Steven Spielberg On What Makes A Good Thriller

[PostgodAfterbirth]

Which is exactly why the Star Wars prequels failed. They had no story. No characterization. Lots of CGI. Lots of sitting on couches and walking in halls talking. Lots of bureaucracy and meetings. It's not Steven's fault, though. Thanks to George Lucas for that one :P

[CriticsBusiness]

Munich (2005) = GREAT THRILLER

[capnhawkins]

(Liam Neeson voice): The THRILLS are NOTHING! The STORY is EVERYTHING!

[mrscreenwriter]

Let's not ruin a great video from Steven Spielberg by talking about the mind sucking garbage such as Transformers.

[SeantheSkater96]

Yep. A thriller is a sandwich.

[NOmorecrap85]

it really pisses me of when people call transformers 2 T2.your confusing idiot teenagers who don't even know the greatness of terminator 2.

[WalterLiddy]

I'm amazed at a lot of the replies here re: Transformers. It doesn't seem to occur to anyone that maybe he just thought that was a good story.

[flandersfails]

funny how he said basically the opposite of what hitchcock said in the other video (who said content isn't important). on the other hand at the end he says the thrills come automatically if you tell the story right so i guess for him it's a mixture of a good story and telling it right.

[barkpeeler2000]

old enough to be my father but i still think he is sooo good-looking. he's the only older man i find attractive. grrrr!

[Oranges8]

I like u Steven spielberg, I like u a lot

[TheTexanCanadian]

Steven Spielberg is good at making money with movies. He's HARDLY a great director. Every once in a while, he makes something which has content which could be called great. Most of the time, he's just a more polished Michael Bay.

[Tigerlily21]

@TheTexanCanadian ignorance. Just because he's commercially successful does not mean he can't be a gifted director too. He just chooses films that give an audience an experience. That doesn't mean they are all perfect, but he has given American cinema so many unforgettable experiences and has executed everything with great skill.

[TheTexanCanadian]

@Tigerlily21

Oh I agree, the two are not mutually exclusive generally speaking, I'm just denying that he's a tremendously artistically gifted director.

[meNtor890]

and what are we supposed to "take home" from this interview, what are we supposed to learn. "the thrills come automatically" ok ok ye sure.

[AceProductions91]

@HopperAvenue Then why watch one of his videos?

[Gencturk92]

Alfred Hitchcock is the best filmmaker in cinema history, Spielberg is a pet and needs to learn what filmmaking is.

[TheTexanCanadian]

@Gencturk92

Alfred Hitchcock isn't even the best British filmmaker, much less best filmmaker.

[Gencturk92]

@TheTexanCanadian alfred hitchcock is the best filmmaker in cinema history. he made so many famous films, psycho, rear window and birds were all a masterpiece, those violins in the shower scene was so much better than jaws

[TheTexanCanadian]

@Gencturk92

Oh I definitely agree that he's a better director than Spielberg, just disagree that he's in any way the best filmmaker in cinema history. He's made many great films but saying he's the "best" is a purely subjective statement, it's impossible to be truly objective when it comes to evaluation of the quality of art.

[Gencturk92]

@TheTexanCanadian Hitchcock is the best director ever in cinema history, he was a genius and amazing filmmaker. master of suspense, nobody can be better than him

[TheTexanCanadian]

@Gencturk92

Stanley Kubrick, Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman and Fritz Lang are all better directors than Hitchcock, but again that's just my opinion, just like you saying Hitchcock is the greatest is YOUR opinion.

[R3APER24]

@Gencturk92 I agree. Hitchcock is way better than Spielberg. Actually I can think of several better directors than him. Spielberg makes good movies, but it takes a genius to make a cinematic masterpiece. Orson Wells did it, Hitchcock did it, etc. Tarkovsky is brilliant as well. Spielberg is good but I wouldn't consider him the best.

It's all subjective but I think people overrate Spielberg.

[ResidentSociopath]

@TheTexanCanadian Most directors, critics, and film historians would disagree with you. theyshootpictures. com/gf1000_top200directors.htm

[TheTexanCanadian]

@ResidentSociopath

Art is ultimately subjective, I really don't care what other people think about movies that I watch.

[cineasta71]

How hard can it be to write "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"? he has the midas touch but that's a far cry from being a visionary talented creator of images.

