Spielberg (film)

Spielberg
Television release poster
Directed bySusan Lacy
Produced by
  • Susan Lacy
  • Jessica Levin
  • Emma Pildes
StarringSteven Spielberg
Cinematography
  • Ed Marritz
  • Samuel Painter
Edited byDeborah Peretz
Production
companies
Distributed byHBO
Release dates
Running time
146 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Spielberg is a 2017 American documentary film directed by Susan Lacy, and is centered on the career of film director Steven Spielberg. It premiered at the 2017 New York Film Festival and aired on HBO on October 7, 2017.

The documentary chronicles Spielberg's career, including interviews with collaborators, family and friends. Some of the events explored, particularly of his early life, would go on to be dramatized in Spielberg's 2022 semi-autobiographical film The Fabelmans.

Interviews

[edit]

Interviews with Karen Allen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Anthony Hopkins and Jude Law were also conducted but not included in the final film.

Archive footage was also shown of Joan Crawford, Goldie Hawn, Amy Irving, Marcia Lucas, Dan Rather, Dinah Shore, Sasha Spielberg, and Theo Spielberg.

† = Person interviewed died prior to the documentary's airing.

Production

[edit]

The documentary was announced in July 2017 by HBO, with it set to air on October 7 later that year.[2] A trailer for the documentary was released in September, with a list of those interviewed released as well.[3]

Release

[edit]

Prior to its October 7 airing on the HBO channel, the documentary was screened at the 2017 New York Film Festival.[4]

Critical response

[edit]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 92% based on 37 reviews and an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Spielberg takes a behind-the-scenes look at one of modern cinema's most spellbinding talents, with absorbing—albeit somewhat uncritical—results."[5] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100 based 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[6]

See also

[edit]
  • The Fabelmans, Spielberg's 2022 semi-autobiographical coming-of-age film that dramatizes some of the events of his early life through an original story of young aspiring filmmaker Sammy Fabelman, a character based on Spielberg.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "New York Film Review: 'Spielberg'". 6 October 2017.
  2. ^ Lesnick, Silas (July 11, 2017). "HBO Announces Steven Spielberg Documentary". ComingSoon.com. CraveOnline Media. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  3. ^ Chitwood, Adam (September 25, 2017). "'Spielberg' Trailer Reveals Star-Studded HBO Documentary". Collider. Complex Media. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  4. ^ Cox, Gordon (August 28, 2017). "Steven Spielberg, Bob Dylan Documentaries Join New York Film Festival Lineup". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  5. ^ "Spielberg (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  6. ^ "Spielberg Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
[edit]