Disclosure Day<\/a> this week would seem to fulfill Spielberg\u2019s appetite, but will it do so the same for his audience \u2013 one that sees him as their joyful dinosaur daddy and space scout?<\/p>\n\n\tA glimpse at marquees this week reveals a confused outlook: Marvel magic seems wobbly at the box office and Disney\u2019s summer slate remains a \u201cmaybe.\u201d By contrast, Spielberg\u2019s Disclosure Day is finding not only glints of alien life but\u00a0also box office rewards approaching $44 million U.S.<\/p>\n
\n\tGiven these incentives,\u00a0the world\u2019s busiest and wealthiest filmmaker nearing age 80 is redeploying his\u00a0 mastery of the interview circuit. He\u2019s undistracted by YouTube intruders or by those snarky critics trying to remind ticket buyers that they\u2019ve encountered\u00a0his skeletal, wide-eyed space travelers once or twice before.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tSome analysts even suggest that previous \u201cencounters\u201d might have been more fun: A rerun of Close Encounters harkens\u00a0back to the familial wonderment, angst and buzzy confusion.<\/p>\n
\n\tStill, put in perspective, Spielberg\u2019s cinematic universe over seven decades represents an astonishing range of topics and tensions. Some of his characters may be easily dismissible (The BFG), yet some are embedded in our consciousness (the stalwart Indy and the immortal E.T.).<\/p>\n
\n\tThose Gen-Z filmmakers responsible for \u201ctorture porn\u201d or horror hits may\u00a0legitimately ask, \u2018How has Spielberg sustained his extraordinary ubiquity? What is the secret sauce of his enduring energy and theatricality?\u2019<\/p>\n
\n\tA clue:\u00a0I recall a personal encounter with Spielberg at a past industry function where five or six admirers were noisily nattering at him, each with a pressing agenda. Their idol was patiently listening to their pitches \u2014 until, exasperated and perspiring, he wheeled and\u00a0crashed into me.<\/p>\n
\n\tWe knew each other well enough to share a quick embrace and pained smile. \u201cWhy am I here?\u201d he asked, abashed.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cBecause you have an urgent need for mayhem?\u201d I suggested.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThen I guess\u00a0I own it,\u201d he replied calmly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tAt that moment, in the late 1990s, his \u201cneed\u201d was all-encompassing: On his ambitious slate was Amistad,\u00a0 a drama about a slave ship (Spielberg was directing), plus The Mask of Zorro, a swashbuckling thriller (he was producing). Plus an entirely new slate of features orchestrated as a partner in DreamWorks,\u00a0his new company that had just announced its intention to become a major Hollywood studio.<\/p>\n
\n\tWas Spielberg uneasy? No, he seemed positively thrilled by the challenge. DreamWorks, of course, would turn out to be a stressful launch \u2013 David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg were\u00a0intense partners who hoped to build an MGM-like studio complete with sound stages. It didn\u2019t happen.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tOn\u00a0personal Spielbergian projects, Zorro, still in pre-production, had already consumed the energies of five writers and three directors, while Amistad\u2019s racial theme was\u00a0stirring at once admiration and controversy.<\/p>\n
\n\tAll of these ventures would be destined for success, in one form or another.\u00a0Yet Spielberg knew that I,\u00a0 then chief of a rival production company, would understand the cost they represented in terms of money and mayhem.<\/p>\n
\n\tThis week, Spielberg, with the opening of Disclosure Day,\u00a0his 39th directing gig, finds himself yet again in the midst of a scene he covets.\u00a0The world is noticing and taking interest;\u00a0however, civilization is not stopping, as it seemed to do when Jaws opened,\u00a0or when E.T. came to earth. Or when Schindler had completed his list.<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd Spielberg already is at work on his next movie.\u00a0Mayhem beckons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A calm and gracious man,\u00a0Steven Spielberg over the years has carefully masked his passion for mayhem \u2013 creative…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[175443,88,206,107653,16827],"class_list":["post-712522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-disclosure-day","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-peter-bart","tag-steven-spielberg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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