[nukeadream]

A few of you don't know shit about film. He is the EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, he's can do anything on Transformers. He can fire Michael Bay, shit on Fox and fire Shia. He is the boss. Don't defend him. What really happened is that the writers were on strike during the writing of this movie. Finding a good writer wasn't easy. He is in charge of the story, he's incharge of pretty much everything.

[Kessler1996]

@HopperAvenue Philistine.

[buc555]

Err..2001 fan much?

[generalcircle]

Spielberg talking about sandwiches makes me hungry.

[Gencturk92]

Oh shut up Spielberg, what do you know about thriller genre's. Alfred Hitchcock is the master of thriller genre.

[Wartler]

I totally agree. But, what about character pieces, like MASH?

[togatoga36]

It's weird how he talks about how there needs to be a story when he executive produced "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen".

[coolmartcol]

@togatoga36 but he only produced it...he did not wrote it nor direct it...but you had a good point

[togatoga36]

@coolmartcol Yeah, I figured it was one or the other. He's a terrific filmmaker. But Transformers 2 was just awful.

[masterkombat]

@togatoga36 Oh my god ! I thought the same thing...

[megamatt53]

@togatoga36 has to be a story or a nice pay check will do also

[geitepung]

Yes, yes he did. And you did what again?

[togatoga36]

@geitepung Watch it.

[geitepung]

Hahaha, ye. I'll watch it all right. lmao

[EnzoTheBaker]

@togatoga36

LOL

[samwestonc]

@togatoga36 Note that this interview was from 2001 [before Transformers premiered in 2007]; so it's outdated, okay?

[togatoga36]

@samwestonc RIghtly so, I just enjoy its newfound irony.

[Infenro]

@togatoga36 Executive producer is a financial role basically right over the creative line. He handled nothing of the story, he just helped it's business.

[togatoga36]

@Infenro Bottom line is, Transformers 2 was terrible.

[meNtor890]

@togatoga36 bottom line is, since I watched Transformers 1 I shit on those movies.

[MrThisISMetal]

@togatoga36 He didn't write the screenplay so he wasn't in charge of the story

[nukeadream]

@MrThisISMetal Wrong.

[analyticaa]

@togatoga36 He didn't say there needs to be a story; he only said if you want to make a good story. My guess is he didn't give a shit about Transformers, but knew it would make money. In any event, he certainly knows how to make a thriller. That's unquestionable.

[togatoga36]

@analyticaa Agreed :)

[ChrisStuckmann]

@togatoga36 Yes he did, and NO ONE can fault the production value of Transformers. That's what an executive producer handles, the finances and ideas. He doesn't write or direct so you can't fault him for T2.

[brandonlamchops]

@ChrisStuckmann Hey your that guy who reviews movies and does podcast with Jeremy Jahns and the Smoches but I think you should refrain from calling Transformers Revenge of the Fallen T2 because it's really, actually it's similar to Terminator 2 and that movie was great.

[samsam29]

@ChrisStuckmann T2 is Terminator 2. Sorry, but it's taken by a much worthier film.

[NolanDisciple01]

@ChrisStuckmann You mean TF2. Don't get Terminator 2, one of the greatest movies of all time, mixed up with Transformers 2, one of the worst movies of all time.

[m420carbine4]

@ChrisStuckmann T2? I don't think he had anything to do with T2. That was James Cameron all the way I believe.

[ChrisStuckmann]

@m420carbine4 Transformers 2 is what I'm referring to.

[chimpiki]

@togatoga36 Cha Ching Cha Ching Cha Ching!

[Fundamenski]

@togatoga36 you know what executive producer means? it means here's some cash. transformers has nothing to do with spielberg. they're not his films.

[terrycharnley]

@togatoga36 HE WHAT????!!!!

[GWScores]

@togatoga36 I'm pretty sure Michael Bay is to blame for that.

[samsam29]

@togatoga36 but that's why he didn't direct nor write that piece of garbage. He needs the money to finance his own works. ;)

[PalmliX]

@togatoga36 In his defense Spielberg has a very hand's off policy when it comes to being a producer, he just tries to hire the right people and then not get in their way. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.

[thechallenger9000]

@togatoga36 Micheal Bay directed that. :/

[mrrickless980abell]

@togatoga36 and executive producer doesnt do much to effect the film other than his name to attract viewers

[MStrikerPictures]

@togatoga36 Executive Producer just means that he funds the movie. He didn't have anything to do with it. They just tell everyone that he was the Executive Producer in order to get more people to see the movie. I hate the fact that he even allows his name to be thrown around like that :(

[patrickf245]

@togatoga36 if you were smart, you would know that speilberg had nothing to do with the production/writing/filming of T:ROTF, exec produce means that he attached his name to the project, and has been optioned into the film. He has no input into the creative process in which it was made and doesn't even make appearances on the set. speilberg has exec produced over 200 titles, not all of them are good.

