}{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=99}} Throughout his early teens, and after entering high school, Spielberg made about fifteen to twenty 8 mm adventure films.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=5}}{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=84}} He recalls that

my dad told me stories about World War II constantly{{nbsp}}... I knew, based on the stories my dad and his friends were telling about World War II, that there was no glory in war. And it was ugly, and it was cruel ... it was, you know, visually devastating. And so I thought, someday, if I ever do make a war movie for real, it's got to be something that tells the truth about what those experiences had been for those young 17-, 18-, 19-year-old boys storming Omaha Beach, let's say.

In Phoenix, Spielberg went to the local theater every Saturday.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=81}} Formative films included Victor Fleming's Captains Courageous (1937), Walt Disney's Pinocchio and Fantasia (both 1940), Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950) and The Seven Samurai (1954),{{cite news |last1=Warren |first1=Adrian |date=June 11, 2014 |title='Seven Samurai' Spawned a Subgenre All of Its Own |work=PopMatters |url=https://www.popmatters.com/182639-seven-samurai-2495651387.html |access-date=April 21, 2022 |archive-date=April 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421063159/https://www.popmatters.com/182639-seven-samurai-2495651387.html |url-status=live }}{{cite book |last1=Prince |first1=Stephen |title=Rashomon Effects: Kurosawa, Rashomon and their legacies |date=November 6, 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-57464-4 |editor-last1=Davis |editor-first1=Blair |page=132 |chapter=Kurosawa's international legacy |access-date=April 21, 2022 |editor-last2=Anderson |editor-first2=Robert |editor-last3=Walls |editor-first3=Jan |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ebXhCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA132}} Ishirō Honda's Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956),{{cite book |last=Ryfle |first=Steve |url=https://archive.org/details/japansfavoritemo0000ryfl/page/15 |title=Japan's Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of the Big G |publisher=ECW Press |year=1998 |isbn=9781550223484 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/japansfavoritemo0000ryfl/page/15 15–17]}}{{cite book |last=Ragone |first=August |title=Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters |date=May 6, 2014 |publisher=Chronicle Books |isbn=978-1-4521-3539-7 |edition=paperback |page=181}} David Lean's Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962) ("the film that set me on my journey"), Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) and Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove (1964) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) ("I'm still living off the adrenalin that{{nbsp}}... I experienced watching that film for the first time."){{cite web|last=O'Callaghan|first=Paul|date=January 23, 2018|title=10 great films that inspired Steven Spielberg|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-films-inspired-steven-spielberg|access-date=February 11, 2019|website=British Film Institute|archive-date=February 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190213064143/https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/10-great-films-inspired-steven-spielberg|url-status=live}} He attended Arcadia High School in 1961 for three years.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=94}} In 1963, he wrote and directed a 140-minute science fiction film, Firelight, the basis of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Firelight, funded mainly by his father, was shown in a local theater for one evening and grossed $501 against its $500 budget.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=102}}{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=18}}{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=20}}

After taking a tour bus to Universal Studios, a chance conversation with an executive led to Spielberg getting a three-day pass to the premises. On the fourth day, he walked up to the studio gates without a pass, and the security guard waved him in: "I basically spent the next two months at Universal Studios ... that was how I became an unofficial apprentice that summer."{{cite web |date=May 14, 2002 |title=CSU Newsline – Steven Spielberg To Graduate from California State University, Long Beach With Bachelor's Degree in Film and Electronic Arts |url=http://www.calstate.edu/Newsline/Archive/01-02/020514-LB.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100309122336/https://www.calstate.edu/Newsline/Archive/01-02/020514-LB.shtml |archive-date=March 9, 2010 |access-date=March 2, 2010 |publisher=California State University}}{{Cite web |date=December 18, 2022 |title=Eight things we learned from Steven Spielberg's Desert Island Discs |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3QSMPjljCWlgg05TTJD3nHV/eight-things-we-learned-from-steven-spielbergs-desert-island-discs |access-date=December 23, 2022 |website=BBC |language=en-GB |archive-date=December 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223140549/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3QSMPjljCWlgg05TTJD3nHV/eight-things-we-learned-from-steven-spielbergs-desert-island-discs |url-status=live }} His family later moved to Saratoga, California, where he attended Saratoga High School.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=115}} A year later, his parents divorced. Spielberg moved to Los Angeles to stay with his father,{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=24}} while his three sisters and mother remained in Saratoga. He recalls:

My parents split up when I was 15 or 16 years old, and I needed a special friend, and had to use my imagination to take me to places that felt good – that helped me move beyond the problems my parents were having, and that ended our family as a whole. And thinking about that time, I thought, an extraterrestrial character would be the perfect springboard to purge the pain of your parents' splitting up.

Spielberg made his professional debut with "Eyes", a segment of Night Gallery (1969) scripted by Rod Serling and starring Joan Crawford.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=170}} Initially, there was skepticism from Crawford and studio executives regarding Spielberg's inexperience. Despite Spielberg's efforts to implement advanced camerawork techniques, studio executives demanded a more straightforward approach. His initial contributions received mixed responses, leading Spielberg to briefly step back from studio work.{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=31}} Crawford, reflecting on her collaboration with Spielberg, recognized his potential, noting his unique intuitive inspiration. She expressed her appreciation for Spielberg's talent in a note to him and also communicated her approval to Serling. Crawford's endorsement highlighted Spielberg's early recognition in Hollywood despite initial hesitations regarding his experience.{{Cite book|last=Chandler|first=Charlotte|title=Not the Girl Next Door: Joan Crawford, a Personal Biography|date=2008|publisher=Simon & Schuster|page=262|isbn=978-1-4165-4751-8|edition=1st Simon & Schuster hardcover|location=New York|oclc=166273792}}

In the early 1970s, Spielberg unsuccessfully tried to raise financing for his own low-budget films. He co-wrote and directed teleplays for Marcus Welby, M.D., The Name of the Game, Columbo, Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law and The Psychiatrist.{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=33}} Although unsatisfied with his work,{{Sfn|Baxter|1996|p=69}} Spielberg used the opportunity to experiment with his techniques and learn about filmmaking. He earned good reviews and impressed producers; he was earning a steady income and relocated to Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles.{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=33}}

Impressed, Universal signed Spielberg to do four television films.{{Cite news|date=July 14, 1975|title=Spielberg, Universal Sign Four-Picture Agreement|work=Los Angeles Times}} The first was Duel (1971), adapted from Richard Matheson's short story of the same name, about a salesman (Dennis Weaver) being chased down a highway by a psychotic tanker truck driver.{{cite web| author=Scott Tobias| title=Duel at 50: Steven Spielberg's debut remains a ferocious thriller| date=September 19, 2021| work=The Guardian| url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/nov/13/duel-at-50-steven-spielberg-debut-thriller}} Impressed, executives decided to promote the film on television. Reviews were positive, and Universal asked Spielberg to shoot more scenes so that Duel could be released theatrically to international markets.{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=35}} "Deservedly so" writes David Thomson, "for it stands up as one of the medium's most compelling spirals of suspense. The ordinariness of the Dennis Weaver character and the monstrous malignance of the truck confront one another with a narrative assurance that never needs to remind us of the element of fable."{{cite book| last=Thomson| first=David| author-link=David Thomson (film critic)| title=The New Biographical Dictionary of Film| year=2010| pages=919–921}} More TV films followed: Something Evil (1972) and Savage (1973).

Spielberg made his theatrical debut with The Sugarland Express (1974), based on a true story about a married couple on the run, desperate to regain custody of their baby from foster parents.{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=37}} The film starred Goldie Hawn and William Atherton and marked the first of many collaborations with the composer John Williams.{{cite news| last=King| first=Darryn| title=John Williams on 'Indiana Jones' and His Favorite Film Scores| date=June 24, 2023| work=The New York Times| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/24/movies/john-williams-indiana-jones-dial-of-destiny.html| access-date=November 29, 2023| archive-date=November 30, 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130161730/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/24/movies/john-williams-indiana-jones-dial-of-destiny.html| url-status=live}} Although the film was awarded Best Screenplay at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival, it was not a commercial success,{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=38}} which Spielberg blamed on Universal's inconsistent marketing.{{Sfn|Baxter|1996|p=115}} The film opened in four hundred theaters in the US to positive reviews; Pauline Kael wrote "Spielberg uses his gifts in a very free-and-easy, American way—for humor, and for a physical response to action. He could be that rarity among directors, a born entertainer—perhaps a new generation's Howard Hawks."Kael, Pauline (March 18, 1974). "The Current Cinema". The New Yorker. 130. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that "a major new director is on the horizon".{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=223}}

Producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown took a chance with Spielberg, giving him the opportunity to direct Jaws (1975), a thriller based on Peter Benchley's bestseller. In it, a great white shark attacks beachgoers at a summer resort town, prompting police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) to hunt it down with the help of a marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a veteran shark hunter (Robert Shaw). Jaws was the first movie shot on open ocean,{{Cite news|url=http://entertainmentvoice.com/2017/10/07/hbo-spielberg-documentary-is-an-unabashed-love-letter-to-a-film-lover/|title=HBO's 'Spielberg' Documentary Is an Unabashed Love Letter to a Film Lover|last=Sokol|first=Tony|access-date=October 8, 2017|archive-date=October 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009092937/http://entertainmentvoice.com/2017/10/07/hbo-spielberg-documentary-is-an-unabashed-love-letter-to-a-film-lover/|url-status=live}} so shooting proved difficult, especially when the mechanical shark malfunctioned. The shooting schedule overran by a hundred days, and Universal threatened to cancel production.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=22}} Against expectations, Jaws was a success, setting the domestic box office record and making Spielberg a household name.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=250}} It won Academy Awards for Best Film Editing (Verna Fields), Best Original Dramatic Score (John Williams) and Best Sound (Robert Hoyt, Roger Heman, Earl Madery and John Carter). Spielberg said the malfunctioning of the mechanical shark resulted in a better movie, as he had to find other ways to suggest the shark's presence. After seeing the unconventional camera techniques of Jaws, Alfred Hitchcock praised "young Spielberg" for thinking outside the visual dynamics of the theater: "He's the first one of us who doesn't see the proscenium arch".{{cite magazine |last=Gleiberman |first=Owen |date=August 1, 2007 |title=The Bourne Ultimatum |url=https://ew.com/article/2007/08/01/bourne-ultimatum-2/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=October 22, 2019 |archive-date=October 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022053043/https://ew.com/article/2007/08/01/bourne-ultimatum-2/ |url-status=live }}

{{quote box

| align = right

| width = 25em

| bgcolor = LightCyan

| quote = Like Coppola on The Godfather, Spielberg asserted his own role and deftly organized the elements into a roller coaster entertainment without sacrificing inner meanings. The suspense of the picture came from meticulous technique and good humor about its own surgical cutting. You have only to submit to the travesty of Jaws 2 to realize how much more engagingly Spielberg saw the ocean, the perils, the sinister beauty of the shark, and the vitality of its human opponents.

| source = — Critic David Thompson

}}

After declining an offer to make Jaws 2,{{Sfn|Baxter|1996|p=145}} Spielberg and Dreyfuss reunited to work on a film about UFOs, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Spielberg used 65 mm film for the best picture quality, and a new live-action recording system so that the recordings could be duplicated later.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=26}}{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=277}} He cast one of his favorite directors, François Truffaut, as the scientist Claude Lacombe and worked with special effects expert Douglas Trumbull. It marked the first of many collaborations between Spielberg and editor Michael Kahn.{{cite news| author=Kristopher Tapley| title=Michael Kahn on 'Bridge of Spies' and Four Decades of Spielberg Magic| date=September 8, 2015| work=Variety| url=https://variety.com/2015/artisans/awards/bridge-of-spies-editor-michael-kahn-steven-spielberg-1201657009/ }} One of the rare films both written and directed by Spielberg, Close Encounters was very popular with filmgoers{{Sfn|Baxter|1996|p=170}} and won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography (Vilmos Zsigmond) and Best Sound Effects Editing (Frank Warner).{{Cite web |title=The 50th Academy Awards {{!}} 1978 |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1978 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506033234/https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1978 |archive-date=May 6, 2019 |access-date=November 27, 2020 |website= |date=October 5, 2014 |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |language=en}} Stanley Kauffmann wrote: "I saw Close Encounters at its first public showing in New York, and most of the audience stayed on and on to watch the credits crawl lengthily at the end. For one thing, under the credits the giant spaceship was returning to the stars. For another, they just didn't want to leave this picture. For still another, they seemed to understand the importance of those many names to what they had just seen." Kauffmann placed it first on his list of the best American films from 1968 to 1977.{{cite web| title=Calmly Disagreeing: Stanley Kauffmann (1916–2013)| date=November 6, 2013| url=https://rockcritics.com/2013/11/05/calmly-disagreeing-stanley-kauffmann-1916-2013/| access-date=November 20, 2023| archive-date=November 20, 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120160534/https://rockcritics.com/2013/11/05/calmly-disagreeing-stanley-kauffmann-1916-2013/| url-status=live}} Reviewing Close Encounters, Kael called Spielberg "a magician in the age of movies".{{cite magazine| last=Kael| first=Pauline| author-link=Pauline Kael| date=November 20, 1977| title=The Greening of the Solar System| url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1977/11/28/the-greening-of-the-solar-system| magazine=The New Yorker| access-date=November 17, 2023| archive-date=November 17, 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231117231711/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1977/11/28/the-greening-of-the-solar-system| url-status=live}}

His next directorial work was 1941 (1979), an action-comedy written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale about Californians preparing for a Japanese invasion after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Spielberg was self-conscious about doing comedy as he had no prior experience in the genre.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=30}} Universal and Columbia agreed to co-finance the film. 1941 grossed more than $92.4 million worldwide upon release,{{Cite web |title=1941 (1979) – Financial Information |url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/1941 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221127105919/https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/1941#tab=summary |archive-date=November 27, 2022 |access-date=March 9, 2023 |website=The Numbers}} but most critics, and the studio heads, disliked it.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=30}} Charles Champlin described 1941 as "the most conspicuous waste since the last major oil spill, which it somewhat resembles".{{cite web |last1=Champlin |first1=Charles |date=December 23, 1979 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/385313148 |title=Spielberg's Pearl Harbor |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411025612/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/385313148/ |archive-date=April 11, 2023 |work=Los Angeles Times |pages=Part IV, p. 1 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Spielberg directed Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), with a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. They considered it an homage to the serials of the 1930s and 1940s.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=312}} It starred Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones and Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood. Filmed in La Rochelle, Hawaii, Tunisia and Elstree Studios, England, the shoot was difficult but Spielberg said that it helped him hone his business acumen.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=32}} The film was a box office success{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=33}} and won Academy Awards for Best Art Direction (Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley and Michael D. Ford); Best Film Editing (Michael Kahn); Best Sound (Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, Gregg Landaker and Roy Charman); Best Sound Editing (Ben Burtt and Richard L. Anderson); and Best Visual Effects (Richard Edlund, Kit West, Bruce Nicholson and Joe Johnston).{{Cite web |title=The 54th Academy Awards {{!}} 1982 |work=Oscars.org {{pipe}} Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1982 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417060317/https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1982 |archive-date=April 17, 2018 |access-date=December 18, 2020 |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |language=en}} Roger Ebert wrote: "Raiders of the Lost Ark is an out-of-body experience, a movie of glorious imagination and breakneck speed that grabs you in the first shot, hurtles you through a series of incredible adventures, and deposits you back in reality two hours later–breathless, dizzy, wrung-out, and with a silly grin on your face".{{cite news| last=Ebert| first=Roger| title=Raiders of the Lost Ark| date=1981| work=Chicago Sun-Times| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-1981| access-date=November 20, 2023| archive-date=December 15, 2016| archive-url=https://archive.today/20161215224654/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-1981| url-status=live}} Raiders was the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise.

File:President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan with Steven Spielberg.jpg and Nancy Reagan with Spielberg at The White House]]

Spielberg returned to science fiction with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). It tells the story of Elliot (Henry Thomas), a young boy who befriends an alien who was accidentally left behind by his companions and is attempting to return home. Spielberg eschewed storyboards so that his direction would be more spontaneous, and shot roughly in sequence so that the actors' performances would be authentic as they bonded with and said goodbye to E.T. Richard Corliss wrote, "This was the closing-night attraction at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, a venue not known for blubbering sentiment. At the end, as the little critter bade his farewells and the Jules Verne-like space ship left the ground, the audience similarly levitated. One heard the audience's childlike applause; one felt their spirits lift. This was rapture made audible, palpable ... Spielberg orchestrated the movements of the camera and the puppet spaceman with the feelings of—it has to be called love—expressed in young Henry Thomas' yearning face. E.T. was the first film character to be a finalist in TIME's Man of the Year sweepstakes. It would have been fine with me if the little creature, this lovely film, had won."{{cite magazine| last=Corliss| first=Richard| author-link=Richard Corliss| magazine=Time| title=TIME 100 Movies: E. T. the Extraterrestrial| url=https://entertainment.time.com/2005/02/12/all-time-100-movies/slide/all/}}

A special screening was organized for Ronald and Nancy Reagan, who were emotional by the end.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=36}} E.T. grossed $700 million worldwide.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=36}} It won four Academy Awards: Best Original Score (John Williams), Best Sound (Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don Digirolamo and Gene Cantamessa), Best Sound Editing (Charles L. Campbell and Ben Burtt) and Best Visual Effects (Carlo Rambaldi, Dennis Muren and Kenneth F. Smith).{{cite web |url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1983 |title=The 55th Academy Awards (1983) Nominees and Winners |access-date=October 9, 2011 |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120905/http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/55th-winners.html |archive-date=September 5, 2012}} Kael wrote of E.T., "His voice is ancient and otherworldly but friendly, humorous. And this scaly, wrinkled little man with huge, wide-apart, soulful eyes and a jack-in-the-box neck has been so fully created that he's a friend to us, too; when he speaks of his longing to go home the audience becomes as mournful as Elliot. Spielberg has earned the tears that some people in the audience—and not just children—shed. Genuinely entrancing movies are almost as rare as extraterrestrial visitors."{{Cite magazine | last=Kael| first=Pauline| author-link=Pauline Kael| date= June 14, 1982| title= E.T. The Extraterrestrial| magazine=The New Yorker| url=https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/movies/e-t-the-extra-terrestrial-pauline-kael/}} Spielberg co-wrote and produced Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper, 1982), released the same summer as E.T.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=33}} With John Landis, he co-produced the anthology film Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), contributing the "Kick the Can" segment.{{cite web |last=Heitmueller |first=Karl |date=April 3, 2007 |title=Rewind: Major-Studio flicks that belong in the Grind House |url=http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1556111/story.jhtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006102305/http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1556111/story.jhtml |archive-date=October 6, 2008 |access-date=January 2, 2009 |website=MTV |publisher= |quote=Ultimate A-lister Steven Spielberg co-produced this big-budget adaptation of Rod Serling's classic '60s TV show....}}

File:Steven Spielberg with Chandran Rutnam in Sri Lanka.jpg in Sri Lanka during the filming of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom]]

His next feature film was the Raiders of the Lost Ark prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). Working again with Lucas and Ford, the film was shot in the United States, Sri Lanka and China.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=42}} The film was darker than its predecessor, and led to the creation of the PG-13 rating because some content was deemed unsuitable for children under 13.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=357}} Spielberg later said that he was unhappy with Temple of Doom because it lacked his "personal touches and love".{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=43}} Nonetheless, the film was a blockbuster hit,{{Cite web |title=Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0087469/?ref_=bo_se_r_1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184130/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0087469/?ref_=bo_se_r_1 |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=November 29, 2020 |website=Box Office Mojo}} won the Academy Award for Best Special Effects and received mostly good reviews.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=43}} Kael preferred it to the original, writing, "Spielberg is like a magician whose tricks are so daring they make you laugh. He creates an atmosphere of happy disbelief: the more breathtaking and exhilarating the stunts are the funnier they are. Nobody has ever fused thrills and laughter in quite the way that he does here. He starts off at full charge in the opening sequence and just keeps going". She conceded that it was less "sincere" than Raiders, adding "that's what is so good about it."{{cite magazine| last=Kael| first=Pauline| author-link=Pauline Kael| title=Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom| date=June 11, 1984| magazine=The New Yorker| url= https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/movies/indiana-jones-and-the-temple-of-doom-review-by-pauline-kael/}} On this project Spielberg met his future wife, Kate Capshaw, who played Willie Scott.{{cite web |date=December 18, 1947 |title=Steven Spielberg Biography |url=http://www.biography.com/articles/Steven-Spielberg-9490621 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514201106/https://www.biography.com/articles/Steven-Spielberg-9490621 |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |access-date=January 31, 2011 |website=Biography.com |publisher=}} Spielberg recalled, "The second film I could have done a lot better if there had been a different story. It was a good learning exercise for me to really throw myself into a black hole. I came out of the darkness of Temple Of Doom and I entered the light of the woman I was eventually going to marry and raise a family with."{{Cite web |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/indiana-jones-making-temple-doom/ |title=The Making of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom |date=September 10, 2012 |access-date=April 8, 2020 |archive-date=September 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904050535/https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/indiana-jones-making-temple-doom/ |url-status=live }}

Thomson writes that "At first sight, the Spielberg of the eighties may seem more an impresario—or a studio, even—then a director." Between 1984 and 1990, Spielberg served as producer or executive producer on nineteen feature films for his production company, Amblin Entertainment. Among them were Gremlins (Joe Dante, 1984), The Goonies (Richard Donner, 1985), Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Zemeckis, 1988), Joe Versus the Volcano (John Patrick Shanley, 1990) and Arachnophobia (Frank Marshall, 1990).{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=380}}{{cite magazine|title = This way to the children's crusade|first = Richard|last = Corliss|date = January 7, 1985|access-date = January 2, 2009|quote = he wrote the story and served as an executive producer of The Goonies....|url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,959559,00.html|magazine = Time|archive-date = October 19, 2009|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091019155426/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,959559,00.html|url-status = dead}}{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=105}}{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=506}} In the early 1980s, Spielberg befriended Warner Communications CEO Steve Ross eventually resulting in Spielberg making films for Warner Bros.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=383}} It began with The Color Purple (1985), an adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, about a generation of empowered African-American women in the depression-era South. It was Spielberg's first film on a dramatic subject matter, and he expressed reservations about tackling the project: "It's the risk of being judged-and accused of not having the sensibility to do character studies."{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=45}} Starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, the film was a box office hit and critics started to take note of Spielberg's foray into drama.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=45}} Ebert named it the best film of the year.{{Cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=December 20, 1985 |title=The Color Purple (1985) | work=Chicago Sun Times |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-color-purple-1985}} The film also received eleven Academy Award nominations, and Spielberg won Best Director from the Directors Guild of America.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=45}} The film was produced and scored by Quincy Jones.