[BradleyPaulValentine]

@togatoga36 Be that as it may, it’s a great filmmaker. And it is common knowledge that he wasn’t involved in Transformers 2. One of the selling points of 3 was that Speilberg was involved in the process again. Executive producers are an absent bunch, like how Burton was credited in Schmacher’s Batmans. Burton didn’t have anything to do with those.

[GilbertSmith]

@togatoga36 No contradiction. He only said that story is important to a GOOD thriller.

[almightyhans]

@togatoga36 are you seriously forgetting ALL the classics this guy put out?

[JesusCristo2002]

@togatoga36 - He was just cashing in to make a profit. People right now unfortunately just want mindless, escapist entertainment. Films that prefer style over substance. As a writer and aspiring filmmaker I see it as an opportunity, to do things that haven't been done.

[FriedEggsWithChips]

@togatoga36 Exactly what I was thinking. I wonder if he'll regard those movies as a mistake one day. I don't know, probably not, they made a lot of money, but I always saw him as kind of 50% artist and 50% commercial director. I hope he gets a little more artistically ambitious in the next few years. I'm dreading Indiana Jones 5 and another five years of Transformers.

[WaterCrystalline]

@togatoga36 Dude chill... he was just looking for profit. As a director it's a fairly normal thing to do. Or he probably had faith in Michael Bay... He's also a great director. Apart from his shitty Transformers Trilogy of course.

[killerrodan]

@togatoga36 True.I like a good plot yet there's that movie.>.>

[maxulic]

@togatoga36 As a producer he probably doesn't care as much as a director. I guess.

[HotSpicyTasteGreat]

I disagree, many of my favourite films have thin to little plots... I think directors like Lynch and PTA are so good at spinning allegory's out of images and sub-texts they never really need a strong plot.. although both have dabbled in rich plotted movies

[originalprettybird]

Ah Spielberg, the man who ruled my childhood. I remember making my parents take me to see ET at least three times.

[mfnstudioschannel]

True words of wisdom, from the greatest man to ever walk the earth! :D

[AngelOmega777]

I completely agree with him, when I go watch a movie - yeah effects are good too - but if it doesn't have a good story I end up bored.

[landbridge]

someone told me all his movies are based on 'orphans', meaning single heroes who are isolated somehow rising above. The theory might apply to e.t, close encounters, but falls apart with Jaws or Munich. Anyone got more ideas on that theory?

[MaybeYesNo90]

@landbridge a lot of Spielberg's movies are about fathers/fatherhood e.g. Jaws, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and more recently Minority Report (there are a few others)

[MaybeYesNo90]

@MaybeYesNo90 family men... can't believe I forgot to mention Saving Private Ryan

[JDBCreations]

@landbridge Well, I've heard alot of his movies feature a child with a neglectful father or a father that abandoned their child. That comes from his own personal experience. I don't think he had much of a relationship with his father, or maybe he abandoned him... can't remember. Only movie of his like that that comes to mind though is E.T. You could say War of the Worlds is kinda like that. Indy has a bit of a love/hate relationship with his dad.

[macflyfilm]

No one director is the best ever, 'cause opinions differ. It comes down to taste. I love his movies as a kid though. Jaws, Indiana Jones etc.

[SM17H]

I beg to differ

[DxxStudios]

best director ever ..

[Hallinilla9]

@DxxStudios Yeah right.

[cr33pyGamer]

@DxxStudios not

[Darthmonk3y]

@DxxStudios

pls stop you are making me laugh.

[NEDBASKERVILLE]

@DxxStudios Best entertainer ever



[1Minute60Seconds]

@DxxStudios what do you think about christopher nolan?

[jdogsguitar]

@1Minute60Seconds That he is the past out of the past decade-ish.

[1Minute60Seconds]

@jdogsguitar what????

[jdogsguitar]

@1Minute60Seconds The best is what I meant. Not the past. I replied and meant that I think Nolan is the best to come out of the past decade-ish.

[1Minute60Seconds]

@jdogsguitar Oh ok. Yeah he sure is brilliant :) My favorite director

[maciejwrotek]

@DxxStudios you know you know you know,.... if we know, why tell us