As China underwent economic reform and opened up to the American film industry, Spielberg made Empire of the Sun (1987), the first American film shot in Shanghai since the 1930s.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=395}} It is an adaptation of J. G. Ballard's autobiographical novel about Jamie Graham (Christian Bale), a young boy who goes from being the son of a wealthy British family in Shanghai to a prisoner of war in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. David Lean was originally set to direct, with Spielberg producing. It was written by playwright Tom Stoppard and co-starred John Malkovich as an American expatriate. Critical reaction was mixed at the time of release; criticism ranged from the "overwrought" plot to Spielberg's downplaying of "disease and starvation".{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=397}}{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=398}} However, Andrew Sarris named it the best film of the year and later included it among the best of the decade.{{cite web |last=Sarris |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Sarris |title=Andrew Sarris' Top 10 lists 1958–2005 |url=http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~ejohnson/critics/sarris.html#y1977 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010210193008/http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~ejohnson/critics/sarris.html#y1977 |archive-date=February 10, 2001 |access-date=October 21, 2006 |publisher=California Institute of Technology }} The film was nominated for six Academy Awards,{{Cite web |title=The 60th Academy Awards {{!}} 1988 |date=December 4, 2015 |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1988 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724211840/https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1988 |archive-date=July 24, 2020 |access-date=November 27, 2020 |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |language=en}} but was a disappointment at the box office; Ian Alterman of The New York Times thought it was overlooked by audiences.{{Cite news |last=Alterman |first=Ian |date=March 29, 1989 |title=Oscar Nominations Again Snub Spielberg|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/29/opinion/l-oscar-nominations-again-snub-spielberg-544089.html |url-status=live |access-date=December 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184138/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/29/opinion/l-oscar-nominations-again-snub-spielberg-544089.html |archive-date=January 1, 2021}} Spielberg recalled that Empire of the Sun was one of his most enjoyable films to make.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=47}} Thomson called it "a great work through and through" and "the first clear sign that Spielberg the showman was an artist, too."{{cite book| first=David| last= Thomson| author-link=David Thomson (film critic)|title=Have You Seen...?| page=259| year=2008}}

File:Steven Spielberg in 1990.jpg

In 1989, Spielberg intended to direct Rain Man, but instead directed Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to meet his contractual obligations.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=400}} Producer Lucas and star Ford returned for the film. A longtime James Bond fan, Spielberg cast Sean Connery as Jones's father, Henry Jones, Sr.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=47}} Due to complaints about violence in Temple of Doom, Spielberg returned to more family-friendly fare for the third installment.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=48}} Last Crusade received mostly positive reviews and was a box office success, earning $474 million; it was his biggest hit since E.T.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=403}} Biographer Joseph McBride wrote that it was a comeback for Spielberg, and Spielberg acknowledged the amount he has learned from making the Indiana Jones series.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=403}} Ebert wrote that, "If there is just a shade of disappointment after seeing this movie, it has to be because we will never again have the shock of this material seeming new. Raiders of the Lost Ark, now more than ever, seems a turning point in the cinema of escapist entertainment, and there was really no way Spielberg could make it new all over again. What he has done is to take many of the same elements, and apply all of his craft and sense of fun to make them work yet once again. And they do."{{cite news| last=Ebert| first=Roger| title=Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade| date=May 24, 1989| work=Chicago Sun-Times| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/indiana-jones-and-the-last-crusade-1989}}

Also in 1989, he reunited with Richard Dreyfuss for the romantic drama Always, about an aerial firefighter. It is a modern remake of one of Spielberg's favorite childhood films, A Guy Named Joe (1943). The story was personal; he said "As a child I was very frustrated, and maybe I saw my own parents [in A Guy Named Joe]. I was also short of girlfriends. And it stuck with me."{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=406}} Spielberg had discussed the film with Dreyfuss back in 1975, with up to twelve drafts being written before filming commenced.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=48}} Always was commercially unsuccessful and received mixed reviews.{{Cite web |title=Always (1989) |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/always |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184118/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/always |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=March 9, 2023 |website=Rotten Tomatoes |date=December 22, 1989 |publisher=Fandango Media}}{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=48}} Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, "Always is filled with big, sentimental moments, it lacks the intimacy to make any of this very moving."{{Cite news |last=Maslin |first=Janet |author-link=Janet Maslin |date=December 22, 1989 |title=Review/Film; Always, Love and Death in a Wilderness|newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/22/movies/review-film-always-love-and-death-in-a-wilderness.html |url-status=live |access-date=December 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184149/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/22/movies/review-film-always-love-and-death-in-a-wilderness.html |archive-date=January 1, 2021}}

After a brief setback in which Spielberg felt "artistically stalled",{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=51}} he returned in 1991 with Hook, about a middle-aged Peter Pan (Robin Williams), who returns to Neverland and encounters Tinker Bell (Julia Roberts) and the eponymous Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman). During filming, the stars clashed on set; Spielberg told 60 Minutes that he would never work with Roberts again.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=52}} Nominated for five Academy Awards, the studio enjoyed the film but most critics did not; Thomson called it "maudlin". Writing for The Washington Post, Desson Howe described the film as "too industrially organized", and thought it mundane.{{Cite news |last=Howe |first=Desson |author-link=Desson Howe |date=December 13, 1991 |title=Hook |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/hookpghowe_a0ae8a.htm |url-status=live |access-date=December 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184132/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/hookpghowe_a0ae8a.htm |archive-date=January 1, 2021}} At the box office, it earned more than $300 million worldwide from a $70 million budget.{{Cite web |title=Hook |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0102057/?ref_=bo_se_r_1 |access-date=November 27, 2020 |website=Box Office Mojo |archive-date=August 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815100151/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0102057/?ref_=bo_se_r_1 |url-status=live }}

File:Steven Spielberg - GianAngelo Pistoia 1.jpg by Italian filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo at the 50th Venice International Film Festival, 1993]]

In 1993, Spielberg returned to the adventure genre with Jurassic Park, based on Michael Crichton's bestseller, with a screenplay by Crichton and David Koepp. Jurassic Park is set on a fictional island near Costa Rica, where a businessman (Richard Attenborough) has hired a team of geneticists to create a wildlife park of de-extinct dinosaurs. In a departure from his usual order of planning, Spielberg and the designers storyboarded certain sequences from the novel early on.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=419}} The film also used computer-generated imagery provided by Industrial Light & Magic; Jurassic Park was completed on time and became the highest-grossing film at the time, and won three Academy Awards.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=54}} The film's dominance during its theatrical run, as well as Spielberg's $250 million salary, made him self-conscious of his own success.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=424}}

Also in 1993, Spielberg directed Schindler's List, about Oskar Schindler, a businessman who helped save 1,100 Jews from the Holocaust.The screenplay, adapted from Thomas Keneally's novel, was originally in the hands of fellow director Martin Scorsese, but Spielberg negotiated with Scorsese to trade scripts. (At the time, Spielberg held the script for a remake of Cape Fear.) Based on Schindler's Ark, Spielberg waited ten years to make the film as he did not feel "mature" enough.{{Sfn|Pogrebin|2005|p=32}} He wanted to embrace his heritage,{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=55}}{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=18}} and after the birth of his son, Max, he said that "it greatly affected me [...] A spirit began to ignite in me, and I became a Jewish dad".{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=21}} Filming commenced on March 1, 1993, in Poland, while Spielberg was still editing Jurassic Park in the evenings.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=56}} To make filming "bearable", Spielberg brought his wife and children with him.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=415}} Against expectations, the film was a commercial success, and Spielberg used his percentage of profits to start the Shoah Foundation, a non-profit organization that archives testimonies of Holocaust survivors.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=59}} Schindler's List won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Spielberg's first as Best Director.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=58}} It also won seven BAFTAs, and three Golden Globes.{{Cite web |title=Film in 1994 |url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1994/film |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413005349/http://awards.bafta.org/award/1994/film |archive-date=April 13, 2016 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |website= |publisher=British Academy of Film and Television Arts}}{{Cite news |title=Winners & Nominees 1994 |language=en |newspaper= |publisher=Golden Globe Awards |url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/winners-nominees/1994 |url-status=live |access-date=December 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160229195913/http://www.goldenglobes.com/winners-nominees/1994 |archive-date=February 29, 2016}} Schindler's List is one of the AFI's 100 best American films ever made.{{Cite web |title=AFI's 100 YEARS...100 MOVIES |url=https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-movies/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200422032506/https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-movies/ |archive-date=April 22, 2020 |access-date=December 11, 2020 |website=American Film Institute |language=en}}

File:Tom Hanks face.jpg since Saving Private Ryan]]

Ebert wrote, "Flaubert once wrote that he disliked Uncle Tom's Cabin because the author was constantly preaching against slavery. 'Does one have to make observations about slavery?' he asked. 'Depict it; that's enough.' And then he added, 'An author in his book must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere.' That would describe Spielberg, the author of this film. He depicts the evil of the Holocaust, and he tells an incredible story of how it was robbed of some of its intended victims. He does so without the tricks of his trade, the directorial and dramatic contrivances that would inspire the usual melodramatic payoffs. Spielberg is not visible in this film. But his restraint and passion are present in every shot."{{cite news| last=Ebert| first=Roger| date=December 15, 1993| title=Schindler's List| work=Chicago Sun Times| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/schindlers-list-1993}} Filmmaker Claude Lanzmann, criticized the film for its weak representation of the Holocaust.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=434}} Imre Kertész, a Hungarian author and concentration camp survivor, also disliked the film, saying, "I regard as kitsch any representation of the Holocaust that is incapable of understanding or unwilling to understand the organic connection between our own deformed mode of life and the very possibility of the Holocaust."{{Cite news |last=McAuley |first=James |date=March 31, 2016 |title=Imre Kertész, Nobel-winning novelist and Holocaust survivor, dies at 86|newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/03/31/imre-kertesz-nobel-prize-winning-novelist-and-holocaust-survivor-dies-at-86/ |url-status=live |access-date=December 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184133/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/03/31/imre-kertesz-nobel-prize-winning-novelist-and-holocaust-survivor-dies-at-86/ |archive-date=January 1, 2021}} Thomson calls it "the most moving film I have ever seen."

In 1994, Spielberg took a break from directing to spend more time with his family, and set up his new film studio, DreamWorks, with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=442}}{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=59}} After his hiatus, he returned to directing with a sequel to Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). A loose adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel The Lost World, the plot follows mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and his researchers who study dinosaurs at Jurassic Park which is on an island and are confronted by another team with a different agenda. Spielberg wanted the onscreen creatures to be more realistic than in the first film; he used 3D storyboards, computer imagery and robotic puppets.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=66}} Budgeted at $73 million,{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=67}} The Lost World: Jurassic Park opened in May 1997 and was one of the highest grossing films of the year.{{Sfn|Freer|2001|p=247}} The J. Hoberman critic opined that The Lost World was "better crafted but less fun" than the first film, while The Guardian wrote "It looks like a director on autopilot [...] The special effects brook no argument."{{Sfn|Freer|2001|p=247}}

File:Steven Spielberg 1999.jpg

Amistad (1997), his first film released under DreamWorks, was based on the true story of the events in 1839 aboard the slave ship La Amistad. Producer Debbie Allen, who had read the book Amistad I in 1978, thought Spielberg would be perfect to direct.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=68}} Spielberg was hesitant taking on the project, afraid that it would be compared to Schindler's List, but he said, "I've never planned my career [...] In the end I do what I think I gotta do."{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=68}} Starring Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou and Matthew McConaughey, Spielberg used Allen's ten years worth of research to reenact the difficult historical scenes.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=67}}{{Sfn|Freer|2001|p=252}} The film struggled to find an audience, and underperformed at the box office;{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=69}} Spielberg admitted that Amistad "became too much of a history lesson".{{Sfn|Freer|2001|p=258}}

Spielberg's 1998 release was World War II epic Saving Private Ryan, about a group of US soldiers led by Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) sent to bring home a paratrooper whose three older brothers were killed in the same twenty-four hours of the Normandy landing. Filming took place in England, and US Marine Dale Dye was hired to train the actors and keep them in character during the combat scenes. Halfway through filming, Spielberg reminded the cast that they were making a tribute to thank "your grandparents and my dad, who fought in [the war]".{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=72}} Upon release, critics praised the direction and its realistic portrayal of war.{{Sfn|Freer|2001|p=274}} The film grossed a successful $481 million worldwide{{Cite web |title=Saving Private Ryan |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0120815/?ref_=bo_se_r_1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184121/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0120815/?ref_=bo_se_r_1 |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=November 30, 2020 |website=Box Office Mojo}} and Spielberg won a second Academy Award for Best Director.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=73}} In August 1999, Spielberg and Hanks were awarded the Distinguished Public Service Medal from Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=72}}{{Sfn|Horn|2002|p=39}} Thomson writes "Ryan changed war films: combat, shock, wounds, and fear had never been so graphically presented; and yet there was also a true sense of what duties and ideas had felt like in 1944. I disliked the framing device. I would have admired a director who trusted us to get there without that. Never mind—Ryan is a magnificent film." Ebert wrote "Spielberg knows how to make audiences weep better than any director since Chaplin in City Lights. But weeping is an incomplete response, letting the audience off the hook. This film embodies ideas. After the immediate experience begins to fade, the implications remain and grow."{{cite news| last=Ebert| first=Roger| date=July 24, 1998| title=Saving Private Ryan| work=The Chicago Sun-Times| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/saving-private-ryan-1998| access-date=November 23, 2023| archive-date=December 18, 2022| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221218225912/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/saving-private-ryan-1998| url-status=live}}

File:Kubrick on the set of Barry Lyndon (1975 publicity photo).jpg asked Spielberg to direct A.I.]]

Spielberg returned to science fiction with A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), a loose adaptation of Brian Aldiss's short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" (1969). Stanley Kubrick had bought the rights to the story in 1979 and worked on an adaptation for years.{{cite news| title=The Masterpiece a Master Couldn't Get Right| date=July 18, 1999| author=Gregory Feeley| work=The New York Times| url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/071899kubrick-ai.html}} He told Spielberg about the project in 1984 and suggested that he direct, believing the story was closer to Spielberg's sensibilities. In 1999, Kubrick died. Spielberg decided to direct A.I. and wrote the screenplay himself.{{cite news| title=From Kubrick to Spielberg: The Story of 'A.I.'| date=June 19, 2021| author=Tim Greiving| work=The Ringer| url=https://www.theringer.com/movies/2021/6/29/22553929/ai-artificial-intelligence-steven-spielberg-stanley-kubrick}} Spielberg tried to be faithful to Kubrick's vision{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/24/arts/24LYMA.html?pagewanted=all |title=Spielberg's Journey Into a Darkness of the Heart |work=The New York Times |date=June 24, 2001 |accessdate=October 2, 2015 |author=Lyman, Rick |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151011183935/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/24/arts/24LYMA.html?pagewanted=all |archivedate=October 11, 2015}} and made several allusions to his friend's work{{cite news| title=Spielberg's 'A.I.' is a surprising homage to Kubrick| author=Joe Blevins| work=The A.V. Club| date=October 14, 2016| url=https://www.avclub.com/spielberg-s-a-i-is-a-surprising-homage-to-kubrick-1798253041}} though with mixed results according to some critics.{{Sfn|Horn|2002|p=40}} The plot revolves around an android, David (Haley Joel Osment) who, like Pinocchio, dreams of being a "real boy". The film won five Saturn Awards{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=75}} and grossed $236 million worldwide.{{Cite web |title=A.I. Artificial Intelligence |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0212720/ |access-date=December 1, 2020 |website=Box Office Mojo |archive-date=June 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210622160206/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0212720/ |url-status=live }} Jonathan Rosenbaum highly praised the film: "If A.I. Artificial Intelligence — a film whose split personality is apparent even in its two-part title — is as much a Kubrick movie as a Spielberg one, this is in large part because it defamiliarizes Spielberg, makes him strange. Yet it also defamiliarizes Kubrick, with equally ambiguous results — making his unfamiliarity familiar. Both filmmakers should be credited for the results—Kubrick for proposing that Spielberg direct the project and Spielberg for doing his utmost to respect Kubrick's intentions while making it a profoundly personal work."{{cite news| last=Rosenbaum| first=Jonathan| date=July 13, 2001| title=The Best of Both Worlds| work=The Chicago Reader| url=https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2024/01/the-best-of-both-worlds/| access-date=November 23, 2023| archive-date=November 23, 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231123192533/https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2021/08/the-best-of-both-worlds/| url-status=live}} A. O. Scott called it "the best fairy tale–the most disturbing, complex and intellectually challenging boy's adventure story–Mr. Spielberg has made" and chose it as the best film of the year{{cite news| last=Scott| first= A. O.| title=Do Androids Long For Mom?| date=June 29, 2001| work=The New York Times| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/29/movies/film-review-do-androids-long-for-mom.html}} and one of the best of the decade.{{cite news| author=A. O. Scott| title=Movies of Quality| date=November 12, 2009| work=The New York Times| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/magazine/15FOB-WWLN-sidebars-2.html?action=click&module=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article®ion=Footer}}

Spielberg followed A.I. with the sci-fi neo-noir Minority Report (2002), based on Philip K. Dick's short story (1956). The film stars Tom Cruise as commanding officer of precrime in futuristic Washington, D.C. Ebert named Minority Report the best film of 2002, praising its craftsmanship: "here is Spielberg using every trick in the book and matching them without seams, so that no matter how he's achieving his effects, the focus is always on the story and the characters ... Some directors place their trust in technology. Spielberg, who is a master of technology, trusts only story and character, and then uses everything else as a workman uses his tools."{{cite news|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/minority-report-2002|title=Minority Report|last=Ebert|first=Roger|date=June 21, 2002|work=Chicago Sun-Times|access-date=April 10, 2018|author-link=Roger Ebert|archive-date=February 5, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130205082300/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20020621%2FREVIEWS%2F206210304%2F1023|url-status=live}} However, critic Todd McCarthy thought there was not enough action.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=79}} The film earned more than $358 million worldwide.{{Cite web |title=Minority Report |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0181689/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805070836/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0181689/ |archive-date=August 5, 2021 |access-date=December 1, 2020 |website=Box Office Mojo}} Also in 2002, he released Catch Me If You Can, based on the autobiography of con-artist Frank Abagnale. Leonardo DiCaprio played Abangale; Christopher Walken and Hanks also starred. Spielberg said, "I have always loved movies about sensational rogues—they break the law, but you just have to love them for the moxie."{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=80}} The film was a critical and commercial success.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=82}}

File:2006 Summit Hosts Steven Spielberg and George Lucas welcome the Academy delegates and members to the International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles.jpg in 2006]]

Spielberg followed Catch Me If You Can with The Terminal (2004), a comedy loosely inspired by the true story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri{{Cite web |last=Rose |first=Matthew |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/21/magazine/magazinespecial/MFMERHANT.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5007&en=360b6f8f63635c6a&ex=1379476800 |title=Waiting For Spielberg |work= The New York Times |date=21 September 2003 |access-date = 12 June 2008 |archive-date = 8 February 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090208234718/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/21/magazine/magazinespecial/MFMERHANT.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5007&en=360b6f8f63635c6a&ex=1379476800 |url-status = live}} and by Jacques Tati's Playtime (1967). The film follows Viktor Navorski (Hanks), an Eastern European man who, after a coup in his home country, is stranded in John F. Kennedy International Airport. It features Catherine Zeta-Jones as a flight attendant and Stanley Tucci as a customs and immigration official. Ebert wrote of Viktor's predicament: "The immigration service, and indeed the American legal system, has no way of dealing with him because Viktor does not do, or fail to do, any of the things the system is set up to prevent him from doing, or not doing. He has slipped through a perfect logical loophole. The Terminal is like a sunny Kakfa story, in which it is the citizen who persecutes the bureaucracy." The titular terminal was a real set built by Alex McDowell.{{cite news| author=Roger Ebert| title=The Terminal| work=Chicago Sun Times| date=June 18, 2004| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-terminal-2004}} In 2005, Spielberg directed War of the Worlds, a co-production of Paramount and DreamWorks, based on H. G. Wells's novel; Spielberg had been a fan of the book and of George Pal's 1953 film.{{Cite web |date=2005 |title=War of the Worlds – Production Notes |url=http://www.waroftheworlds.com/productionnotes/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727213403/http://www.waroftheworlds.com/productionnotes/index.html |archive-date=July 27, 2011 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |website= |publisher=War of the Worlds}} Starring Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning, the film is about an American dock worker who is forced to look after his children, from whom he lives separately, as he tries to protect and reunite them with their mother when extraterrestrials invade Earth. Spielberg used storyboards to help the actors react to computer imagery that they could not see and used natural lighting and camerawork to avoid an "over stylized" science fiction picture.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=84}} The film was a box office hit grossing more than $600 million worldwide.{{Cite web |title=War of the Worlds |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0407304/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829151404/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0407304/ |archive-date=August 29, 2021 |access-date=November 27, 2020 |website=Box Office Mojo}}

Spielberg's Munich (2005) is about the Israeli government's secret retaliation after eleven Israeli Olympic athletes were kidnapped and murdered in the 1972 Munich massacre. The film is based on Vengeance, a book by Canadian journalist George Jonas.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=86}} It was previously adapted for the screen in the 1986 television film Sword of Gideon. Spielberg, who personally remembers the incident, sought advice from former president Bill Clinton, among others, before making the film because he did not want to cause further problems in the Middle East.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=86}} Although the film garnered mostly positive reviews, some critics perceived it as anti-Semitic;{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=87}} it is one of Spielberg's most controversial films to date.{{Cite news |author=Melman |first1=Yossi |author-link=Yossi Melman |last2=Hartov |first2=Steven |author-link2=Steven Hartov |date=January 17, 2006 |title=Munich: Fact and Fantasy |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/jan/17/israelandthepalestinians.world |url-status=live |access-date=February 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728163025/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/jan/17/israelandthepalestinians.world |archive-date=July 28, 2020}} Munich received five Academy Awards nominations: Best Picture, Best Film Editing, Best Score, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director for Spielberg. It was his sixth Best Director nomination, and fifth Best Picture nomination.{{Cite web |title=The 78th Academy Awards {{!}} 2006 |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141001074434/https://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/78th-winners.html |archive-date=October 1, 2014 |access-date=November 27, 2020 |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences}}{{Sfn|Edge|2008|p=102}}

File:Steven Spielberg & Tom Hanks at National World War II Memorial for premiere of The Pacific 2010-03-11.jpg promoting The Pacific in Washington D.C.]]

In the mid-2000s, Spielberg scaled down his directing career and became more selective about film projects to undertake.{{Sfn|Mara|2014|p=60}} In December 2005, he and his partners sold DreamWorks to media conglomerate Viacom (now known as Paramount Global). The sale was finalized in February 2006.{{Sfn|Edge|2008|p=102}} In June 2006, Spielberg planned to make Interstellar, but abandoned the project, which was eventually directed by Christopher Nolan.{{Cite web |last=Child |first=Ben |date=January 10, 2013 |title=Christopher Nolan's next film mission to go Interstellar |url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jan/10/christopher-nolan-next-film-interstellar |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184122/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jan/10/christopher-nolan-next-film-interstellar |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |website=The Guardian |language=en}} During this period, Spielberg remained active as a producer. Spielberg returned to the Indiana Jones series in 2008 with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Released nineteen years after Last Crusade, the film is set in 1957, pitting Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) against Soviet agents led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), searching for a telepathic crystal skull. Principal photography was complete in October 2007, and the film was released on May 22, 2008.{{Cite news |date=June 18, 2007 |title=New Indy Adventure Begins Shooting |publisher=IndianaJones.com |url=http://www.indianajones.com/community/news/news20070618.html |access-date=June 18, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070621003713/http://indianajones.com/community/news/news20070618.html |archive-date=June 21, 2007}}{{cite news |last=Green |first=Willow |date=August 21, 2006 |title=Spielberg, Ford and Lucas on Indy IV |work=Empire |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/spielberg-ford-lucas-indy-iv/ |access-date=December 19, 2020 |archive-date=December 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216150243/https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/spielberg-ford-lucas-indy-iv/ |url-status=live }} This was his first film not released by DreamWorks since 1997.{{cite news|last1=Masters|first1=Kim|date=June 15, 2016|title=Steven Spielberg on DreamWorks' Past, Amblin's Present and His Own Future|work=The Hollywood Reporter|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/steven-spielberg-dreamworks-past-amblins-902544|access-date=July 11, 2016|archive-date=December 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217200120/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/steven-spielberg-dreamworks-past-amblins-902544|url-status=live}} The film received generally favorable reviews from critics, but some fans were disappointed by the introduction of science fiction elements which were uncharacteristic of the previous films.{{Sfn|Hook|2010|p=90}}{{Sfn|Mara|2014|p=60}} Writing for The Age, Tom Ryan praised Spielberg and Lucas for their realistic 1950s setting—"The energy on display is impressive".{{Cite web |last=Ryan |first=Tom |date=May 23, 2008 |title=Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull |url=https://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/movies/indiana-jones-and-the-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull-20080524-ge73zx.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184141/https://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/movies/indiana-jones-and-the-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull-20080524-ge73zx.html |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |website=The Age |language=en}} It was a box office success, grossing $790 million worldwide.{{Cite web |title=Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0367882/?ref_=bo_se_r_1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184127/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0367882/?ref_=bo_se_r_1 |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 2, 2020 |website=Box Office Mojo}}

Starting in 2009, Spielberg shot the first film in a planned trilogy of motion capture films based on Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin.{{Cite news |last=McGrath |first=Charles |date=December 23, 2009 |title=The Man Behind Boy, Dog and Their Adventures |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/books/23book.html |access-date=March 10, 2023 |archive-date=June 11, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190611201030/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/books/23book.html |url-status=live }} Spielberg had long been a fan of the comics, and per Michael Farr, Hergé "thought Spielberg was the only person who could ever do Tintin justice."{{cite news| title=Tintin and the Movie Moguls?| date=May 27, 2007| newspaper=The Sunday Times|first=Jeff |last=Dawson| url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article1830463.ece| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205054131/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article1830463.ece| url-status=dead| archive-date=2008-12-05}} The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn was co-produced by Peter Jackson and premiered in Brussels, Belgium.{{Cite web |date=October 23, 2011 |title=Tintin fans flock to Belgian film premiere |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/8844394/Tintin-fans-flock-to-Belgian-film-premiere.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111027062708/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/8844394/Tintin-fans-flock-to-Belgian-film-premiere.html |archive-date=October 27, 2011 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |website=The Telegraph}} The film was released in North American theaters on December 21, 2011, in Digital 3D and IMAX.{{cite web |title=The Adventures of Tintin Official Movie Site |url=http://www.us.movie.tintin.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111013183713/http://www.us.movie.tintin.com/ |archive-date=October 13, 2011 |access-date=October 13, 2011 |publisher=Paramount Pictures}} It received generally positive reviews from critics{{cite web |title=The Adventures of Tintin |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_adventures_of_tintin/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605050100/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_adventures_of_tintin |archive-date=June 5, 2020 |access-date=April 12, 2012 |website=Rotten Tomatoes |date=December 21, 2011 |publisher=Fandango Media}} and grossed over $373 million worldwide.{{Cite web |title=The Adventures of Tintin |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0983193/?ref_=bo_se_r_1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184127/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0983193/?ref_=bo_se_r_1 |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |website=Box Office Mojo}} The Adventures of Tintin won Best Animated Feature at the 69th Golden Globe Awards.{{Cite web |title=Adventures of Tintin, The |url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/film/adventures-tintin |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184127/https://www.goldenglobes.com/film/adventures-tintin |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |website= |publisher=Golden Globe Awards |language=en}} Spielberg followed Tintin with War Horse, shot in England in the summer of 2010.{{Cite news |title=Steven Spielberg pictured filming new blockbuster on Dartmoor |work=The Herald |url=http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/SPIELBERG-FILMS-DARTMOOR/story-11666028-detail/story.html |access-date=March 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413041822/http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/SPIELBERG-FILMS-DARTMOOR/story-11666028-detail/story.html |archive-date=April 13, 2016}} It was released four days after Tintin, on December 25, 2011. The film, based on Michael Morpurgo's 1982 novel, follows the long friendship between a British boy and his horse Joey before and during World War I.{{Sfn|Mara|2014|p=64}} Distributed by Walt Disney Studios with whom DreamWorks made a distribution deal in 2009, War Horse was the first of four consecutive Spielberg films released by Disney. It received acclaim from critics{{Sfn|Mara|2014|p=64}} and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.{{cite web |title=Nominees and Winners for the 84th Academy Awards |url=http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/84/nominees.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825202636/http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/84/nominees.html |archive-date=August 25, 2013 |access-date=April 12, 2012 |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences}} In a review for Salon magazine, Andrew O'Hehir wrote, "at this point in his career Spielberg is pursuing personal goals, and everything that's terrific and overly flat and tooth-rottingly sweet about War Horse reflects that."{{Cite web |last=O'Hehir |first=Andrew |date=December 25, 2011 |title="War Horse": Spielberg's almost-great World War I epic |url=https://www.salon.com/2011/12/25/war_horse_spielbergs_almost_great_world_war_i_epic/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184135/https://www.salon.com/2011/12/25/war_horse_spielbergs_almost_great_world_war_i_epic/ |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |website=Salon.com |language=en}}

File:2009libertymedal.JPG

Spielberg directed the historical drama Lincoln (2012), starring Daniel Day-Lewis as President Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln.{{cite magazine |last=Breznican |first=Anthony |date=April 13, 2011 |title=Steven Spielberg's 'Lincoln' gets its Mary Todd: Sally Field |url=https://ew.com/article/2011/04/13/spielbergs-lincoln-gets-its-mary-todd-sally-field/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=October 22, 2019 |archive-date=February 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207193943/https://ew.com/article/2011/04/13/spielbergs-lincoln-gets-its-mary-todd-sally-field/ |url-status=live }} Based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln and written by Tony Kushner, the film depicts the final four months of Lincoln's life. The film was shot in Richmond, Virginia in late 2011.{{cite web |last=Garbarek |first=Ben |date=May 9, 2011 |title=First casting calls for Steven Spielberg movie |url=http://www.nbc12.com/story/14601466/first-casting-calls-for-steven-spielberg-movie |access-date=July 20, 2011 |website=WWBT |publisher= |archive-date=October 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001220510/https://www.nbc12.com/story/14601466/first-casting-calls-for-steven-spielberg-movie/ |url-status=live }} and was released in the US in November 2012.{{cite web |author=Fischer |first=Russ |date=November 19, 2010 |title=Daniel Day-Lewis to Star in Steven Spielberg's 'Lincoln' |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/daniel-day-lewis-lincoln-steven-spielberg/ |access-date=March 10, 2023 |work=/Film |archive-date=November 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121003803/https://www.slashfilm.com/daniel-day-lewis-lincoln-steven-spielberg/ |url-status=live }} Lincoln was acclaimed and earned more than $250 million worldwide.{{Sfn|Mara|2014|p=65}} It was nominated for twelve Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director,{{cite web |title=The 85th Academy Awards {{!}} 2013 |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502002219/https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2013 |archive-date=May 2, 2019 |access-date=March 3, 2013 |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences}} winning Best Production Design and Best Actor for Day-Lewis's performance.{{Sfn|Mara|2014|p=64}} Donald Clarke from The Irish Times praised the direction: "Against the odds, Spielberg makes something genuinely exciting of the backstage wheedling."{{Cite news |last=Clarke |first=Donald |date=January 25, 2013 |title=The real deal |language=en |newspaper=The Irish Times |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/the-real-deal-1.966493 |url-status=live |access-date=December 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184148/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/the-real-deal-1.966493 |archive-date=January 1, 2021}}

File:Steven Spielberg (36057844341) (cropped).jpg

It was announced on May 2, 2013, that Spielberg would direct American Sniper,{{cite news |last=Zeitchik |first=Steven |date=May 2, 2013 |title=Steven Spielberg, Bradley Cooper to team for 'American Sniper' |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-steven-spielberg-bradley-cooper-to-team-on-american-sniper-20130502,0,6075950.story |access-date=May 3, 2013 |archive-date=October 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029190103/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-steven-spielberg-bradley-cooper-to-team-on-american-sniper-20130502,0,6075950.story |url-status=live }} but he left the project before production began.{{cite news |last=Kroll |first=Justin |date=August 5, 2013 |title=Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Part Ways With 'American Sniper' |work=Variety |url=https://variety.com/2013/film/news/steven-spielberg-american-sniper-1200566895/ |access-date=March 10, 2023 |archive-date=August 7, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130807194403/https://variety.com/2013/film/news/steven-spielberg-american-sniper-1200566895/ |url-status=live }} Instead, he directed Bridge of Spies (2015), a Cold War thriller based on the 1960 U-2 incident, and focusing on James B. Donovan's negotiations with the Soviets for the release of pilot Gary Powers after his aircraft was shot down over Soviet territory. It was written by Matt Charman and the Coen brothers, and starred Tom Hanks as Donovan, as well as Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan and Alan Alda.{{cite magazine|last1=Bahr|first1=Lindsey|title=Steven Spielberg's Cold War thriller and 'The BFG' snag release dates|url=https://ew.com/article/2014/06/16/steven-spielberg-cold-war-bfg/|access-date=October 22, 2019|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=June 16, 2014|archive-date=August 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808014355/https://ew.com/article/2014/06/16/steven-spielberg-cold-war-bfg/|url-status=live}} It was filmed in the fall of 2014 in New York City, Berlin and Wroclaw, and was released on October 16.{{cite news|last1=McNary|first1=Dave|title=Tom Hanks-Steven Spielberg Cold War Thriller Set for Oct. 16, 2015|url=https://variety.com/2014/film/news/tom-hanks-steven-spielberg-cold-war-thriller-set-for-oct-16-2015-1201221269/|access-date=June 6, 2014|work=Variety|date=June 16, 2014|archive-date=June 20, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140620054618/http://variety.com/2014/film/news/tom-hanks-steven-spielberg-cold-war-thriller-set-for-oct-16-2015-1201221269/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last=McNary|first=Dave|date=July 21, 2014|title=Amy Ryan, Alan Alda Join Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg's Cold War Thriller|work=Variety|url=https://variety.com/2014/film/news/amy-ryan-alan-alda-join-tom-hanks-in-steven-spielbergs-cold-war-thriller-1201266172/|access-date=July 21, 2014|archive-date=August 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811073019/https://variety.com/2014/film/news/amy-ryan-alan-alda-join-tom-hanks-in-steven-spielbergs-cold-war-thriller-1201266172/|url-status=live}} Bridge of Spies was popular with critics,{{cite web |title=Bridge of Spies |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bridge_of_spies/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184153/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bridge_of_spies |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=March 10, 2023 |website=Rotten Tomatoes |date=October 16, 2015 |publisher=Fandango Media}} and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture; Rylance won Best Supporting Actor, becoming the second actor to win for a performance directed by Spielberg.{{Cite web |title=The 88th Academy Awards {{!}} 2016 |date=February 16, 2017 |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191108052548/https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2016 |archive-date=November 8, 2019 |access-date=December 2, 2020 |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |language=en}}

In 2016, Spielberg made The BFG, an adaptation of Roald Dahl's children's book, starring newcomer Ruby Barnhill, and Mark Rylance as the titular Big Friendly Giant. DreamWorks bought the rights in 2010, and John Madden had intended to direct.{{Cite news |last=Pulver |first=Andrew |date=April 28, 2014 |title=Steven Spielberg to tackle The BFG movie |url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/apr/28/steven-spielberg-bfg-movie-roald-dahl |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184155/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/apr/28/steven-spielberg-bfg-movie-roald-dahl |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |work=The Guardian |language=en}} The film was the last to be written by E.T. screenwriter Melissa Mathison before her death.{{Cite web |date=April 26, 2014 |title=Steven Spielberg to direct The BFG |url=https://www.roalddahl.com/blog/2014/april/steven-spielberg-to-direct-the-bfg |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184218/https://www.roalddahl.com/blog/2014/april/steven-spielberg-to-direct-the-bfg |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 2, 2020 |website=roalddahl.com}} It was co-produced and released by Walt Disney Pictures, marking the first Disney-branded film to be directed by Spielberg. The BFG premiered as an out-of-competition entry at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival,{{cite web|url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/programmation/?date=2016-05-14|title=Programme|website=Festival de Cannes|access-date=December 1, 2017|archive-date=November 18, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118102457/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/programmation/?date|url-status=live}}{{cite web |last1=Tartaglione |first1=Nancy |last2=Jaafar |first2=Ali |date=April 14, 2016 |title=Cannes Film Festival 2016 Lineup: 'The BFG', 'Nice Guys', Penn, Refn, Almodóvar & More Confirmed; No Closing-Night Pic |url=https://deadline.com/2016/04/cannes-film-festival-2016-official-selection-lineup-full-list-1201736807/ |access-date=December 1, 2017 |website=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC |archive-date=April 14, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414135414/https://deadline.com/2016/04/cannes-film-festival-2016-official-selection-lineup-full-list-1201736807/ |url-status=live }} and received a wide release in the US on July 1, 2016. The BFG received fair reviews; Michael Phillips of The Chicago Tribune compared certain scenes to the works of Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick,{{Cite web |last=Phillips |first=Michael |date=June 29, 2016 |title='The BFG' review: Oscar-winner Rylance delightful to watch in Spielberg adaptation |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/sc-the-bfg-mov-rev-0628-20160628-column.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184205/https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/sc-the-bfg-mov-rev-0628-20160628-column.html |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |website=Chicago Tribune}} while Toronto Sun{{'}}s Liz Braun thought that there were "moments of wonder and delight" but it was too long.{{Cite news |last=Braun |first=Liz |date=June 30, 2016 |title='The BFG' review: Steven Spielberg can't capture the magic of Roald Dahl |language=en-CA |newspaper=Toronto Sun |url=https://torontosun.com/2016/06/30/the-bfg-review-steven-spielberg-cant-capture-the-magic-of-roald-dahl |url-status=live |access-date=December 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184202/https://torontosun.com/2016/06/30/the-bfg-review-steven-spielberg-cant-capture-the-magic-of-roald-dahl |archive-date=January 1, 2021}}

A year later, Spielberg directed The Post, an account of The Washington Post{{'s}} printing of the Pentagon Papers.{{cite web |last=Fleming |first=Mike Jr. |date=March 10, 2017 |title=Spielberg, Hanks & Streep's Pentagon Papers Pic A Contender In Next Oscar Race |url=https://deadline.com/2017/03/steven-spielberg-tom-hanks-meryl-streep-pentagon-papers-oscar-race-the-post-1202040913/ |access-date=March 30, 2017 |website=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC |archive-date=March 11, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170311032658/https://deadline.com/2017/03/steven-spielberg-tom-hanks-meryl-streep-pentagon-papers-oscar-race-the-post-1202040913/ |url-status=live }} Starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, production began in New York on May 30, 2017.{{cite web |last=Robbins |first=Caryn |date=June 6, 2017 |title=Production Underway on Spielberg's THE PAPERS, Starring Meryl Streep & Tom Hanks |url=http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/Production-Underway-on-Spielbergs-THE-PAPERS-Starring-Meryl-Streep-Tom-Hanks-20170606 |access-date=December 1, 2017 |website=BroadwayWorld |archive-date=February 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203052623/https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/Production-Underway-on-Spielbergs-THE-PAPERS-Starring-Meryl-Streep-Tom-Hanks-20170606 |url-status=live }} Spielberg stated his attraction to the project: "When I read the first draft of the script, this wasn't something that could wait three years or two years—this was a story I felt we needed to tell today."{{Cite web |last=Ryan |first=Patrick |date=November 20, 2017 |title=Steven Spielberg on timely new film 'The Post': 'History is certainly repeating itself' |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2017/11/20/steven-spielberg-timely-new-film-the-post-history-certainly-repeating-itself/879965001/ |access-date=December 2, 2020 |website=USA Today |language=en-US |archive-date=November 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171120160444/https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2017/11/20/steven-spielberg-timely-new-film-the-post-history-certainly-repeating-itself/879965001/ |url-status=live }} The film received a wide release on January 12, 2018.{{cite magazine |last=Romano |first=Nick |date=April 22, 2017 |title=Steven Spielberg, Bryan Singer's Queen Film Land Awards Season Releases |url=https://ew.com/movies/2017/04/22/queen-bohemian-rhapsody-steven-spielberg-pentagon-papers-release-dates/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319085621/https://ew.com/movies/2017/04/22/queen-bohemian-rhapsody-steven-spielberg-pentagon-papers-release-dates/ |archive-date=March 19, 2022 |access-date=March 10, 2023}} The Post gained positive reception; the critic from the Associated Press thought "Spielberg infuses every scene with tension and life and the grandeur of the ordinary that he's always been so good at conveying."{{Cite web |last=Bahr |first=Lindsey |date=December 13, 2017 |title=Review: Spielberg, Streep and Hanks deliver in 'The Post' |url=https://apnews.com/article/1388c3e2044a4fa28c87d26043841c95 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184157/https://apnews.com/article/1388c3e2044a4fa28c87d26043841c95 |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |website=Associated Press}} In 2017, Spielberg and Paul Greengrass, Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo del Toro and Lawrence Kasdan were featured in the Netflix documentary series Five Came Back, about the war-related works of directors Frank Capra, John Ford, John Huston, George Stevens and William Wyler. Spielberg was also an executive producer.{{cite web |last=Busch |first=Anita |date=February 28, 2017 |title='Netflix's 'Five Came Back' With Spielberg, Coppola, Del Toro, Greengrass & Kasdan Drops Trailer – Watch |url=https://deadline.com/2017/02/five-came-back-netflix-trailer-spielberg-coppola-del-toro-greengrass-kasdan-1202026705/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301154837/http://deadline.com/2017/02/five-came-back-netflix-trailer-spielberg-coppola-del-toro-greengrass-kasdan-1202026705/ |archive-date=March 1, 2017 |access-date=December 1, 2017 |website=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC}} He executive produced the series with Barry Diller and Scott Rudin.

File:Tony Kushner and Angels in America's 20th Anniversary (cropped).jpg for West Side Story (2021) and The Fabelmans (2022)]]

Spielberg directed the science fiction Ready Player One (2018), adapted from the novel of the same name by Ernest Cline. It stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance. The plot takes place in 2045 when much of humanity uses virtual reality to escape the real world. Ready Player One began production in July 2016,{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Bryan |date=June 26, 2016 |title=New BFFs Spielberg, Rylance team up for 'The BFG' and big things beyond |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2016/06/26/bfg-steven-spielberg-mark-rylance/86164382/ |access-date=July 4, 2016 |website=USA Today |archive-date=November 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109205427/https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2016/06/26/bfg-steven-spielberg-mark-rylance/86164382/ |url-status=live }} and was intended to be released on December 15, 2017,{{cite news |author=Fleming |first=Mike Jr. |date=August 6, 2015 |title=Steven Spielberg's 'Ready Player One' Slotted For December 2017 |website=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC |url=https://deadline.com/2015/08/steven-spielbergs-ready-player-one-december-15-2017-release-warner-bros-1201493651/ |url-status=live |access-date=March 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150807205734/http://deadline.com/2015/08/steven-spielbergs-ready-player-one-december-15-2017-release-warner-bros-1201493651/ |archive-date=August 7, 2015}}{{cite web |author=Busch |first=Anita |date=March 25, 2015 |title=Steven Spielberg To Direct Sci-Fi Cult Favorite 'Ready Player One'; Back At Warner Bros. |url=https://deadline.com/2015/03/ready-player-one-movie-steven-spielberg-ernest-cline-warner-bros-1201398299/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702031556/https://deadline.com/2015/03/ready-player-one-movie-steven-spielberg-ernest-cline-warner-bros-1201398299/ |archive-date=July 2, 2020 |access-date=February 19, 2020 |website=Deadline Hollywood}} but was moved to March 2018 to avoid competition with Star Wars: The Last Jedi.{{cite news |last=Lang |first=Brent |date=February 9, 2016 |title=Steven Spielberg's 'Ready Player One' Pushed Back to Avoid 'Star Wars: Episode VIII' |work=Variety |url=https://variety.com/2016/film/news/ready-player-one-steven-spielberg-star-wars-1201701175/ |access-date=February 9, 2016 |archive-date=July 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728161219/https://variety.com/2016/film/news/ready-player-one-steven-spielberg-star-wars-1201701175/ |url-status=live }} It premiered at the 2018 South by Southwest film festival.{{cite web |date=March 12, 2018 |title=Spielberg's 'Ready Player One' Premiere Hit With Technical Difficulties |url=https://variety.com/2018/film/news/spielbergs-ready-player-one-premiere-hit-with-technical-difficulties-1202723753/ |access-date=March 10, 2023 |website=Variety |archive-date=August 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807195445/https://variety.com/2018/film/news/spielbergs-ready-player-one-premiere-hit-with-technical-difficulties-1202723753/ |url-status=live }} Spielberg's direction was praised along with the action scenes and visual effects, but many critics thought the film was too long and overused 1980s nostalgia.{{Cite magazine |last=Nashawaty |first=Chris |date=March 26, 2018 |title=Here's what our critic thought of Steven Spielberg's 'Ready Player One' |url=https://ew.com/movies/2018/03/26/ready-player-one-review/ |url-status=live |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |language=EN |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184206/https://ew.com/movies/2018/03/26/ready-player-one-review/ |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 19, 2020}}{{Cite web |last=Burr |first=Ty |date=March 28, 2018 |title=Spielberg's 'Ready Player One' is much deeper than the trailers suggest |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2018/03/28/back-future-way-ready-player-one/BDgDfdTafFEWPJEcynLmJM/story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184159/https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2018/03/28/back-future-way-ready-player-one/BDgDfdTafFEWPJEcynLmJM/story.html |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |website=The Boston Globe |language=en-US}}

In 2019, Spielberg filmed West Side Story, an adaptation of the musical of the same name.{{cite web |author=Fleming |first=Mike Jr. |date=March 5, 2014 |title='West Side Story' Remake For Steven Spielberg In Works At Fox – Deadline |url=https://deadline.com/2014/03/fox-revives-west-side-story-for-steven-spielberg-as-town-ponders-stacey-snider-move-and-dreamworks-future-693716/ |access-date=March 10, 2023 |website=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC |archive-date=August 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812010519/http://www.deadline.com/2014/03/fox-revives-west-side-story-for-steven-spielberg-as-town-ponders-stacey-snider-move-and-dreamworks-future/ |url-status=live }} It stars Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler in her film debut with Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist, and Rita Moreno in supporting roles. Written by Tony Kushner, the film stays true to the 1950s setting.{{cite news |last=Teeman |first=Tim |date=July 19, 2017 |title=Tony Kushner: Why I'm Writing a Play About Donald Trump |newspaper=The Daily Beast |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/tony-kushner-why-im-writing-a-play-about-donald-trump |url-status=live |access-date=December 1, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190211121938/http://www.thedailybeast.com/tony-kushner-why-im-writing-a-play-about-donald-trump |archive-date=February 11, 2019}} West Side Story was released in December 2021 to positive reviews and received seven Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, and Best Director.{{cite news |last=Cohn |first=Gabe |date=February 8, 2022 |title=2022 Oscars Nominees List |website=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/movies/2022-oscars-nominees-list.html |access-date=February 8, 2022 |archive-date=February 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208132358/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/movies/2022-oscars-nominees-list.html |url-status=live }} Spielberg also received nominations from the Golden Globe Awards, Directors Guild of America, and Critics' Choice Movie Awards.{{Cite web |last=Palotta |first=Frank |date=December 10, 2021 |title=Spielberg and Oscar buzz could give 'West Side Story' a big opening weekend |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/10/media/west-side-story-box-office-analysis/index.html |access-date=December 10, 2021 |website=CNN |archive-date=December 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211210193327/https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/10/media/west-side-story-box-office-analysis/index.html |url-status=live }} The Economist praised the choreography, stating that it "stunningly melds beauty and violence".{{Cite news |date=January 22, 2022 |title=West Side Story and the magic of remakes |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/01/22/west-side-story-and-the-magic-of-remakes |access-date=February 11, 2022 |archive-date=February 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220211193907/https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/01/22/west-side-story-and-the-magic-of-remakes |url-status=live }} In March 2022, Spielberg said that West Side Story would be the last musical he will direct.{{Cite web |last=McClintock |first=Pamela |date=March 19, 2022 |title=Steven Spielberg on Producing: "The Smartest Thing I Do Is Hire Women" |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/steven-spielberg-pga-hiring-women-1235115081/ |access-date=March 20, 2022 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US |archive-date=June 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230611021057/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/steven-spielberg-pga-hiring-women-1235115081/ |url-status=live }}

Spielberg's 2022 film The Fabelmans is a fictionalized account of his own adolescence, which he wrote with Tony Kushner.{{Cite web |last=Murphy |first=J. Kim |date=May 4, 2021 |title=Steven Spielberg's Next Film Is Titled The Fabelmans, About a Young Spielberg |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/steven-spielberg-the-fabelmans-title-casting-call-young-spielberg |access-date=March 9, 2023 |website=IGN |language=en |archive-date=May 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504212238/https://www.ign.com/articles/steven-spielberg-the-fabelmans-title-casting-call-young-spielberg |url-status=live }} Gabriel LaBelle plays Sammy Fabelman, a character inspired by Spielberg, while Michelle Williams plays Sammy's mother Mitzi Fabelman, Paul Dano plays Burt Fabelman, his father, Seth Rogen plays Bennie Loewy, Burt's best friend and co-worker who becomes Sammy's surrogate uncle, and Judd Hirsch as Mitzi's Uncle Boris.{{Cite web |last=Kroll |first=Justin |date=May 26, 2021 |title=Steven Spielberg Sets Newcomer Gabriel LaBelle To Star In Untitled Film Based On Director's Childhood |url=https://deadline.com/2021/05/steven-spielberg-gabriel-labelle-younger-spielberg-untitled-film-loosely-based-on-directors-childhood-1234763409/ |access-date=March 9, 2023 |website=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC |language=en-US |archive-date=May 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526170154/https://deadline.com/2021/05/steven-spielberg-gabriel-labelle-younger-spielberg-untitled-film-loosely-based-on-directors-childhood-1234763409/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last=Keegan |first=Rebecca |date=March 2, 2022 |title=Paul Dano on His Terrifying Batman Villain and Why He's No Longer Scared of Going Hollywood |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/paul-dano-the-batman-riddler-the-fabelmans-1235101919/ |access-date=March 7, 2022 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |archive-date=March 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220306043855/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/paul-dano-the-batman-riddler-the-fabelmans-1235101919/ |url-status=live }} Filming began in Los Angeles in July 2021, and the film premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, Spielberg's first appearance at that festival.{{cite web |last=Hipes |first=Patrick |date=July 22, 2022 |title=Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans To World Premiere At Toronto Film Festival |url=https://deadline.com/2022/07/the-fabelmans-premiere-toronto-film-festival-steven-spielberg-1235074987/ |access-date=July 22, 2022 |website=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC |archive-date=June 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230611002922/https://deadline.com/2022/07/the-fabelmans-premiere-toronto-film-festival-steven-spielberg-1235074987/ |url-status=live }} It received widespread critical acclaim and won the festival's People's Choice Award.{{cite web |last=Rubin |first=Rebecca |date=September 18, 2022 |title=Steven Spielberg's 'The Fabelmans' Wins Toronto International Film Festival's People's Choice Award |url=https://variety.com/2022/film/news/steven-spielberg-the-fabelmans-toronto-film-festival-peoples-choice-award-1235375979/ |access-date=October 14, 2022 |work=Variety |archive-date=March 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315105806/https://variety.com/2022/film/news/steven-spielberg-the-fabelmans-toronto-film-festival-peoples-choice-award-1235375979/ |url-status=live }} It received a limited theatrical release on November 11, 2022, by Universal Pictures, before expanding wide on November 23.{{cite web |last=D'Alessandro |first=Anthony |date=December 6, 2021 |title=Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans, Based On Filmmaker's Childhood, Sets 2022 Theatrical Release |url=https://deadline.com/2021/12/steven-spielbergs-the-fabelmans-based-on-filmmakers-childhood-sets-2022-theatrical-release-1234885646/ |access-date=December 6, 2021 |website=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC |archive-date=December 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206193423/https://deadline.com/2021/12/steven-spielbergs-the-fabelmans-based-on-filmmakers-childhood-sets-2022-theatrical-release-1234885646/ |url-status=live }}

File:Steven Spielberg, Berlinale 2023-3.jpg at 2023]]

Despite the favorable critical reception, West Side Story and The Fabelmans were box office failures, which Variety suggested could be attributed to a decline in the popularity of Spielberg in a film-going environment altered by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the public's loss of interest in prestige films.{{Cite news |last=Eriksen |first=Kaare |date=December 1, 2022 |title='Fabelmans' Fumble Points to Box-office Blues for Prestige Films |work=Variety |url=https://variety.com/vip/fabelmans-fumble-points-to-box-office-blues-for-prestige-films-1235447094/ |access-date=December 16, 2022 |archive-date=December 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221216182455/https://variety.com/vip/fabelmans-fumble-points-to-box-office-blues-for-prestige-films-1235447094/ |url-status=live }} The Fabelmans received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.{{cite news |last1=D'Alessandro |first1=Anthony |date=January 24, 2023 |title=Steven Spielberg On 'Fabelmans' Oscar Noms, His First Screenplay Nod, 'Indiana Jones' & Why Theatrical B.O. "Will Come Back" |work=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC |url=https://deadline.com/2023/01/oscars-2023-steven-spielberg-the-fabelmans-indiana-jones-disney-series-1235239433/ |access-date=March 15, 2023 |archive-date=March 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315031030/https://deadline.com/2023/01/oscars-2023-steven-spielberg-the-fabelmans-indiana-jones-disney-series-1235239433/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Sanchez |first=Gabrielle |date=March 13, 2023 |title=The Banshees of Inisherin, TÁR, Elvis, and The Fabelmans were all shut out of this year's Oscars |work=The A.V. Club |url=https://www.avclub.com/banshees-of-inisherin-tar-the-fabelmans-shut-out-oscars-1850218763 |access-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313161025/https://www.avclub.com/banshees-of-inisherin-tar-the-fabelmans-shut-out-oscars-1850218763 |url-status=live }} It was, however, a major box office success in France and became the highest-rated film of the 21st century in the country, with a 4.9 average from critics on AlloCiné from 43 reviews, with all but 6 giving the film 5 stars. Cahiers du Cinéma wrote that Spielberg, at age 76, had "come to represent like no other, the idea of cinema as wonder, at a time when the relationship to the spectacular and the cinema seems more tormented than ever" and declared that the film will "undoubtedly remain the most important and singular film of his career".{{cite web |url=http://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-255726/critiques/presse/ |title=The Fabelmans |work=AlloCiné |access-date=March 28, 2023 |archive-date=March 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320144401/https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-255726/critiques/presse/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/24/film-spielberg-the-fabelmans-reviews-french-critics-audiences |title='What a film!' Spielberg's The Fabelmans stuns French critics and audiences |first=Kim |last=Willsher |date=February 24, 2023 |work=The Guardian |access-date=March 28, 2023 |archive-date=June 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230612185754/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/24/film-spielberg-the-fabelmans-reviews-french-critics-audiences |url-status=live }}

Spielberg had planned to direct Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, but he stepped down and was replaced by James Mangold. Spielberg said that he would remain "hands on" as a producer,{{cite news |last1=Vary |first1=Adam B. |last2=Kroll |first2=Justin |last3=Lang |first3=Brent |date=February 26, 2020 |title=Steven Spielberg Won't Direct 'Indiana Jones 5,' James Mangold in Talks to Replace (Exclusive) |work=Variety |url=https://variety.com/2020/film/news/steven-spielberg-indiana-jones-5-james-mangold-harrison-ford-1203515698 |access-date=February 26, 2020 |archive-date=February 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226185816/https://variety.com/2020/film/news/steven-spielberg-indiana-jones-5-james-mangold-harrison-ford-1203515698/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Stolworthy |first=Jacob |date=October 1, 2020 |title=Indiana Jones 5 writer says Steven Spielberg quit as director because his ideas 'didn't work' |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/indiana-jones-5-steven-spielberg-quit-director-harrison-ford-release-date-trailer-b740989.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=May 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/indiana-jones-5-steven-spielberg-quit-director-harrison-ford-release-date-trailer-b740989.html |archive-date=May 25, 2022}} along with Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall. In 2016, it was announced that it would be written by David Koepp,{{Cite web |last=Kroll |first=Justin |date=March 18, 2016 |title='Indiana Jones 5' Taps Writer David Koepp, a Steven Spielberg Regular |url=https://variety.com/2016/film/news/indiana-jones-5-writer-david-koepp-1201733969/ |access-date=July 4, 2016 |website=Variety |archive-date=May 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200512135313/https://variety.com/2016/film/news/indiana-jones-5-writer-david-koepp-1201733969/ |url-status=live }} with a release by Disney on July 19, 2019.{{Cite news|last=D'Alessandro|first=Anthony|date=March 15, 2016|title=Steven Spielberg & Harrison Ford Team Up For 'Indiana Jones 5'; Disney Sets July 2019 Release|website=Deadline Hollywood|publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC|url=https://deadline.com/2016/03/steven-spielberg-harrison-ford-team-up-for-indiana-jones-5-disney-sets-july-2019-release-1201720725/|access-date=July 4, 2016|archive-date=July 27, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727051116/https://deadline.com/2016/03/steven-spielberg-harrison-ford-team-up-for-indiana-jones-5-disney-sets-july-2019-release-1201720725/|url-status=live}} After a change of filming and release dates,{{cite web |date=April 25, 2017 |title=Star Wars: Episode IX and Next Indiana Jones Get Release Dates |url=https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-ix-and-next-indiana-jones-get-release-dates |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425203226/http://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-ix-and-next-indiana-jones-get-release-dates |archive-date=April 25, 2017 |access-date=December 1, 2017 |website=StarWars.com}}{{cite web |last=Barfield |first=Charles |date=March 19, 2018 |title=Spielberg Confirms 'Indy 5' Will Begin Production In April 2019 |url=https://theplaylist.net/spielberg-indy-5-20180319/ |access-date=March 9, 2023 |website=The Playlist |archive-date=August 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807153132/https://theplaylist.net/spielberg-indy-5-20180319/ |url-status=live }} it was postponed again when Jonathan Kasdan was announced as the film's new writer.{{Cite web |last=Lang |first=Brent |date=June 28, 2018 |title=Indiana Jones 5 Will Miss 2020 Release Date (Exclusive) |url=https://variety.com/2018/film/news/indiana-jones-5-release-date-spielberg-harrison-ford-1202861005/ |access-date=March 10, 2023 |website=Variety |archive-date=August 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813211544/https://variety.com/2018/film/news/indiana-jones-5-release-date-spielberg-harrison-ford-1202861005/ |url-status=live }} Soon after, a new release date of July 9, 2021, was announced.{{Cite web |last=McClintock |first=Pamela |date=July 10, 2018 |title=Disney Pushes 'Indiana Jones 5' a Year to 2021, Dates 'Maleficent 2,' 'Jungle Cruise' |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/indiana-jones-5-release-date-pushed-again-2021-1125975 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710225312/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/indiana-jones-5-release-date-pushed-again-2021-1125975 |archive-date=July 10, 2018 |access-date=July 10, 2018 |website=The Hollywood Reporter}} In May 2019, Dan Fogelman was hired to write a new script, and Kasdan's story, focused on the Nazi gold train, would not be used; the script was ultimately credited to Mangold, Koepp, Jez Butterworth, and John-Henry Butterworth.{{Cite web |last=Schmidt |first=Joe |date=May 1, 2019 |title=Indiana Jones 5 Gets New Writer, Abandoned Plot Details Revealed |url=https://comicbook.com/movies/news/indiana-jones-5-new-writer-abandoned-plot-details-revealed/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184200/https://comicbook.com/movies/news/indiana-jones-5-new-writer-abandoned-plot-details-revealed/ |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 18, 2020 |website=ComicBook.com |language=en}} In April 2020, it was announced that the release of the film was delayed to July 29, 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic,{{cite news |last=Rubin |first=Rebecca |date=April 3, 2020 |title='Black Widow,' 'Eternals,' 'Indiana Jones 5' and More Disney Films Get New Release Dates |work=Variety |url=https://variety.com/2020/film/box-office/disney-mulan-black-widow-release-dates-coronavirus-1203550173 |access-date=May 6, 2021 |archive-date=April 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200403231745/https://variety.com/2020/film/box-office/disney-mulan-black-widow-release-dates-coronavirus-1203550173 |url-status=live }} and in October 2021, the release date was again delayed to June 30, 2023.{{Cite web |last=Rubin |first=Rebecca |date=October 18, 2021 |title=Disney Delays 'Doctor Strange 2,' 'Thor 4,' 'Black Panther' Sequel and 'Indiana Jones 5' |url=https://variety.com/2021/film/news/disney-delays-doctor-strange-thor-black-panther-1235091673/ |access-date=December 2, 2021 |website=Variety |language=en-US |archive-date=October 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018154442/https://variety.com/2021/film/news/disney-delays-doctor-strange-thor-black-panther-1235091673/ |url-status=live }} The film began production in the UK in June 2021{{Cite news |last1=Wiseman |first1=Andreas |date=June 2, 2021 |title='Indiana Jones 5' to Begin Filming in the UK Next Week |newspaper=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC |url=https://deadline.com/2021/06/indiana-jones-5-begin-filming-uk-next-week-harrison-ford-phoebe-waller-bridge-mads-mikkelsen-1234767764/ |access-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-date=June 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602152223/https://deadline.com/2021/06/indiana-jones-5-begin-filming-uk-next-week-harrison-ford-phoebe-waller-bridge-mads-mikkelsen-1234767764/ |url-status=live }} and finished in February 2022.{{cite web |last=Lovett |first=Jamie |date=February 27, 2022 |title=Indiana Jones 5 Wraps Filming |url=https://comicbook.com/movies/news/indiana-jones-5-wraps-filming/ |access-date=February 27, 2022 |website=ComicBook.com |archive-date=February 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227152845/https://comicbook.com/movies/news/indiana-jones-5-wraps-filming/ |url-status=live }}

In February 2025, Spielberg began shooting his next as-yet untitled film,{{cite web | url=https://deadline.com/video/emily-blunt-video-interview-steven-spielberg-edge-of-tomorrow-red-sea-studio/ | title=Emily Blunt Recalls Trying Not to "Dork Out" in Meeting with Steven Spielberg & Talks Career Lessons: "It's Good for Me to Put My Feet to the Fire" – Red Sea Studio | date=December 7, 2024 }} reportedly about UFOs. The screenplay was written by David Koepp, based on an original idea from Spielberg.{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2024/film/news/martin-scorsese-frank-sinatra-biopic-dicaprio-jennifer-lawrence-1235973769/|last=Siegel |first=Tatiana| date=April 17, 2024 |title=Ageless Auteurs: Scorsese Eyes Frank Sinatra Biopic With Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, Spielberg Tackling UFO Movie and More|access-date=April 27, 2024|website=Variety}} The film will star Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colman Domingo, Colin Firth, and Eve Hewson,{{cite web | url=https://deadline.com/2024/12/wyatt-russell-steven-spielberg-movie-1236196776/ | title=Wyatt Russell in Talks to Join Steven Spielberg's Next Event Movie | date=December 7, 2024 }} and is set to be released in theatres on May 15, 2026 by Universal Pictures.{{Cite web |last=Kroll |first=Justin |date=2024-09-16 |title=Colman Domingo Circling Steven Spielberg's Next Event Film At Amblin And Universal |url=https://deadline.com/2024/09/colman-domingo-steven-spielberg-movie-1236090816/ |access-date=2024-10-24 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}}{{Cite web|date=May 23, 2024|last=Rubin|first=Rebecca|url=https://variety.com/2024/film/news/steven-spielberg-next-movie-summer-2026-release-date-1236014435/|title=Steven Spielberg Sets New Film for Summer 2026, Reunites With 'Jurassic Park' and 'War of the Worlds' Screenwriter|access-date=November 29, 2024|website=Variety}}{{Cite web |date=2019-08-19 |title=Steven Spielberg's Latest Gets A New Title |url=https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2025/2/5/spielberg |access-date=2025-02-07 |website=World of Reel |language=en-US}}

{{See also|Amblin Entertainment|DreamWorks Pictures|DreamWorks Animation|Amblin Partners}}

Spielberg's first film as an executive producer was the directorial debut of Robert Zemeckis, I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978). He produced Zemeckis's dark comedy Used Cars (1980), which was a critical but not a commercial success. In 1980, Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall founded Amblin Productions; the first film it produced was the romantic comedy Continental Divide (Michael Apted, 1981).{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=41}} It went on to produce Gremlins (Joe Dante, 1984), Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Zemeckis, 1988), Joe Versus the Volcano (John Patrick Shanley, 1990), Men in Black (Barry Sonnenfeld, 1997) and The Mask of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 1998). For some, including Young Sherlock Holmes (Barry Levinson, 1985) and Harry and the Hendersons (William Dear, 1987), the title "Steven Spielberg Presents" was in the opening credits.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=381}} It produced Don Bluth's animated films An American Tail (1986) and The Land Before Time (1988), leading to the spin-off Amblimation.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=506}}{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=105}} In 1985, NBC offered Spielberg a two-year contract on a television series, Amazing Stories; the show was marketed as a blend of The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. NBC gave Spielberg creative control and a budget of $1 million for each episode.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=389}} After two seasons and disappointing ratings, the show was not renewed.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=390}} Although Spielberg's involvement as a producer would vary widely from project to project, Zemeckis said that Spielberg would always "respect the filmmaker's vision".{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=384}} Over the next decade, Spielberg's record as a producer brought mixed critical and commercial results.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=384}} In 1992, Spielberg began to scale back producing, saying "Producing has been the least fulfilling aspect of what I've done in the last decade."{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=386}} He produced cartoons such as Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Family Dog, Freakazoid!, and Pinky and the Brain.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=507}} He produced A Brief History of Time by Errol Morris.

In 1993, Spielberg served as an executive producer for the NBC science fiction series seaQuest DSV;{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=104}} the show was not a hit.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=380}} In 1994, he found success producing the medical drama ER.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=104}}

That year, Spielberg founded DreamWorks with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=442}}{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=59}} Spielberg cited greater creative control and distribution improvements as the main reasons for founding his own studio;{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=445}} he and his partners compared themselves to the founders of United Artists in 1919.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=60}} DreamWorks' investors included Microsoft founders Paul Allen and Bill Gates.{{Sfn|Mara|2014|p=55}} After founding DreamWorks, Spielberg continued to operate Amblin Entertainment and direct films for other studios.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=61}} He helped design Jurassic Park: The Ride at Universal Studios Florida.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=65}} The workload of filmmaking and operating a studio raised questions about his commitments, but Spielberg maintained that "this is all fitting nicely into my life and I'm still home by six and I'm still home on the weekends."{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=447}}{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=445}}{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=60}} In 1998, DreamWorks Animation produced its first full-length animated features, Antz and The Prince of Egypt. Shrek (2001) was the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Spielberg and Tom Hanks produced Band of Brothers (2001), a ten-part HBO miniseries based on Stephen E. Ambrose's book of the same name.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=73}} It follows Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. It won a Golden Globe for Best Miniseries.{{Cite web |title=Band of Brothers |url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/tv-show/band-brothers |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184122/https://www.goldenglobes.com/tv-show/band-brothers |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 1, 2020 |website= |publisher=Golden Globe Awards |language=en}} He produced Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), an adaptation of Arthur Golden's novel of the same name.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=103}} Spielberg and Zemeckis executive-produced the animated film Monster House (2006), marking their eighth collaboration. He also worked with Clint Eastwood for the first time, co-producing Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima with Robert Lorenz. Spielberg served as executive producer for Disturbia, (2007) and the Transformers film series.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=103}} That same year, Spielberg and Mark Burnett co-produced On the Lot, a reality and competition show about filmmaking.{{Sfn|Edge|2008|p=102}} Spielberg returned to the World War II theme, co-producing the 2010 miniseries The Pacific with Hanks and Gary Goetzman. It is centered on the battles in the Pacific Theater.{{Cite web |last=Ziffer |first=Daniel |date=May 16, 2007 |title=Spielberg mini-series forms link with Seven |url=https://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/spielberg-mini-series-forms-link-with-seven-20070516-ge4wdf.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184140/https://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/spielberg-mini-series-forms-link-with-seven-20070516-ge4wdf.html |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 13, 2020 |website=The Age |language=en}} The next year, Spielberg co-created Falling Skies, a science fiction series on TNT, with Robert Rodat{{Cite web |last=Rudolph |first=Ileane |date=June 28, 2011 |title=Steven Spielberg Talks Falling Skies and Upcoming TV Projects |url=https://www.tvguide.com/news/steven-spielberg-talks-1034672/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184149/https://www.tvguide.com/news/steven-spielberg-talks-1034672/ |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |website=TV Guide |language=en}} and produced the 2011 Fox series Terra Nova{{cite news |last=Schneider |first=Michael |date=December 11, 2006 |title=Spielberg takes development role in Fox TV projects |work=Variety |url=https://variety.com/2006/scene/markets-festivals/spielberg-takes-development-role-in-fox-tv-projects-1117955420/ |url-status=live |access-date=March 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303232045/https://variety.com/2006/scene/markets-festivals/spielberg-takes-development-role-in-fox-tv-projects-1117955420/ |archive-date=March 3, 2021}}{{cite magazine |last=Hibberd |first=James |date=March 11, 2011 |title=Fox pushes back 'Terra Nova' to fall |url=https://ew.com/article/2011/03/11/fox-pushes-back-terra-nova-to-fall/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=October 22, 2019 |archive-date=February 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223183115/https://ew.com/article/2011/03/11/fox-pushes-back-terra-nova-to-fall/ |url-status=live }} and J. J. Abrams's Super 8.{{Cite web |last=Bettinger |first=Brendan |date=May 4, 2010 |title=A Shot by Shot Description of the SUPER 8 Teaser Trailer; Steven Spielberg Is Producing, J.J. Abrams Is Directing |url=https://collider.com/a-shot-by-shot-description-super-8-teaser-trailer-steven-spielberg-producing-j-j-abrams-directing/ |access-date=March 10, 2023 |website=Collider |publisher= |archive-date=January 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109202153/https://collider.com/a-shot-by-shot-description-super-8-teaser-trailer-steven-spielberg-producing-j-j-abrams-directing/ |url-status=live }}

In January 2013, HBO confirmed that it was developing a World War II miniseries based on the book Donald L. Miller's Masters of the Air with Spielberg and Hanks.{{Cite web |last=Guthrie |first=Marisa |date=January 18, 2013 |title=HBO Developing Third WWII Miniseries with Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg (Exclusive) {{!}} Hollywood Reporter |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/hbo-developing-third-wwii-miniseries-413632 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140828141704/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/hbo-developing-third-wwii-miniseries-413632 |archive-date=August 28, 2014 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |website=The Hollywood Reporter}} NME reported in March 2017 that production was under the working title The Mighty Eighth.{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Sam |date=March 1, 2017 |title=Production progresses on reported Spielberg/Tom Hanks HBO miniseries 'The Mighty Eighth' {{!}} NME |url=https://www.nme.com/news/the-mighty-eighth-filming-spielberg-tom-hanks-1998119 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184158/https://www.nme.com/news/the-mighty-eighth-filming-spielberg-tom-hanks-1998119 |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |website=NME |language=en-GB}} By 2019, it was confirmed development of the miniseries, now titled Masters of the Air, had moved to Apple TV+.{{Cite web |last=Gonzalez |first=Sandra |date=October 11, 2019 |title='Masters of the Air' from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks lands at Apple |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/11/entertainment/masters-of-air-steven-spielberg-tom-hanks-apple/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191011204143/https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/11/entertainment/masters-of-air-steven-spielberg-tom-hanks-apple/index.html |archive-date=October 11, 2019 |access-date=December 2, 2021 |website=CNN |language=en}} The series premiered on January 26, 2024. On January 18, 2023, Spielberg told press at a red carpet event for The Fabelmans that he was executive producing a documentary about John Williams, directed by Laurent Bouzereau with production companies Amblin Television, Imagine Documentaries, and Nedland Media.{{Cite web |last=Linton |first=Siena |date=January 24, 2023 |title=Spielberg confirms a documentary on long-term friend John Williams is in the works |url=https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/periods-genres/film-tv/spielberg-documentary-composer-john-williams/ |access-date=February 26, 2023 |website=Classic FM |language=en |archive-date=June 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607122832/https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/periods-genres/film-tv/spielberg-documentary-composer-john-williams/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Kit |first=Borys |date=January 20, 2023 |title=John Williams Documentary in the Works From Steven Spielberg's Amblin TV, Imagine |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/john-williams-documentary-in-the-works-from-steven-spielberg-1235305362/ |access-date=February 26, 2023 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US |archive-date=May 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230521133927/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/john-williams-documentary-in-the-works-from-steven-spielberg-1235305362/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite magazine |last=Kreps |first=Daniel |date=January 20, 2023 |title=John Williams Documentary in the Works With Steven Spielberg Producing |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/john-williams-documentary-steven-spielberg-producing-1234665053/ |access-date=February 26, 2023 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US |archive-date=February 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226010514/https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/john-williams-documentary-steven-spielberg-producing-1234665053/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Chapman |first=Wilson |date=January 20, 2023 |title=Steven Spielberg to Produce John Williams Documentary Film |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2023/01/steven-spielberg-john-williams-documentary-film-1234802148/ |access-date=February 26, 2023 |website=IndieWire |language=en |archive-date=February 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226010509/https://www.indiewire.com/2023/01/steven-spielberg-john-williams-documentary-film-1234802148/ |url-status=live }} Other executive producers for the film include Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, Justin Wilkes, Sara Bernstein, and Meredith Kaulfers. The announcement came days after Williams suggested that he might not retire from film scoring as he had previously announced.{{Cite web |last=Zilko |first=Christian |date=January 13, 2023 |title=John Williams Walks Back Retirement Plans: 'Steven Spielberg Is Not a Man You Can Say No to' |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2023/01/john-williams-not-retiring-steven-spielberg-1234799615/ |access-date=February 26, 2023 |website=IndieWire |language=en |archive-date=April 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424222805/https://www.indiewire.com/2023/01/john-williams-not-retiring-steven-spielberg-1234799615/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Willman |first=Chris |date=January 14, 2023 |title=John Williams Startles Steven Spielberg by Telling Him He's Not Retiring After All |url=https://variety.com/2023/film/news/john-williams-steven-spielberg-not-retiring-conversation-american-cinematheque-1235489555/ |access-date=February 26, 2023 |website=Variety |language=en-US |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312025638/https://variety.com/2023/film/news/john-williams-steven-spielberg-not-retiring-conversation-american-cinematheque-1235489555/ |url-status=live }} The film, Music by John Williams, premiered at the 2024 AFI Fest.

In May 2009, Spielberg bought the rights to the life story of Martin Luther King Jr., with the intention of being involved as both the producer and director.{{Cite news |date=May 19, 2009 |title=Steven Spielberg to direct Martin Luther King film |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5351278/Steven-Spielberg-to-direct-Martin-Luther-King-film.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=December 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090523122706/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5351278/Steven-Spielberg-to-direct-Martin-Luther-King-film.html |archive-date=May 23, 2009}} The purchase was made from the King estate, led by son Dexter, while the two other surviving children, the Reverend Bernice and Martin III, immediately threatened to sue, not having given their approvals to the project.{{Cite news|last=Itzkoff|first=Dave|author-link=Dave Itzkoff|date=May 20, 2009|title=King's Children May Sue Over Planned Biographical Film|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/kings-children-may-sue-over-planned-biographical-film/|access-date=December 24, 2022|archive-date=December 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221224223927/https://archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/kings-children-may-sue-over-planned-biographical-film/|url-status=live}} In March 2013, Spielberg announced that he was developing a miniseries based on the life of Napoleon.{{cite news |last=Kellogg |first=Jane |date=March 3, 2013 |title=Steven Spielberg Developing Stanley Kubrick's 'Napoleon' as a Miniseries |work=The Hollywood Reporter |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/steven-spielberg-developing-stanley-kubricks-425771 |access-date=March 10, 2023 |archive-date=May 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200518154114/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/steven-spielberg-developing-stanley-kubricks-425771 |url-status=live }} In May 2016, it was announced that Cary Joji Fukunaga was in talks to direct the miniseries for HBO, from a script by David Leland based on extensive research materials accumulated by Stanley Kubrick over the years.{{cite news|last=Holdsworth|first=Nick|date=May 20, 2016|title=Cary Fukunaga in Talks to Direct HBO Stanley Kubrick Mini 'Napoleon,' From Steven Spielberg|work=The Hollywood Reporter|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/cary-fukunaga-talks-direct-hbo-895382|access-date=December 1, 2017|archive-date=February 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200208144420/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/cary-fukunaga-talks-direct-hbo-895382|url-status=live}}

Spielberg was set to film an adaptation of David I. Kertzer's The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara in early 2017, for release at the end of that year,{{Cite web |last=Fleming |first=Mike Jr. |date=April 11, 2016 |title=Steven Spielberg Sets The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara Next; Tony Kushner Script, Mark Rylance Is Pope Pius IX |url=https://deadline.com/2016/04/steven-spielberg-the-kidnapping-of-edgardo-mortara-next-movie-mark-rylance-tony-kushner-1201735799/ |access-date=July 4, 2016 |website=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC |archive-date=April 12, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412094023/https://deadline.com/2016/04/steven-spielberg-the-kidnapping-of-edgardo-mortara-next-movie-mark-rylance-tony-kushner-1201735799/ |url-status=live }} but production was ultimately postponed. It was first announced in 2014, with Tony Kushner adapting the book for the screen.{{Cite news |last=Kroll |first=Justin |date=April 18, 2014 |title=Steven Spielberg Boards Religious Drama 'Edgardo Mortara' (Exclusive) |newspaper=Variety |url=https://variety.com/2014/film/news/steven-spielberg-tony-kushner-edgardo-mortara-1201157963/ |access-date=July 4, 2016 |archive-date=November 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191121131520/https://variety.com/2014/film/news/steven-spielberg-tony-kushner-edgardo-mortara-1201157963/ |url-status=live }} Mark Rylance, in his fourth collaboration with Spielberg, was announced to star in the role of Pope Pius IX. Spielberg saw more than 2,000 children to play the role of the young Edgardo Mortara.{{cite news|last=Fleming|first=Mike Jr.|date=January 19, 2018|title=Steven Spielberg Eyes Indiana Jones & 'West Side Story' Atop Next Directing Vehicles|website=Deadline Hollywood|publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC|url=https://deadline.com/2018/01/steven-spielberg-indiana-jones-west-side-story-directing-vehicles-1202262857/|url-status=live|access-date=January 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421084202/https://deadline.com/2018/01/steven-spielberg-indiana-jones-west-side-story-directing-vehicles-1202262857/|archive-date=April 21, 2019}} In 2015, it was announced that Spielberg was attached to direct an adaptation of American photojournalist Lynsey Addario's memoir It's What I Do, with Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role.{{cite web |last=Chitwood |first=Adam |date=March 2, 2015 |title=Steven Spielberg to Direct Jennifer Lawrence in War Memoir Adaptation IT'S WHAT I DO |url=https://collider.com/steven-spielberg-jennifer-lawrence-lynsey-addario-movie/ |access-date=March 10, 2023 |website=Collider |archive-date=March 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150305132220/https://collider.com/steven-spielberg-jennifer-lawrence-lynsey-addario-movie/ |url-status=live }} In April 2018, it was announced that Spielberg would direct a film adaptation of the Blackhawk comic book series. Warner Bros. would distribute the film with David Koepp writing the script.{{Cite web |last=Kroll |first=Justin |date=April 17, 2018 |title=Steven Spielberg to Direct Film Adaptation of DC's 'Blackhawk' |url=https://variety.com/2018/film/news/steven-spielberg-blackhawk-dc-1202756319/ |access-date=December 19, 2020 |website=Variety |language=en-US |archive-date=April 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180418093003/https://variety.com/2018/film/news/steven-spielberg-blackhawk-dc-1202756319/ |url-status=live }}

On June 21, 2021, it was announced that Amblin Entertainment signed a deal with Netflix to release multiple new feature films for the streaming service. Under the deal, Amblin is expected to produce at least two films a year for Netflix for an unspecified number of years.{{Cite web |last=Lang |first=Brent |date=June 21, 2021 |title=Steven Spielberg's Amblin Partners, Netflix Forge Film Deal in Sign of Changing Hollywood |url=https://variety.com/2021/film/news/steven-spielberg-netflix-amblin-deal-1235001513/ |access-date=June 21, 2021 |website=Variety |language=en |archive-date=June 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210621160323/https://variety.com/2021/film/news/steven-spielberg-netflix-amblin-deal-1235001513/ |url-status=live }} In February 2022, Deadline Hollywood reported that Spielberg was developing an original film centered around the character Frank Bullitt, a fictional San Francisco police officer originally portrayed by Steve McQueen in the 1968 film Bullitt. The screenplay is set to be written by Josh Singer, who previously co-wrote The Post for Spielberg. McQueen's son Chad and granddaughter Molly will serve as executive producers.{{cite web |last=Kroll |first=Justin |date=February 25, 2022 |title=Steven Spielberg Developing New Movie Based on Classic Steve McQueen Character Frank Bullitt |url=https://deadline.com/2022/02/steven-spielbert-bullitt-at-warner-bros-and-amblin-1234960542/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227163824/https://deadline.com/2022/02/steven-spielbert-bullitt-at-warner-bros-and-amblin-1234960542/ |archive-date=February 27, 2022 |access-date=February 28, 2022 |work=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC}} Bradley Cooper was cast as Bullitt in November 2022 and will also serve as producer alongside Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger.{{Cite web |last=Kroll |first=Justin |date=November 17, 2022 |title=Bradley Cooper To Play Frank Bullitt In Steven Spielberg's New Original Movie Based On The Classic Steve McQueen Character |url=https://deadline.com/2022/11/bradley-cooper-frank-bullitt-steven-spielberg-steve-mcqueen-1235168968/ |access-date=November 18, 2022 |website=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC |archive-date=November 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221117210908/https://deadline.com/2022/11/bradley-cooper-frank-bullitt-steven-spielberg-steve-mcqueen-1235168968/ |url-status=live }}

On February 14, 2025, it was announced that The Goonies 2 was in the works with Spielberg producing.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2025/film/news/goonies-2-sequel-steven-spielberg-1236308226/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIcZ5FleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQb2q6T8nsibSTueUeiGm-FQ6yD4eLZN9aK-5SUmOtCP8mtwirrMduWBsQ_aem_3e1jIJuU7WWqgmgSlX-rOg|title='Goonies 2' Officially in the Works With Steven Spielberg Producing|website=Variety|last=Moreau|first=Jordan|date=February 14, 2025|access-date=February 14, 2025}}

Spielberg has been an avid gamer since 1974. Spielberg played many of LucasArts adventure games, including the first Monkey Island games.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6IYgWh-qnY&t=1144s |title=Storytime with Ron Gilbert – PAX Australia 2013 Keynote |date=July 20, 2013 |type=Videotape |publisher=GameSpot |time=19:04 |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311124625/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6IYgWh-qnY&t=1144s |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |url-status=live |via=YouTube}}{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qumYnE2wYhA&t=1696s |title=Tim Schafer Plays "Day of the Tentacle" Part 1 |date=May 10, 2014 |type=Videotape |publisher=Double Fine |time=28:16 |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311125952/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qumYnE2wYhA&t=1696s |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |url-status=live |via=YouTube}}

In 1995, Spielberg helped create and design LucasArts' adventure game The Dig.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=507}} He also collaborated with software publishers Knowledge Adventure on the game Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair, which was released in 1996; Spielberg appears in the game to direct the player.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=441}}

In 2015, Spielberg lent his likeness in Yakuza 0 in a sidestory where he directed Miracle Johnson's video of Thriller.

In 2005, Spielberg collaborated with Electronic Arts (EA) on several games including one for the Wii called Boom Blox, and its sequel Boom Blox Bash Party.{{cite web |last=Fahey |first=Mike |date=February 6, 2008 |title=Spielberg's Boom Blox Revealed |url=http://kotaku.com/353191/spielbergs-boom-blox-revealed |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623144325/https://kotaku.com/353191/spielbergs-boom-blox-revealed |archive-date=June 23, 2011 |access-date=January 31, 2011 |website=Kotaku |publisher=}}{{cite news |last=Waters |first=Darren |date=February 23, 2008 |title=Making games with Steven Spielberg |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7260228.stm |access-date=January 6, 2010 |archive-date=September 30, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930152305/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7260228.stm |url-status=live }} He is also the creator of EA's Medal of Honor series.{{cite web |title=Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (2002) Windows credits |url=http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/medal-of-honor-allied-assault/credits |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201032702/http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/medal-of-honor-allied-assault/credits |archive-date=December 1, 2017 |access-date=January 31, 2011 |website=MobyGames |publisher=}}

In 2008, he owned a Wii, a PlayStation 3, a PSP, and an Xbox 360, and enjoyed playing first-person shooters such as the Medal of Honor series and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. He dislikes the use of cutscenes in games, and thinks that natural storytelling is a challenge for game developers.{{cite news |author=Chick |first=Tom |date=December 8, 2008 |title=A Close Encounter with Steven Spielberg |work= |publisher=Yahoo! |url=http://videogames.yahoo.com/celebrity-byte/steven-spielberg/1271249 |url-status=dead |access-date=December 11, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211191412/http://videogames.yahoo.com/celebrity-byte/steven-spielberg/1271249 |archive-date=December 11, 2008}}

Spielberg first ventured into theatre producing in 1997, with his involvement on a production of The Diary of Anne Frank, as well as the original 1998 production of The Farnsworth Invention. In 2022, he made his Broadway producing debut as a co-producer on the musical A Strange Loop.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} He went on to produce the stage musical adaptations of Water for Elephants and Death Becomes Her alongside his wife Kate Capshaw, both in 2024.{{cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2024/10/water-for-elephants-broadway-closing-date-1236105049/ |title='Water For Elephants' Musical Sets Broadway Closing |work=Deadline |last=Evans |first=Greg |date=October 1, 2024 |access-date=November 3, 2024}} He will next co-produce the upcoming stage adaptation of Smash, based on the 2012 NBC television series of the same name, on which he served as an executive producer. It is set to begin performances in 2025.{{cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2023/03/smash-musical-broadway-steven-spielberg-neil-meron-robert-greenblatt-producing-1235306325/ |title='Smash' Musical Heading To Broadway With Steven Spielberg, Neil Meron & Robert Greenblatt Producing |work=Deadline |last=Evans |first=Greg |date=March 22, 2023 |access-date=November 3, 2024}}{{cite web |url=https://variety.com/2022/theater/news/jennifer-hudson-egot-tony-a-strange-loop-1235292057/ |title=Jennifer Hudson EGOTs With Tony Win for Producing 'A Strange Loop' |work=Variety |last=Murphy |first=J. Kim |date=June 12, 2012 |access-date=November 3, 2024}}

{{quote box

| align = right

| width = 25em

| bgcolor = Bisque

| quote = "I didn't go to film school. I was self-taught. But I had great teachers, you know? All my influencers were the directors and the writers of the movies I was watching in theaters and on television. And my film school was really the cultural heritage of Hollywood and international filmmaking because there's no better teacher than Lubitsch or Hitchcock or Kurosawa or Kubrick, you know, or Ford or William Wyler or Billy Wilder or Clarence Brown – I mean, Val Lewton. I mean, those were my teachers."

| source = — Steven Spielberg, Fresh Air interview

}}

Spielberg cites John Ford as a formative influence: "I try to rent a John Ford film... before I start every movie, simply because he inspires me.... He's like a classic painter, he celebrates the frame, not just what's inside it." He names Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life (1946) as an influence on themes of "family, community and suburbia".{{Sfn|Baxter|1996|p=20}} He enjoyed the work of Alfred Hitchcock,{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=81}}{{Sfn|Hook|2010|p=6}} David Lean,{{Sfn|Freer|2001|p=148}} Stanley Kubrick and John Frankenheimer.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=263}}{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=xvii}} In college, he was inspired by foreign films by Ingmar Bergman, Jacques Tati and François Truffaut.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=143}} Spencer Tracy has also influenced the characters of Spielberg's films,{{Sfn|Baxter|1996|p=19}} as did The Twilight Zone.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=170}} He says Lawrence of Arabia is the film he's seen more times than any other.{{cite AV media| date=March 9, 2023 |title=The Film Steven Spielberg Has Watched More Than Any Other| publisher=The Late Show With Stephen Colbert |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7quIPjqFhq0}} With Martin Scorsese, Spielberg helped with the restoration of Lawrence by Robert A. Harris.{{cite news| title=The Resurrection of 'Lawrence of Arabia| last=Rothman| first=Cliff| date=January 29, 1989| work=Los Angeles Times| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-01-29-ca-1564-story.html}} Among films by his contemporaries, Spielberg was influenced by Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather: "I was pulverized by the story and the effect the film had on me... I also felt that I should quit, that there was no reason I should continue directing because I would never achieve that level of confidence and ability to tell a story."{{cite web| title=Steven Spielberg's Favorite Movies: 30 Films the Director Wants You to See| work=IndieWire| date=March 27, 2024| url=https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/steven-spielberg-favorite-movies/the-searchers-john-wayne-1956/}} In 2005, Coppola contacted Spielberg about restoring the film; Spielberg contacted studio head Brad Grey.{{cite news |title='Godfather' films finally restored to glory |last=Snider |first=Mike |work=USA Today |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/dvd/2008-09-22-godfather-restored_N.htm |date=September 23, 2008 |access-date=July 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140721213818/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/dvd/2008-09-22-godfather-restored_N.htm |archive-date=July 21, 2014 |url-status=live}}{{what|His contacting Grey is a non sequitur. Clarification is needed|date=April 2025}} In 1982, Spielberg bought one of the prop sleds from Citizen Kane. Spielberg called Kane 'the most classic movie ever made," and the sled "a symbolic emblem of quality in the film business".{{cite news| title=Sled of 'Citizen Kane' Brings $60,500| date=June 11, 1982| work=The New York Times| url= https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/11/movies/sled-of-citizen-kane-brings-60500-sled-in-citizen-kane-is-sold-for-60500.html}}

Spielberg often uses storyboards to visualize sequences, eschewing them for E.T. the Extraterrestrial and The Color Purple for a more spontaneous effect.{{Sfn|Freer|2001|p=112}}{{Sfn|Freer|2001|p=149}} After filming Jaws, Spielberg learned to save special effects scenes until last and to exclude the media from filming locations.{{Sfn|Baxter|1996|p=160}} Spielberg prefers to shoot quickly, with large amounts of coverage (from single-shot to multi-shot setups), so that he will have many options in the editing room.{{Sfn|Mairata|2018|p=69}} From the beginning of his career, Spielberg's shooting style consisted of extreme high and low camera angles, long takes, and handheld cameras.{{Sfn|Buckland|2006|p=69}} He favors wide-angle lens for creating depth,{{Sfn|Buckland|2006|p=205}} and by the time he was making Minority Report, he was more confident with elaborate camera movements.{{Sfn|Buckland|2006|p=202}}

In an interview with The Tech in 2015, Spielberg described how he chooses his film projects:{{blockquote|[Sometimes], a story speaks to me, even if it doesn't speak to any of my collaborators or any of my partners, who look at me and scratch their heads and say, "Gee, are you sure you wanna get into that trench for a year and a half?" I love people challenging me that way because it's a real test about my own convictions and [whether] I can be the standing man of my own life and take a stand on a subject that may not be popular, but that I would be proud to add to the body of my work. That's pretty much the litmus test that gets me to say, "Yeah, I'll direct that one."{{cite web |last1=Wang |first1=Ray |date=October 22, 2015 |title=The Tech talks to Steven Spielberg |url=https://thetech.com/2015/10/22/spielberginterview-v135-n28 |access-date=March 10, 2018 |website=The Tech |archive-date=March 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311140655/https://thetech.com/2015/10/22/spielberginterview-v135-n28 |url-status=live }}}}Spielberg's films contain many recurrent themes. One of the most pertinent revolves around "ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances".{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=263}}{{Sfn|Freer|2001|p=76}} The ordinary people often have limitations, but they succeed in becoming a "hero".{{Sfn|Freer|2001|p=76}} A consistent theme in his family-friendly work is a childlike sense of wonder and faith, and "the goodness in humanity will prevail".{{Sfn|Freer|2001|p=76}} He has also explored the importance of childhood, loss of innocence, and the need for parental figures.{{Cite book|title=Steven Spielberg and Philosophy : We're Gonna Need a Bigger Book|date=2008 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-7324-5 |editor-last=Kowalski |editor-first=Dean A. |location=Lexington, Kentucky |page=48 |oclc=299792520}} In exploring the parent-child relationship, there is usually a flawed or irresponsible father figure. This theme personally resonates with Spielberg's childhood.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=181}} Exploring extraterrestrial life is another aspect to his work. Spielberg described himself as like an "alien" during childhood,{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=67}} and this interest came from his father, a science fiction fan.{{cite book| title = E.T. DVD Production Notes Booklet| publisher = Universal|year=2002}}

Michael Kahn has edited all of Spielberg's films since 1977, with the exception of E.T. (1982). Spielberg has also worked consistently with production designer Rick Carter and writer David Koepp. The producer Kathleen Kennedy is one of Spielberg's longest serving collaborators.{{Sfn|Mairata|2018|p=64}} Spielberg also displays loyalty to his actors, casting them repeatedly, including Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, Mark Rylance, Richard Dreyfuss and Tom Cruise.{{Cite web |date=October 17, 2015 |title=Steven Spielberg's Frequent A-List Collaborators (Photos) {{!}} Hollywood Reporter |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/steven-spielbergs-frequent-a-list-832419/5-tom-cruise |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184203/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/steven-spielbergs-frequent-a-list-832419/5-tom-cruise |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 18, 2020 |website=The Hollywood Reporter}}{{Cite web |last=Ong |first=Jennifer |date=December 5, 2020 |title=5 Actors Who Enjoy Working With Steven Spielberg (& 5 Who've Turned Him Down) |url=https://screenrant.com/actors-loved-working-with-steven-spielberg-turned-him-down/ |access-date=July 14, 2021 |website=Screen Rant |archive-date=December 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201206180801/https://screenrant.com/actors-loved-working-with-steven-spielberg-turned-him-down/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Ehenulo |first=Kelechi |date=September 21, 2017 |title=The key collaborators of Steven Spielberg |website=Set The Tape |url=https://setthetape.com/2017/09/21/the-spielberg-collaborators/ |access-date=July 14, 2021 |archive-date=February 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218222441/https://setthetape.com/2017/09/21/the-spielberg-collaborators/ |url-status=live }} In 2005, Cruise called him "the greatest storyteller cinema's ever known".{{YouTube|title=Tom Cruise's Heated Interview With Matt Lauer|id=tFgF1JPNR5E}} {{retrieved|access-date=July 25, 2023}}

Hanks has collaborated with Spielberg on various projects in both film and television. He first worked with Spielberg in Saving Private Ryan (1998) for which he received a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actor. Hanks starred in four more films, Catch Me if You Can (2002), The Terminal (2004), Bridge of Spies (2015) and The Post (2017). The pair also executive produced the war miniseries Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010), both of which gained them Primetime Emmy Awards.{{Cite web |title=Outstanding Miniseries Or Movie Nominees / Winners 2002 |url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/2002/outstanding-miniseries-or-movie |access-date=August 13, 2022 |publisher=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |language=en |archive-date=August 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801221846/https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/2002/outstanding-miniseries-or-movie |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Outstanding Miniseries Or Movie Nominees / Winners 2010 |url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/2010/outstanding-miniseries-or-movie |access-date=August 13, 2022 |publisher=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |language=en |archive-date=September 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930060042/https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/2010/outstanding-miniseries-or-movie |url-status=live }}

Janusz Kamiński has served as a cinematographer on dozens of Spielberg's films.{{Cite web |last=Prince |first=Ron |date=April 29, 2018 |title=Janusz Kaminski ASC / The Post |url=https://britishcinematographer.co.uk/janusz-kaminski-asc-the-post/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184247/https://britishcinematographer.co.uk/janusz-kaminski-asc-the-post/ |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |website=British Cinematographer |language=en-GB}} Kamiński's first collaboration with Spielberg started with the holocaust drama film Schindler's List (1993) for which Kamiński received the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. The film used black-and-white cinematography. As Spielberg's career evolved from action to drama films, he and Kamiński adopted more handheld camerawork, as evidenced in Schindler's List and Amistad.{{Sfn|Freer|2001|pp=229, 256}} Kamiński would later receive his second Academy Award for cinematography on Saving Private Ryan.{{Cite web |title=The 71st Academy Awards {{!}} 1999 |date=November 18, 2016 |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1999 |access-date=August 13, 2022 |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |language=en |archive-date=April 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417092138/https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1999 |url-status=live }} The film's opening sequence to re-enact the invasion of Normandy was praised for realism. Kamiński garnered three more Academy Award nominations for his work on War Horse (2011), the historical epic Lincoln (2015), and West Side Story (2021).{{Cite web |last=Heuring |first=David |date=May 4, 2015 |title=Janusz Kaminski ASC / War Horse |url=https://britishcinematographer.co.uk/janusz-kaminski-asc-war-horse/ |access-date=August 13, 2022 |website=British Cinematographer |language=en-GB |archive-date=August 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813111419/https://britishcinematographer.co.uk/janusz-kaminski-asc-war-horse/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Pennington |first=Adrian |date=June 30, 2022 |title=Janusz Kamiński / West Side Story |url=https://britishcinematographer.co.uk/janusz-kaminski-west-side-story/ |access-date=August 13, 2022 |website=British Cinematographer |language=en-GB |archive-date=August 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813111420/https://britishcinematographer.co.uk/janusz-kaminski-west-side-story/ |url-status=live }}

Spielberg's long-time partnership with composer John Williams began with The Sugarland Express (1974).{{Cite web |date=March 28, 2022 |title=John Williams and Steven Spielberg |url=https://www.classicfm.com/composers/williams/guides/facts-williams/spielberg/ |access-date=November 10, 2020 |website=Classic FM |language=en |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184207/https://www.classicfm.com/composers/williams/guides/facts-williams/spielberg/ |url-status=live }} Williams would return to compose all but five of Spielberg's feature films (the exceptions are Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Color Purple, Bridge of Spies, Ready Player One and West Side Story). Williams won three of his five Academy Awards for Best Original Score for his work on Spielberg's films, which were Jaws (1975), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Schindler's List (1993). While making Schindler's List, Spielberg approached Williams about composing the score. After seeing a rough, unedited cut, Williams was impressed, and said that composing would be too challenging. He said to Spielberg, "You need a better composer than I am for this film." Spielberg responded, "I know. But they're all dead!"{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=May 5, 2005 |title=The man behind the music of 'Star Wars' |url=http://www.today.com/popculture/man-behind-music-star-wars-wbna7749339 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184238/https://www.today.com/popculture/man-behind-music-star-wars-wbna7749339 |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=November 10, 2020 |website=Today |language=en}} In 2016, Spielberg presented Williams with the 44th AFI Life Achievement Award, the first to be awarded to a composer.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=October 8, 2015 |title=Composer John Williams to Receive the 44th AFI Life Achievement Award |url=https://www.afi.com/news/composer-john-williams-to-receive-the-44th-afi-life-achievement-award/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184234/https://www.afi.com/news/composer-john-williams-to-receive-the-44th-afi-life-achievement-award/ |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=November 22, 2020 |website=American Film Institute |language=en}}

Spielberg met actress Amy Irving in 1976 when she auditioned for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. After meeting her, Spielberg told his co-producer Julia Phillips, "I met a real heartbreaker last night."{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=293}} Although she was too young for the role, she and Spielberg began dating and she eventually moved into what she described as his "bachelor funky" house.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=294}} They broke up in 1979.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=43}} In 1984, they renewed their romance and married in November 1985. Their son, Max, had been born on June 13 of that year.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=362, 363}} In 1989, the couple divorced; they agreed to live near each other to share custody of their son.{{Sfn|McBride|1997|p=403}} Their divorce settlement is one of the most expensive in history.{{cite news |date=April 13, 2007 |title='Most costly' celebrity divorces |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6552597.stm |url-status=live |access-date=April 13, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313131053/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6552597.stm |archive-date=March 13, 2012}}{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=43}}

Spielberg met actress Kate Capshaw when he cast her in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984. They married on October 12, 1991; Capshaw converted to Judaism before their marriage.{{cite news|first=Karen W.|last=Arenson|author-link=Karen Arenson|title=From Schindler's List, a Jewish Mission|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/24/us/from-schindler-s-list-a-jewish-mission.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 24, 1995|access-date=May 11, 2018|archive-date=May 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511222358/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/24/us/from-schindler-s-list-a-jewish-mission.html|url-status=live}}{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=49}} Spielberg said he rediscovered "the honor of being a Jew" when they married.{{Sfn|Pogrebin|2005|p=25}} He said, "Kate is Protestant and she insisted on converting to Judaism. She spent a year studying, did the "mikveh", the whole thing. She chose to do a full conversion before we were married in 1991, and she married me after becoming a Jew. I think that, more than anything else, brought me back to Judaism."{{Sfn|Pogrebin|2005|p=25}} He credits her for the family's level of observance;{{Sfn|Pogrebin|2005|p=26}} "This shiksa goddess has made me a better Jew than my own parents", he said.{{Sfn|Pogrebin|2005|p=27}} He and his family live in Pacific Palisades, California{{Cite news |last=Hurt |first=Harry III |date=May 10, 2016 |title=Look Inside Steven Spielberg's House in Pacific Palisades |language=en-us |website=Architectural Digest |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/steven-spielberg-pacific-palisades-home |url-status=live |access-date=December 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184208/https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/steven-spielberg-pacific-palisades-home |archive-date=January 1, 2021}} and East Hampton, New York.{{Cite web |last=Valhouli |first=Christina |date=September 19, 2002 |title=Billionaires On Vacation |url=https://www.forbes.com/2002/09/19/0919feat_7.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060825025553/https://www.forbes.com/2002/09/19/0919feat_7.html |archive-date=August 25, 2006 |access-date=December 18, 2020 |website=Forbes}}

He has five children with Capshaw: Sasha Rebecca Spielberg (born May 14, 1990), Sawyer Avery Spielberg (born March 10, 1992),{{cite web|last=Schuster|first=Dana|date=September 7, 2012|title=A stage for Spielberg's son|url=https://nypost.com/2012/09/07/a-stage-for-spielbergs-son/|access-date=May 11, 2018|work=New York Post|archive-date=February 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224232416/https://nypost.com/2012/09/07/a-stage-for-spielbergs-son/|url-status=live}} and Destry Allyn Spielberg (born December 1, 1996), and two adopted children: Theo Spielberg (born August 21, 1988), and Mikaela George (born February 28, 1996).{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=42}} He also has a stepdaughter, Jessica Capshaw (born August 9, 1976). He is the godfather of Drew Barrymore and Gwyneth Paltrow.{{cite web | url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/photos/2017/03/celebrity-godparents | title=The Most Fascinating Celebrity Godparents | website=Vanity Fair | date=March 27, 2017 }}{{cite news|url=https://www.stylist.co.uk/people/surprising-celebrity-godparents/13002|title=Surprising celebrity godparents|date=September 5, 2011|work=Stylist|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=June 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614221256/https://www.stylist.co.uk/people/surprising-celebrity-godparents/13002|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/21/us/steven-spielberg-fast-facts/index.html|title=Steven Spielberg Fast Facts|work=CNN|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=October 31, 2018|archive-url=https://archive.today/20181031210044/https://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/21/us/steven-spielberg-fast-facts/index.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last=Trachta|first=Ali|url=https://www.laweekly.com/q-a-with-drew-barrymore-l-a-cravings-dying-art-forms-barrymore-wines/|title=Q & A With Drew Barrymore: L.A. Cravings, Dying Art Forms & Barrymore Wines|publisher=LA Weekly|date=April 17, 2012|access-date=June 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128091539/http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2012/04/drew_barrymore_wine.php|archive-date=January 28, 2013|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/drew-barrymore-admits-to-suffering-freak-245166|title=Drew Barrymore admits to suffering 'freak outs' over her long-distance relationship with Justin Long|work=Daily Mirror|date=September 2, 2010|access-date=January 27, 2013|archive-date=May 20, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140520002741/http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/drew-barrymore-admits-to-suffering-freak-245166|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-interviews/Drew-Barrymore-seeks-advice-from-godfather-Spielberg/articleshow/18207142.cms |title=Drew Barrymore seeks advice from 'godfather' Spielberg|work=The Times of India |access-date=January 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128073148/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-interviews/Drew-Barrymore-seeks-advice-from-godfather-Spielberg/articleshow/18207142.cms |archive-date=January 28, 2013 |url-status=dead }}

Spielberg was diagnosed with dyslexia at age 60.{{cite news |last=Keegan |first=Rebecca |date=September 25, 2012 |title=Steven Spielberg on unlocking 'tremendous mystery' of his dyslexia |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-xpm-2012-sep-25-la-et-mn-steven-spielberg-on-unlocking-tremendous-mystery-of-his-dyslexia-20120925-story.html |access-date=March 12, 2021 |archive-date=February 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211013102/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-xpm-2012-sep-25-la-et-mn-steven-spielberg-on-unlocking-tremendous-mystery-of-his-dyslexia-20120925-story.html |url-status=live }}

In 2022, at age 75, Spielberg was diagnosed with COVID-19 but recovered.{{cite web |last1=Pederson |first1=Erik |last2=Tapp |first2=Tom |date=November 28, 2022 |title=Steven Spielberg Has Covid, Misses Introducing Michelle Williams Tribute at Gotham Awards |url=https://deadline.com/2022/11/steven-spielberg-has-covid-misses-gotham-awards-1235183405/#respond |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225021746/https://deadline.com/2022/11/steven-spielberg-has-covid-misses-gotham-awards-1235183405/ |archive-date=December 25, 2022 |access-date=December 25, 2022 |website=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC}}

In 2013, Spielberg purchased the {{convert|282|ft|m|adj=on}} mega-yacht The Seven Seas for US$182 million. He has put it up for sale and has made it available for charter. At US$1.2 million per month, it is one of the most expensive charters on the market. The Canadian steel mogul Barry Zekelman bought it for US$150 millions and rechristened the ship Man of Steel.{{Cite web |title=Steven Spielberg Sells Yacht For $150 Million To Steel Billionaire|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2021/11/05/steven-spielberg-sells-yacht-for-150-million-to-steel-billionaire/|access-date=August 5, 2024|website=Forbes.com}} Thereafter, Spielberg ordered a new {{convert|358|ft|m|adj=on}} Seven Seas.{{Cite web|title=Michelle Obama crusies on Steven Speilberg's $250 million 'Seven Seas' yacht with Tom Hanks|url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1114725-michelle-obama-crusies-on-steven-speilbergs-250-million-seven-seas-yacht-with-tom-hanks|access-date=August 5, 2024|website=The News International}}

In December 2022, Spielberg was a guest on Desert Island Discs for BBC Radio 4, choosing for his luxury item an H-8 Bolex Camera.{{Cite web |date=December 23, 2022 |title=BBC Radio 4 – Desert Island Discs, Steven Spielberg, director |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001g8m4 |access-date=December 23, 2022 |website=BBC |language=en-GB |archive-date=December 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223194641/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001g8m4 |url-status=live }}

In 1997, a man named Jonathan Norman stalked Spielberg and attempted to enter his home; Norman was jailed for 25 years. Prosecutors described Norman as "sexually obsessed" with the director. Spielberg told the court he feared Norman intended to "rape or maim him" and there was a rape kit.{{cite news |date=June 17, 1998 |title=Spielberg stalker jailed |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/114988.stm |access-date=December 11, 2011 |archive-date=August 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818060802/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/114988.stm |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Sylvester |first=Sherri |date=February 26, 1998 |title=Spielberg recounts fears, anguish over alleged stalker |work=CNN |url=http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9802/26/spielberg.stalker/ |access-date=December 11, 2011 |archive-date=August 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807115729/http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9802/26/spielberg.stalker/ |url-status=dead }} In 2001, Spielberg was stalked by conspiracy theorist and former social worker Diana Napolis. She accused him and actress Jennifer Love Hewitt, of installing a mind-control device in her brain, and being part of a satanic cult.{{Cite web|last1=Armstrong|first1=Mark|last2=Mandel|first2=Kwala|date=October 18, 2002|title=Steven Spielberg Curbs Alleged Stalker|url=https://people.com/celebrity/steven-spielberg-curbs-alleged-stalker/|access-date=December 19, 2020|website=People|language=EN|archive-date=January 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184216/https://people.com/celebrity/steven-spielberg-curbs-alleged-stalker/|url-status=live}} Napolis was committed to a mental institution, and pled guilty to stalking. She was released on probation with a condition that she have no contact with either Spielberg or Hewitt.{{cite news|last=Sauer|first=M|date=December 31, 2002|title=Stalking suspect to undergo more psychological tests|newspaper=The San Diego Union-Tribune|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20021231-9999_1m31stalker.html|url-status=dead|access-date=October 30, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906133859/http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20021231-9999_1m31stalker.html|archive-date=September 6, 2008}}{{cite book|author=De Young, Mary|title=The day care ritual abuse moral panic|publisher=McFarland|year=2004|isbn=978-0-7864-1830-5|location=Jefferson, N.C.|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_e8ZkJBtz0EC&pg=PA234 234–235]}}

Spielberg has usually supported US Democratic Party candidates. He has donated over $800,000 to the Democratic party and its nominees. He has been a close friend of former president Bill Clinton and worked with the president for the USA Millennium celebrations. He directed an 18-minute film for the project, scored by John Williams and entitled The American Journey. It was shown at America's Millennium Gala on December 31, 1999, in the National Mall at the Reflecting Pool at the base of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.{{cite news |date=January 1, 2000 |title=The Clintons' Showbiz Celebration |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/586684.stm |access-date=October 21, 2006 |archive-date=February 25, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080225164721/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/586684.stm |url-status=live }} Spielberg endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election; he donated $1 million to Priorities USA Action.{{cite news |last=Iacob |first=Ivona |date=May 27, 2016 |title=The Top Donors Backing Hillary Clinton's Super PAC |newspaper=Forbes |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/ivonaiacob/2016/05/27/top-donors-hillary-clinton-superpac/#259f3ea42740 |url-status=live |access-date=September 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517211223/https://www.forbes.com/sites/ivonaiacob/2016/05/27/top-donors-hillary-clinton-superpac/#259f3ea42740 |archive-date=May 17, 2019}}

File:Steven Spielberg 1999 2.jpg escorts Spielberg through a military honor cordon into the Pentagon in 1999]] Spielberg resigned as a member of the national advisory board of the Boy Scouts of America in 2001 because he disagreed with the organization's anti-homosexuality stance.{{cite news |date=April 17, 2001 |title=Spielberg quits scouts 'over gay ban' |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/1281309.stm |access-date=October 30, 2006 |archive-date=February 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212163711/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/1281309.stm |url-status=live }}{{cite news |date=April 26, 2001 |title=Spielberg resigns from Boy Scouts board |work=Hollywood.com |url=https://www.hollywood.com/general/spielberg-resigns-from-boy-scouts-board-57167345 |url-status=live |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225004938/https://www.hollywood.com/general/spielberg-resigns-from-boy-scouts-board-57167345/ |archive-date=February 25, 2021}} In 2007, the Arab League voted to boycott Spielberg's movies after he donated $1 million for relief efforts in Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War.{{Cite news |date=December 18, 2010 |title=Spielberg Movies Banned by Arab League, WikiLeaks Cable Reveals |language=en |work=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/2010-12-18/ty-article/spielberg-movies-banned-by-arab-league-wikileaks-cable-reveals/0000017f-dba1-d3ff-a7ff-fba10dce0000 |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-date=February 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204222511/https://www.haaretz.com/2010-12-18/ty-article/spielberg-movies-banned-by-arab-league-wikileaks-cable-reveals/0000017f-dba1-d3ff-a7ff-fba10dce0000 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |date=August 10, 2006 |title=Spielberg donates $US1m to Israeli relief |newspaper=The Age |agency=Associated Press |location=Melbourne |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/people/spielberg-directs-aid-to-israel/2006/08/10/1154803000553.html |access-date=December 18, 2010 |archive-date=March 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312083111/https://www.theage.com.au/news/people/spielberg-directs-aid-to-israel/2006/08/10/1154803000553.html |url-status=live }} On February 20, 2007, Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen invited Democrats to a fundraiser for Barack Obama.{{Cite news |last=Wulfhorst |first=Ellen |date=February 22, 2007 |title=Obama finds friends, money in Hollywood |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-obama-idUSN2145471520070222 |url-status=dead |access-date=December 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184217/https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-obama-idUSN2145471520070222 |archive-date=January 1, 2021}}

In February 2008, Spielberg resigned as advisor to the 2008 Summer Olympics in response to the Chinese government's inaction over the War in Darfur.{{cite news |author=Abramowitz |first=Rachel |date=February 13, 2008 |title=Spielberg drops out as Beijing Olympics advisor |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-spielberg13feb13,1,7027646.story?ctrack=2&cset=true |url-status=dead |access-date=February 13, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603215030/http://articles.latimes.com/2008/feb/13/entertainment/et-spielberg13 |archive-date=June 3, 2008}} Spielberg said in a statement, "I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual [...] Sudan's government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these on-going crimes, but the international community, and particularly China, should be doing more."{{cite news |date=February 13, 2008 |title=Spielberg in Darfur snub to China |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7242016.stm |url-status=live |access-date=May 16, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080407065818/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7242016.stm |archive-date=April 7, 2008}} The International Olympic Committee (IOC) respected Spielberg's decision but IOC president Jacques Rogge expressed disappointment: "[Spielberg] certainly would have brought a lot to the opening ceremony in terms of creativity."{{cite news |date=February 15, 2008 |title=Rogge respect for Spielberg move |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/7247590.stm |access-date=May 16, 2008 |archive-date=August 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807170906/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/7247590.stm |url-status=live }} Chinese state media called Spielberg's comments "unfair".{{cite news |last=Bristow |first=Michael |date=February 20, 2008 |title=China hits back over Olympics row |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7254479.stm |access-date=May 16, 2008 |archive-date=August 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807185841/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7254479.stm |url-status=live }}

In September 2008, Spielberg and his wife offered their support to same-sex marriage in California by issuing a statement following their donation of $100,000 to the "No on Proposition 8" campaign fund, a figure equal to the amount of money Brad Pitt donated to the same campaign less than a week prior.{{cite web |last=Serpe |first=Gina |date=September 23, 2008 |title=Spielberg Makes Like Pitt, Supports Same-Sex Marriage |url=http://uk.eonline.com/uberblog/b30446_Spielberg_Makes_Like_Pitt__Supports_Same_Sex_Marriage.html |access-date=March 2, 2010 |website=E! Online |archive-date=October 7, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007044448/http://uk.eonline.com/uberblog/b30446_Spielberg_Makes_Like_Pitt__Supports_Same_Sex_Marriage.html |url-status=live }} In 2018, Spielberg and his wife donated $500,000 to the March for Our Lives student demonstration in favor of gun control in the United States.{{cite news |last=Gonzalez |first=Sandra |date=February 21, 2018 |title=Oprah, Steven Spielberg also donating to March For Our Lives, following George Clooney's pledge |work=CNN |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/20/entertainment/oprah-march-for-our-lives-donation/index.html |access-date=March 29, 2018 |archive-date=June 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608103404/https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/20/entertainment/oprah-march-for-our-lives-donation/index.html |url-status=live }}

In December 2023, after the Hamas-led attack on Israel, the Shoah Foundation, which was founded by Spielberg, said that it had gathered over 100 video testimonies of those who experienced the attacks on that day to add them to the collection of "Holocaust survivor and witness testimony."{{Cite web |title=Shoah Foundation launches project to document 'unspeakable barbarity' of October 7 |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/spielberg-launches-new-project-to-document-unspeakable-barbarity-of-october-7/ |website=The Times of Israel}} Speaking of the attacks he said, "I never imagined I would see such unspeakable barbarity against Jews in my lifetime" and that the Shoah Foundation project will ensure "that their stories would be recorded and shared in the effort to preserve history and to work toward a world without antisemitism or hate of any kind".{{Cite web |last=Rosenbloom |first=Alli |date=December 6, 2023 |title=Steven Spielberg comments on 'unspeakable barbarity against Jews' in Oct. 7 attacks |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/05/entertainment/steven-spielberg-october-7-remarks/index.html |access-date=December 15, 2023 |website=CNN |language=en}}

{{Main|Steven Spielberg filmography}}

Prolific in film since the 1960s, Spielberg has directed 36 feature films, and co-produced many works.

{{See also|List of awards and nominations received by Steven Spielberg}}

File:Steven Spielberg 1999 4 crop.jpg, 1999]]

Spielberg has won three Academy Awards. He received nine nominations for Best Director, and won twice (for Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan).{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=109}}{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=112}} His third was in Best Picture, for Schindler's List.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=58}} He is the only director to receive a Best Director nomination from the academy in 6 different decades. In 1987, he was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his work as a creative producer.{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=2}} Drawing from his own experiences in Scouting, Spielberg helped the Boy Scouts of America develop a merit badge in cinematography to promote filmmaking as a marketable skill; the badge was launched at the 1989 National Scout Jamboree.{{Sfn|Baxter|1996|p=354}} In 1989, Spielberg was presented with the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.{{cite web|title=Distinguished Eagle Scout Award|publisher=National Capital Area Council – Boy Scouts of America|url=http://www.boyscouts-ncac.org/pages/6207_distinguished_eagle_scout_award.cfm|access-date=October 21, 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061005110513/https://www.boyscouts-ncac.org/pages/6207_distinguished_eagle_scout_award.cfm|archive-date=October 5, 2006}} Spielberg received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1995.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=110}}

In 1998, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. The award was presented to him by President Roman Herzog in recognition of Schindler's List and work with the Shoah Foundation.{{cite web |date=September 11, 1998 |title=Auszeichnung für Auseinandersetzung mit dem Holocaust: Steven Spielberg erhält das Bundesverdienstkreuz |trans-title=Award for debate about the Holocaust: Steven Spielberg receives the Order of Merit |url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/auszeichnung-fuer-auseinandersetzung-mit-dem-holocaust-steven-spielberg-erhaelt-das-bundesverdienstkreuz-li.6393 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312012432/https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/auszeichnung-fuer-auseinandersetzung-mit-dem-holocaust-steven-spielberg-erhaelt-das-bundesverdienstkreuz-li.6393 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |access-date=March 12, 2023 |website=Berliner Zeitung |language=de }} Spielberg was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Public Service in 1999, in recognition for Saving Private Ryan.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=111}} For the same film, he also received an award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures by the Directors Guild of America.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=111}} The next year, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of America.{{Sfn|Hook|2010|p=95}}

File:SpielbergGraumansChinese.jpg]]

Spielberg was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003, located on 6801 Hollywood Boulevard.{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=113}} Additionally, he was awarded the Blessed are the Peacemakers Award from the Catholic Theological Union in 2003.{{cite web |date=December 6, 2022 |title=Blessed are the Peacemakers |url=https://ctu.edu/peacemakers2023/ |access-date=December 7, 2022 |publisher=Catholic Theological Union |archive-date=December 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221207163217/https://ctu.edu/peacemakers2023/ |url-status=live }} On July 15, 2006, Spielberg was awarded the Gold Hugo Lifetime Achievement Award at the Summer Gala of the Chicago International Film Festival,{{cite news |date=July 17, 2006 |title=Spielberg receives Lifetime Achievement Award |publisher=Chicago International Film Festival |url=http://www.chicagofilmfestival.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CIFFSite.woa/wa/pages/SummerGala06 |url-status=dead |access-date=October 21, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061016164659/http://www.chicagofilmfestival.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CIFFSite.woa/wa/pages/SummerGala06 |archive-date=October 16, 2006}} and was awarded a Kennedy Center honor on December 3.{{Cite web |date=December 4, 2006 |title=Kennedy Center Honors |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/kennedy-center-honors-4-12-06/ |access-date=December 25, 2022 |website=CBS News |language=en-US |archive-date=December 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225030955/https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/kennedy-center-honors-4-12-06/ |url-status=live }} The tribute to Spielberg featured a biographical short film narrated by Liam Neeson, and a performance of the finale to Leonard Bernstein's Candide, conducted by John Williams.{{Cite web |last=Boedeker |first=Hal |date=December 26, 2006 |title='Kennedy Center Honors' hits mostly high notes |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2006-12-26-0612260070-story.html |access-date=January 26, 2020 |website=Chicago Tribune |language=en-US |archive-date=January 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126183840/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2006-12-26-0612260070-story.html |url-status=live }}

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted Spielberg in 2005, the first year it considered non-literary contributors.{{Cite web |date=March 24, 2005 |title=It's Official! Inductees Named for 2005 Hall of Fame Class |url=http://www.sfhomeworld.org/make_contact/article.asp?articleID=206 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050326222649/http://www.sfhomeworld.org/make_contact/article.asp?articleID=206 |archive-date=March 26, 2005 |access-date=December 25, 2022 |publisher=Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame}}{{Cite web |title=Hall of Fame |url=http://www.midamericon.org/halloffame/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521070009/http://www.midamericon.org/halloffame/ |archive-date=May 21, 2013 |access-date=December 25, 2022 |publisher=Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame}} He was a recipient of the Visual Effects Society Lifetime Achievement Award in February 2008; it is awarded for "significant and lasting contributions to the art and science of the visual effects industry".{{Cite web |date=February 10, 2008 |title=6th Annual VES Awards |url=https://www.visualeffectssociety.com/portfolio-items/2007-6th-annual-ves-awards/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610170355/https://www.visualeffectssociety.com/portfolio-items/2007-6th-annual-ves-awards/ |archive-date=June 10, 2020 |access-date=December 15, 2020 |publisher=Visual Effects Society |language=en-US}} In 2009, Spielberg was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment".{{Sfn|Hook|2010|p=95}}

File:Steven Spielberg figure at Madame Tussauds London (30318312944).jpg, London]]

In 2001, he was awarded an honorary knighthood, Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the British film industry.{{cite news |date=January 30, 2001 |title=Spielberg receives Royal honour |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1142446.stm |url-status=live |access-date=January 18, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020111014/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1142446.stm |archive-date=October 20, 2014}}{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=97}} Because he is not a British citizen, he did not kneel to be knighted, nor can he use the honorific prefix "Sir", but he can use the suffix "KBE."{{Cite web |date=2000-12-29 |title=Steven Spielberg To Be Knighted |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/steven-spielberg-to-be-knighted/ |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=CBS News |language=en-US}} Premiere ranked him first place in the list of 100 Most Powerful People in Movies in 2003.{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=1}} In 2004, he was awarded France's highest civil honor, the Legion of Honour by President Jacques Chirac.{{Cite web |date=September 6, 2004 |title=Spielberg awarded Légion d'Honneur |url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/sep/06/news.stevenspielberg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184224/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/sep/06/news.stevenspielberg |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 16, 2020 |website=The Guardian |language=en}} In June 2008, Spielberg received Arizona State University's Hugh Downs Award for Communication Excellence.{{Cite web |date=June 19, 2008 |title=Spielberg receives ASU award for communication excellence |url=https://news.asu.edu/20201228-spielberg-receives-asu-award-communication-excellence |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214021417/https://news.asu.edu/20201228-spielberg-receives-asu-award-communication-excellence |archive-date=February 14, 2023 |access-date=December 15, 2020 |website=Arizona State University News |language=en}} In October 2009, Spielberg received the Philadelphia Liberty Medal; the prize was presented by former US President Bill Clinton.{{Cite web |last=Mucha |first=Peter |date=August 4, 2009 |title=Steven Spielberg is winner of 2009 Liberty Medal |url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/breaking/20090804_Liberty_Medal_winner_to_be_announced_this_morning.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184232/https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/breaking/20090804_Liberty_Medal_winner_to_be_announced_this_morning.html |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 16, 2020 |website=The Philadelphia Inquirer |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=October 8, 2009 |title=Spielberg Receives Liberty Medal Award In Philly |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spielberg-receives-liberty-medal-award-in-philly/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184234/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spielberg-receives-liberty-medal-award-in-philly/ |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 16, 2020 |website=CBS News |language=en-US}} In October 2011, he was made a Commander of the Order of the Belgian Crown, one of Belgium's highest honors.{{Cite web |last=Casert |first=Raf |date=October 22, 2011 |title=Tintin has world premiere in Belgian hometown |url=http://www.today.com/popculture/tintin-has-world-premiere-belgian-hometown-1C9426637 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184238/https://www.today.com/popculture/tintin-has-world-premiere-belgian-hometown-1C9426637 |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 16, 2020 |website=Today |language=en}}

On November 19, 2013, Spielberg was honored by the National Archives and Records Administration with a Records of Achievement Award. Spielberg was given two facsimiles of the 13th Amendment; the first which passed in 1861 but was not ratified, and the second signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1865 to abolish slavery. The amendment and the process of passing it were the subject of his film Lincoln.{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Ted |date=November 21, 2013 |title=Steven Spielberg Honored by National Archives |url=https://variety.com/2013/biz/news/steven-spielberg-honored-by-national-archives-1200861205/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184317/https://variety.com/2013/biz/news/steven-spielberg-honored-by-national-archives-1200861205/ |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 16, 2020 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} On November 24, 2015, Spielberg was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama at the White House.{{cite web |date=November 16, 2015 |title=President Obama Names Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/11/16/president-obama-names-recipients-presidential-medal-freedom |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170128065413/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/11/16/president-obama-names-recipients-presidential-medal-freedom |archive-date=January 28, 2017 |access-date=November 16, 2015 |work=whitehouse.gov |via=National Archives}}

In July 2016, Spielberg was awarded a gold Blue Peter badge by the BBC children's television program Blue Peter.{{Cite news |last=Burns |first=Catherine |date=July 22, 2016 |title=Steven Spielberg has just won at life. He's got a Gold Blue Peter badge |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-36865145 |url-status=live |access-date=December 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184239/https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-36865145 |archive-date=January 1, 2021}} He has honorary degrees from the University of Southern California, 1994;{{Cite web |date=May 2, 1994 |title=Honorary Degrees |url=https://news.usc.edu/4989/honorary-degrees-2/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184238/https://news.usc.edu/4989/honorary-degrees-2/ |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 18, 2020 |website=USC News |language=en-US}} Brown University, 1999;{{Cite web |date=May 26, 1999 |title=98–136 (1999 Honorary Degrees) |url=https://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/1998-99/98-136.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184239/https://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/1998-99/98-136.html |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 18, 2020 |publisher=Brown University}} Yale University, 2002;{{Sfn|Jackson|2007|p=113}} Boston University, 2009;{{cite news |last=Daniloff |first=Caleb |date=May 13, 2009 |title=Honoring Steven Spielberg: Talking about old-school filmmaking, the virtues of TV, and the scent of film |newspaper=BU Today |url=http://www.bu.edu/today/2009/honoring-steven-spielberg/ |url-status=live |access-date=August 2, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109102417/http://www.bu.edu/today/2009/honoring-steven-spielberg/ |archive-date=January 9, 2014}} and Harvard University, 2016.{{Cite news |last=Gibson |first=Katie |date=May 26, 2016 |title=Nine to receive honorary degrees |language=en-US |website=Harvard Gazette |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/05/nine-to-receive-honorary-degrees/ |url-status=live |access-date=December 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184239/https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/05/nine-to-receive-honorary-degrees/ |archive-date=January 1, 2021}}

Directed Academy Award performances

Under Spielberg's direction, these actors have received Academy Award nominations and wins for their performances in their respective roles.

File:Steven Spielberg - Walk of Fame.jpgA figure of the New Hollywood era,{{Cite book |last=Tibbetts |first=John C.|author-link=John C. Tibbetts|title=Those Who Made It : Speaking with the Legends of Hollywood |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-137-54190-1 |location=Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire |page=82 |oclc=908990396}} Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the most influential and commercially successful film directors of all time. Some of his films were in the top ten highest-grossing films of the 1970s and 1980s, with Jaws, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Jurassic Park all becoming the highest-grossing film ever at the time of their respective releases.{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=1}}{{Sfn|Hook|2010|p=7}}{{Sfn|Freer|2001|p=vi}} In 1996, Life magazine named Spielberg the most influential person of his generation.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=June 3, 1996 |title=Spielberg Tops Life List of 50 Influential Boomers |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1996-06-03-9606020389-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184252/https://www.orlandosentinel.com/ |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 15, 2020 |website=Orlando Sentinel |language=en-US}} In 2003, Premiere magazine ranked him first place in the list of 100 Most Powerful People in Movies.{{Sfn|Parish|2004|p=1}} In 2005, Empire magazine ranked him number one on a list of the greatest film directors of all time.{{Cite news |date=June 1, 2005 |title=Spielberg voted 'best director' |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4600651.stm |url-status=live |access-date=November 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184221/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4600651.stm |archive-date=January 1, 2021}} In 2013, Time magazine listed him as one of the 100 most influential people.{{Cite magazine |last=Brokaw|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Brokaw|date=April 18, 2013 |title=Steven Spielberg: The World's 100 Most Influential People |url=https://time100.time.com/2013/04/18/time-100/slide/steven-spielberg/ |url-status=live |magazine=Time|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184226/https://time100.time.com/2013/04/18/time-100/slide/steven-spielberg/ |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |access-date=December 15, 2020}} According to Forbes{{'}} magazine of Most Influential Celebrities of 2014, Spielberg was ranked at first place.{{cite news |last=Selby |first=Jenn |date=January 16, 2014 |title=Steven Spielberg tops Forbes Most Influential Celebrities of 2014 list |newspaper=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/steven-spielberg-tops-forbes-most-influential-celebrities-of-2014-list-9063685.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=January 18, 2014 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/steven-spielberg-tops-forbes-most-influential-celebrities-of-2014-list-9063685.html |archive-date=May 25, 2022}}{{cite news |date=January 16, 2014 |title=Forbes' Most Influential Celebrities 2014 List Led By Steven Spielberg, Naturally |newspaper=The Huffington Post |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/16/forbes-most-influential-celebrities-2014_n_4611748.html |access-date=January 18, 2014 |archive-date=January 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140117101734/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/16/forbes-most-influential-celebrities-2014_n_4611748.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Pomerantz |first=Dorothy |date=January 15, 2014 |title=Steven Spielberg Tops Our List of the Most Influential Celebrities |newspaper=Forbes |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/dorothypomerantz/2014/01/15/steven-spielberg-tops-our-list-of-the-most-influential-celebrities/ |url-status=live |access-date=January 18, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319085622/https://www.forbes.com/sites/dorothypomerantz/2014/01/15/steven-spielberg-tops-our-list-of-the-most-influential-celebrities/?sh=2e4786e21841 |archive-date=March 19, 2022}} As of December 2024, Forbes estimates his net worth at $5.3{{nbsp}}billion,{{cite magazine|url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/steven-spielberg/|title=Profile: Steven Spielberg|magazine=Forbes|access-date=December 10, 2024}} making him one of the richest people in the entertainment industry.

His work is admired by numerous acclaimed directors, including Robert Aldrich,{{cite book|last1=Arnold|first1=Edwin T.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d2gm0LW617UC&pg=PA172|title=Robert Aldrich: Interviews|last2=Miller|first2=Eugene L.|year=2004|isbn=978-1-57806-602-5|page=172|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |access-date=October 8, 2020|archive-date=January 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184218/https://books.google.com/books?id=d2gm0LW617UC&pg=PA172|url-status=live}} Ingmar Bergman,{{cite web |date=July 31, 2007 |title=När Bergman går på bio |url=https://www.sydsvenskan.se/2007-07-30/nar-bergman-gar-pa-bio |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204191740/https://www.sydsvenskan.se/2007-07-30/nar-bergman-gar-pa-bio |archive-date=December 4, 2021 |access-date=March 13, 2023 |website=Sydsvenskan |language=sv}} Werner Herzog,{{cite web |last=Foundas |first=Scott |date=September 23, 2002 |title=Interview: Strong Man on a Mission; Werner Herzog Talks About 'Invincible' |url=https://www.indiewire.com/article/interview_strong_man_on_a_mission_werner_herzog_talks_about_invincible/ |access-date=December 18, 2020 |website=IndieWire |archive-date=April 26, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426094709/https://www.indiewire.com/article/interview_strong_man_on_a_mission_werner_herzog_talks_about_invincible/ |url-status=live }} Stanley Kubrick,{{cite web |title=On Kubrick – A Talk With Kubrick Documentarian Jan Harlan |url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/janharlaninterview.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214021405/https://www.dvdtalk.com/janharlaninterview.html |archive-date=February 14, 2023 |access-date=March 13, 2023 |website=DVD Talk |publisher=}} David Lean,{{cite book |author1=Organ |first=Steven |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kzVEXi4Plw0C |title=David Lean Interviews |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-60473-235-1 |page=95 |access-date=October 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184227/https://books.google.com/books?id=kzVEXi4Plw0C |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |url-status=live}} Sidney Lumet,{{cite web |date=January 7, 2008 |title=The Hollywood Interview: Sidney Lumet |url=http://thehollywoodinterview.blogspot.com/2008/01/sidney-lumet-hollywood-interview.html |access-date=January 31, 2011 |website=The Hollywood Interview |publisher=Blogger |archive-date=April 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110411202031/http://thehollywoodinterview.blogspot.com/2008/01/sidney-lumet-hollywood-interview.html |url-status=live }} Roman Polanski,{{Cite book |last1=Polanski |first1=Roman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pckg8k3g-PkC&q=%22that+film+challenged+some+of+my+preconceptions%22&pg=PA167 |title=Roman Polanski: Interviews |last2=Cronin |first2=Paul |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-57806-799-2 |page=167 |access-date=October 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184258/https://books.google.com/books?id=Pckg8k3g-PkC&q=%22that+film+challenged+some+of+my+preconceptions%22&pg=PA167 |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |url-status=live}} Martin Scorsese,{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV8k4tNCB6k |title=Steven Spielberg Receives Cecil B. DeMille Award – Golden Globes 2009 |date=October 12, 2009 |type=Television production |access-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312211739/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV8k4tNCB6k |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |url-status=live|via=YouTube }} François Truffaut{{cite web |author=Rowley |first=Stephen |title=Genre, Auteurism, and Spielberg |url=http://home.mira.net/~satadaca/genre2.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110504134502/https://home.mira.net/~satadaca/genre2.htm |archive-date=May 4, 2011 |access-date=January 31, 2011 |website=Cinephobia |publisher=}} and Jean Renoir{{Cite web|date=September 14, 2013|title=The Spielberg Hundred #002: A Letter from Jean Renoir|work=Spectacular Attractions|url=https://drnorth.wordpress.com/2013/09/14/the-spielberg-hundred-002-a-letter-from-jean-renoir/|access-date=November 14, 2021|archive-date=November 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211114233634/https://drnorth.wordpress.com/2013/09/14/the-spielberg-hundred-002-a-letter-from-jean-renoir/|url-status=live}} Spielberg's films have also influenced directors J. J. Abrams,{{Cite web |last=Cohen |first=Joanna |date=April 27, 2009 |title=Five Favourite Films With J. J. Abrams |url=https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/five-favourite-films-with-j-j-abrams/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706163244/https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/five-favourite-films-with-j-j-abrams/ |archive-date=July 6, 2020 |access-date=December 25, 2022 |website=Rotten Tomatoes}} Paul Thomas Anderson,{{cite book|last=Johnston|first=Robert K.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yJn4PKjxIcUC&q=%22paul+thomas+anderson%22+%22close+encounters%22&pg=PA74|title=Useless Beauty: Ecclesiastes Through the Lens of Contemporary Film|publisher=Baker Academic|year=2004|isbn=978-0-8010-2785-7|location=Michigan|page=74|access-date=May 25, 2012|archive-date=January 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184225/https://books.google.com/books?id=yJn4PKjxIcUC&q=%22paul+thomas+anderson%22+%22close+encounters%22&pg=PA74|url-status=live}} Sean Baker,{{Cite web |last=Wise |first=Damon |date=January 23, 2022 |title='Red Rocket' Director Sean Baker on His Indie Career and the Stress of Stretching a Budget During Covid: "All That Manic Energy, Somehow, Was Captured" |url=https://deadline.com/2022/01/sean-baker-red-rocket-a24-director-magazine-dialogue-1234917511/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201053253/https://deadline.com/2022/01/sean-baker-red-rocket-a24-director-magazine-dialogue-1234917511/ |archive-date=February 1, 2022 |website=Deadline Hollywood}} Neill Blomkamp,{{cite web|date=August 18, 2009|title=District 9 (2009) – Neill Blomkamp Interview|url=http://www.scifimoviepage.com/upcoming/previews/district9-sequel.html|access-date=January 31, 2011|website=Sci-Fi Movie Page|archive-date=June 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627032541/http://www.scifimoviepage.com/upcoming/previews/district9-sequel.html|url-status=live}} Jon M. Chu,{{cite magazine |last1=Murphy |first1=Chris |title=Inside 'Wicked': Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Talk Glinda and Elphaba |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/inside-wicked-with-ariana-grande-cynthia-erivo |magazine=Vanity Fair |access-date=July 21, 2024 |date=March 21, 2024}}{{cite web |last1=Schreur |first1=Brandon |title=Wicked Director Talks Realistic Sets, Modeling Movie After Steven Spielberg's Hook |url=https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/1618356-wicked-director-talks-realistic-sets-modeling-movie-after-steven-spielbergs-hook |website=ComingSoon.net – Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More |access-date=July 21, 2024 |date=March 21, 2024}} Arnaud Desplechin,{{Cite web|url=https://thefilmstage.com/films-cant-fix-lives-arnaud-desplechin-on-filmlovers-the-fabelmans-and-jean-luc-godard/|title="Films Can't Fix Lives": Arnaud Desplechin on Filmlovers!, The Fabelmans, and Jean-Luc Godard

|website=The Film Stage|date=May 23, 2024 }} Gareth Edwards,{{cite web |author=Jagernauth |first=Kevin |date=May 1, 2014 |title=Watch: Gareth Edwards Names His 3 Filmmaking Heroes Plus New 'Godzilla' Featurette Goes Behind The Scenes |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2014/05/watch-gareth-edwards-names-his-3-filmmaking-heroes-plus-new-godzilla-featurette-goes-behind-the-scenes-86492/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160618113656/https://www.indiewire.com/2014/05/watch-gareth-edwards-names-his-3-filmmaking-heroes-plus-new-godzilla-featurette-goes-behind-the-scenes-86492/ |archive-date=June 18, 2016 |access-date=March 13, 2023 |work=IndieWire}} Roland Emmerich,{{cite web |last=Vo |first=Alex |date=November 10, 2009 |title=Five Favorite Films with Roland Emmerich |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/2012/news/1854593/five-favorite-films-with-roland-emmerich/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617060408/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/2012/news/1854593/five-favorite-films-with-roland-emmerich/ |archive-date=June 17, 2013 |access-date=January 31, 2011 |website=Rotten Tomatoes}} Enrique Gato,{{cite web | url=https://www.talentoabordo.com/en/cinema-and-theatre/enrique-gato-tad-the-lost-explorer | title=Enrique Gato, the father of Tadeo Jones {{pipe}} Talento a Bordo }} Max Hechtman,{{Cite web|last=Satnick|first=Randi|title=The Real Deal: A look through the lens of a young Long Island filmmaker|url=https://issuu.com/yournewsmag/docs/yournewsmag_v6__5_kv_web__2_/s/127614|website=Your News Mag|access-date=February 4, 2024|language=en}} Don Hertzfeldt,{{Cite web |last=Mufson |first=Beckett |date=April 5, 2015 |title=10 Confessions from 'Rejected Cartoons' Animator Don Hertzfeldt |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/4xqa8p/10-confessions-from-rejected-cartoons-animator-don-hertzfeldt |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209011756/https://www.vice.com/en/article/4xqa8p/10-confessions-from-rejected-cartoons-animator-don-hertzfeldt |archive-date=February 9, 2022 |access-date=February 9, 2022 |website=Vice}} Peter Jackson,{{cite web |last=Goodsell |first=Luke |date=December 23, 2009 |title=Five Favorite Films With Peter Jackson |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1189344-lovely_bones/news/1861930/five_favorite_films_with_peter_jackson/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130920202158/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1189344-lovely_bones/news/1861930/five_favorite_films_with_peter_jackson/ |archive-date=September 20, 2013 |access-date=January 31, 2011 |website=Rotten Tomatoes}} Kal Ng,{{cite web |last=Xuan |first=Liu |date=October 2000 |title=Interview with Kal Ng |url=http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/00/10/ng.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225150706/https://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/00/10/ng.html |archive-date=December 25, 2010 |access-date=January 31, 2011 |website=Senses of Cinema}} Jordan Peele,{{cite web | url=https://www.slashfilm.com/1000455/how-jordan-peeles-us-and-nope-pay-homage-to-this-steven-spielberg-monster-movie-classic/ | title=How Jordan Peele's Us and Nope Pay Homage to This Steven Spielberg Monster Movie Classic |website=Slash Film|first=Joshua |last=Meyer|date=September 9, 2022 }} S. S. Rajamouli,{{cite web|url=https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/steven-spielberg-on-ss-rajamoulis-rrr-your-movie-was-outstanding-3772928|title=Steven Spielberg On SS Rajamouli's RRR: "Your Movie Was Outstanding"|date=11 February 2023}} Robert Rodriguez,{{cite web |last=Yamato |first=Jen |date=July 25, 2009 |title=Five Favorite Films with Robert Rodriguez |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/comic_con_2009/news/1834188/five_favorite_films_with_robert_rodriguez/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302180203/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/comic_con_2009/news/1834188/five_favorite_films_with_robert_rodriguez |archive-date=March 2, 2010 |access-date=January 31, 2011 |website=Rotten Tomatoes}} John Sayles,{{cite book |last1=Sayles |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0cGjdRbHCyYC |title=John Sayles: interviews |last2=Carson |first2=Dan |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-57806-138-9 |page=98 |access-date=October 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184223/https://books.google.com/books?id=0cGjdRbHCyYC |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |url-status=live}} Ridley Scott,{{cite book |last1=Ridley |first1=Scott |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kpF6yekYJeEC |title=Ridley Scott: interviews |last2=Knapp |first2=Laurence F. |last3=Kulas |first3=Andrea F. |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-57806-726-8 |page=184 |access-date=October 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101184239/https://books.google.com/books?id=kpF6yekYJeEC |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |url-status=live}} John Singleton,{{cite book |author1=Barboza |first=Craigh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nrTB2Uf7kEIC |title=John Singleton: Interviews |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-60473-116-3 |page=ix}} Kevin Smith,{{cite web |last=Vo |first=Alex |date=October 27, 2008 |title=Five Favorite Films with Kevin Smith |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1190296-zack_and_miri_make_a_porno/news/1776943/five_favorite_films_with_kevin_smith/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100718185710/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1190296-zack_and_miri_make_a_porno/news/1776943/five_favorite_films_with_kevin_smith/ |archive-date=July 18, 2010 |access-date=January 31, 2011 |website=Rotten Tomatoes}} and Michael Williams.{{cite web | url=https://www.sameraentertainment.com/michaelwilliams | title=Samera Entertainment Michael Williams }} In 2004, film critic Tom Shone said of Spielberg, "If you have to point to any one director of the last twenty-five years [1979–2004] in whose work the medium of film was most fully itself–where we found out what it does best when left to its own devices, it has to be that guy."{{Sfn|Shone|2004|p=80}} Jess Cagle, former editor of Entertainment Weekly, called Spielberg "arguably (well, who would argue?) the greatest filmmaker in history.""Spielberg and You" – Entertainment Weekly. p. 6. 12/9/11. Stephen Rowley, writing for Senses of Cinema, discussed Spielberg's strengths as a filmmaker, saying "there is a welcome complexity of tone and approach in these later films that defies the lazy stereotypes often bandied about his films", and that "Spielberg continues to take risks, with his body of work continuing to grow more impressive and ambitious", concluding that he has only received "limited, begrudging recognition" from critics. In a 1999 "Millennium Movies" survey of British film fans run by the Sky Premier channel, Spielberg had seven films in the top 100, which made him the most popular director.{{cite web |date=July 11, 1999 |title=Star Wars hailed best film |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/391658.stm |access-date=November 3, 2021 |work=BBC News |archive-date=April 15, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415163505/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/391658.stm |url-status=live }}

Critics of Spielberg have argued that his films are commonly sentimental and moralistic.{{Cite web |last=Heath |first=Glenn Jr. |date=April 14, 2011 |title=Review: Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence on Paramount Blu-ray |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/a-i-artificial-intelligence-bd/ |access-date=March 13, 2023 |website=Slant Magazine |language=en-US |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313093605/https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/a-i-artificial-intelligence-bd/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |author=Thorsen |first=Tor |title=A.I.: Artificial Intelligence |url=http://www.reel.com/movie.asp?MID=131724&Tab=reviews&CID=13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080210071037/http://www.reel.com/movie.asp?MID=131724&Tab=reviews&CID=13 |archive-date=February 10, 2008 |access-date=March 13, 2023 |website=Reel.com}}{{cite web |author=Rowley, Stephen |date=February 6, 2006 |title=Steven Spielberg |url=http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2006/great-directors/spielberg/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080305063853/http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/06/spielberg.html |archive-date=March 5, 2008 |access-date=March 16, 2007 |website=Senses of Cinema}} In Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Peter Biskind wrote that Spielberg is "infantilizing the audience, reconstituting the spectator as child, then overwhelming him and her with sound and spectacle, obliterating irony, aesthetic self-consciousness, and critical reflection".{{Cite book |last=Biskind |first=Peter|author-link=Peter Biskind|title=Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=978-0684857084 |location=New York|oclc=38389788}} Critic Ray Carney and actor Crispin Glover opined that Spielberg's works lack depth and do not take risks.{{Cite web |last=Carney |first=Ray |author-link=Ray Carney |date=2003 |title=There's no Business like Show Business |url=https://people.bu.edu/rcarney/carncult/showbiz.shtml |access-date=December 24, 2022 |website=Carney on Culture |publisher=Boston University |archive-date=December 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225030954/https://people.bu.edu/rcarney/carncult/showbiz.shtml |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last=Glover |first=Crispin |author-link=Crispin Glover |title=What Is It? |url=http://thecrispincorner.com/essay.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060503191918/http://thecrispincorner.com/essay.html |archive-date=May 3, 2006 |access-date=September 1, 2007 |website=The Crispin Corner}} Filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard opined that Spielberg was partly responsible for the lack of artistic merit in mainstream cinema, and accused Spielberg of using Schindler's List to profit from a tragedy.{{Cite web |last=Gibron |first=Bill |date=April 20, 2007 |title=Short Cuts – Forgotten Gems: In Praise of Love (2001) |url=https://www.popmatters.com/short-cuts-forgotten-gems-in-praise-of-love-2001-2496204237.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221203090823/https://www.popmatters.com/short-cuts-forgotten-gems-in-praise-of-love-2001-2496204237.html |archive-date=December 3, 2022 |access-date=March 13, 2023 |website=PopMatters |language=en-US}} In defense of Spielberg, critic Roger Ebert said "Has Godard or any other director living or dead done more than Spielberg, with his Holocaust Project, to honor and preserve the memories of the survivors?"{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=October 18, 2002 |title=In Praise of Love movie review (2002) |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/in-praise-of-love-2002 |access-date=March 13, 2023 |website=RogerEbert.com |language=en |archive-date=February 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204173527/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/in-praise-of-love-2002 |url-status=live }}

Seven of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant": Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, and Saving Private Ryan.{{Cite web |title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305191832/https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/ |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |access-date=December 16, 2020 |website=Library of Congress |publication-place=Washington, DC}}

• Directors with two films rated "A+" by CinemaScore
• Steven Spielberg's unrealized projects

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite book|last=Baxter|first=John|author-link=John Baxter (author)|title=Steven Spielberg: The Unauthorised Biography|publisher=Harper Collins|year=1996|isbn=9780002555876|location=London}}
• {{Cite book|last=Buckland|first=Warren|title=Directed by Steven Spielberg: Poetics of the Contemporary Hollywood Blockbuster|publisher=Continuum|year=2006|isbn=9780826416919|location=New York}}
• {{Cite book|last=Edge|first=Laura Bufano|title=Steven Spielberg: Director of Blockbuster Films|publisher=Enslow Publishers|year=2008|isbn=9780766028883|location=Berkeley Heights, New Jersey}}
• {{Cite book|last=Freer|first=Ian|author-link=Ian Freer|title=The Complete Spielberg|publisher=Virgin Publishing|year=2001|isbn=9780753505564|location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/completespielber0000free |url-access=registration}}
• {{Cite book|last=Hook|first=Sue Vander|title=Steven Spielberg: Groundbreaking Director|publisher=Abdo Publishing Company|year=2010|isbn=9781604537048|location=Edina, Minnesota}}
• {{Cite book|last=Horn|first=Geoffrey M.|title=Steven Spielberg|publisher=World Almanac Library|year=2002|isbn=9780836850802|location=Milwaukee}}
• {{Cite book|last=Jackson|first=Kathi|title=Steven Spielberg: A Biography|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=2007|isbn=9780313337963|location=Westport, Connecticut}}
• {{Cite book|last=Mairata|first=James|title=Steven Spielberg's Style by Stealth|publisher=Springer International Publishing|year=2018|isbn=9783319690810|location=Cham, Switzerland}}
• {{Cite book|last=Mara|first=Wil|author-link=Wil Mara|title=Great Filmmakers Steven Spielberg|publisher=Cavendish Square Publishing|year=2014|isbn=9781627129367|location=New York}}
• {{Cite book|last=McBride|first=Joseph|author-link=Joseph McBride (writer)|title=Steven Spielberg: A Biography|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=1997|isbn=9780684811673|location=New York}}
• {{Cite book|last=Parish|first=James Robert|author-link=James Robert Parish|title=Steven Spielberg Filmmaker|publisher=Ferguson|year=2004|isbn=9780816054817|location=New York}}
• {{Cite book|last=Pogrebin|first=Abigail|author-link=Abigail Pogrebin|title=Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish|publisher=Broadway Books|year=2005|isbn=9780307419323|location=New York}}
• {{Cite book|last=Shone|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Shone|title=Blockbuster: How Hollywood Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Summer|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=2004|isbn=9780743235686|location=New York}}

• {{cite book|last=Haskell |first=Molly |author-link=Molly Haskell |year=2017 |title=Steven Spielberg: A Life in Films |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-18693-2|ref=none}}
• {{cite book|last=Jolls|first=Michael|title=The Films of Steven Spielberg |publisher=Create Space |year=2018 |isbn=978-1986039680|ref=none}}
• {{cite book|last=Morris|first=Nigel|title=The Cinema of Steven Spielberg: Empire of Light |publisher=Wallflower Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-904764-88-5|ref=none}}
• {{cite book|last1=Spielberg|first1=Steven|last2=Friedman|first2=Lester D.|last3=Notbohm|first3=Brent|title=Steven Spielberg: Interviews|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|year=2000|isbn=978-1-57806-113-6|ref=none}}

{{sister project links|d=Q8877|c=category:Steven Spielberg|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|s=no|wikt=no|species=no}}

• {{IMDb name}}
• {{TCMDb name}}
• {{C-SPAN|80561}}
• {{New York Times topic|new_id=person/steven-spielberg}}
• {{SFHOF|956}}
• {{The Interviews about|steven-spielberg}}
• [https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=wiarchives;cc=wiarchives;view=text;rgn=main;didno=uw-whs-us0147an Joseph McBride Papers, 1960–2008] – Wisconsin Historical Society

{{Steven Spielberg}}

{{Navboxes

|title = Awards for Steven Spielberg

|list =

{{Academy Award Best Picture Producers}}

{{Academy Award for Best Director}}

{{AARP Movies for Grownups Award for Best Director}}

{{AFI Life Achievement Award}}

{{BAFTA Best Film recipients}}

{{BAFTA Award for Best Direction}}

{{BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award}}

{{Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director}}

{{BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Awards}}

{{Cannes Film Festival Best Screenplay Award}}

{{Cecil B. DeMille Award}}

{{Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director}}

{{Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Director}}

{{David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures}}

{{Directors Guild of America Award Feature Film}}

{{DirectorsGuildofAmericaAwardLifetimeFilm}}

{{International Emmy Founders Award}}

{{Empire Award for Best Director}}

{{Golden Globe Award for Best Director}}

{{Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film}}

{{Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement}}

{{Hasty Pudding Man of the Year}}

{{Honorary César}}

{{Honorary Golden Bear}}

{{Inkpot Award 1980s}}

{{Inkpot Award 2010s}}

{{Thalberg Award}}

{{Kennedy Center Honorees 2000s}}

{{Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Director}}

{{National Board of Review Award for Best Director}}

{{National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director}}

{{Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Director}}

{{The President's Memorial Award}}

{{Producers Guild of America Milestone Award}}

{{Saturn Award for Best Director}}

{{Saturn Award for Best Writing}}

{{TFCA Award for Best Director}}

{{Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Director}}

{{Winsor McCay Award 2010s}}

}}

{{Cannes Film Festival jury presidents}}

{{Portal bar|Film|United States|Biography|Speculative fiction}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spielberg, Steven}}

Category:1946 births

Category:20th-century American businesspeople

Category:20th-century American Jews

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:20th-century American male writers

Category:20th-century American screenwriters

Category:21st-century American businesspeople

Category:21st-century American Jews

Category:21st-century American male actors

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:21st-century American screenwriters

Category:Actors awarded knighthoods

Category:Actors from Camden County, New Jersey

Category:Actors with dyslexia

Category:American action film directors

Category:AFI Life Achievement Award recipients

Category:Akira Kurosawa Award winners

Category:American actors with disabilities

Category:American art collectors

Category:American billionaires

Category:American film editors

Category:American film production company founders

Category:American film studio executives

Category:American LGBTQ rights activists

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male screenwriters

Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent

Category:American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent

Category:American philanthropists

Category:American recipients of the Legion of Honour

Category:American science fiction film directors

Category:American special effects people

Category:American television directors

Category:American video game developers

Category:American writers with disabilities

Category:American Zionists

Category:BAFTA fellows

Category:Best Directing Academy Award winners

Category:Best Director BAFTA Award winners

Category:Best Director Golden Globe winners

Category:Businesspeople awarded knighthoods

Category:Businesspeople from Camden County, New Jersey

Category:Businesspeople from Cincinnati

Category:Businesspeople from Los Angeles

Category:Businesspeople from New York (state)

Category:Businesspeople from Phoenix, Arizona

Category:California Democrats

Category:California State University, Long Beach alumni

Category:Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay winners

Category:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners

Category:César Honorary Award recipients

Category:Commanders of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)

Category:David di Donatello Career Award winners

Category:David di Donatello winners

Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners

Category:Directors Guild of America Award winners

Category:Directors of Best Picture Academy Award winners

Category:American fantasy film directors

Category:Film directors from Arizona

Category:Film directors from Los Angeles

Category:Film directors from New Jersey

Category:Film directors from New York (state)

Category:Film directors from Ohio

Category:Film producers from Arizona

Category:Film producers from Los Angeles

Category:Film producers from New Jersey

Category:Film producers from New York (state)

Category:Film producers from Ohio

Category:Film directors with dyslexia

Category:Film theorists

Category:Filmmakers who won the Best Film BAFTA Award

Category:Golden Globe Award–winning producers

Category:Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement recipients

Category:Honorary Golden Bear recipients

Category:Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Category:Hugo Award winners

Category:Inkpot Award winners

Category:International Emmy Founders Award winners

Category:Jewish art collectors

Category:Jewish American male actors

Category:Jewish American screenwriters

Category:Jews from Arizona

Category:Jews from California

Category:Jews from New Jersey

Category:Jews from New York (state)

Category:Jews from Ohio

Category:Kennedy Center honorees

Category:Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Category:Living people

Category:Male actors from Cincinnati

Category:Male actors from Los Angeles

Category:Male actors from New Jersey

Category:Male actors from New York (state)

Category:Male actors from Phoenix, Arizona

Category:Mass media people from Cincinnati

Category:Mass media people from Phoenix, Arizona

Category:National Humanities Medal recipients

Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour

Category:People from East Hampton (town), New York

Category:People from Haddon Township, New Jersey

Category:People from Saratoga, California

Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients

Category:Primetime Emmy Award winners

Category:Producers who won the Best Picture Academy Award

Category:Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductees

Category:Screenwriters from Arizona

Category:Screenwriters from Los Angeles

Category:Screenwriters from New Jersey

Category:Screenwriters from New York (state)

Category:Screenwriters from Ohio

Category:Television producers from Arizona

Category:Television producers from California

Category:Television producers from New Jersey

Category:Television producers from New York (state)

Category:Television producers from Ohio

Category:Writers from Camden County, New Jersey

Category:Writers from Cincinnati

Category:Writers from Los Angeles

Category:Writers from New York (state)

Category:Writers from Phoenix, Arizona

Category:Writers with dyslexia