Steven Spielberg: A Biography, Second Edition

Description

Until the first edition of Steven Spielberg: A Biography was published in 1997, much about Spielberg s personality and the forces that shaped it had remained enigmatic, in large part because of his tendency to obscure and mythologize his own past. But in this first full-scale, in-depth biography of Spielberg, Joseph McBride reveals hidden dimensions of the filmmaker s personality and shows how deeply personal even his most commercial work has been.

This new edition adds four chapters to Spielberg s life story, chronicling his extraordinarily active and creative period from 1997 to the present, a period in which he has balanced his executive duties as one of the partners in the film studio DreamWorks SKG with a remarkable string of films as a director. Spielberg s ambitious recent work--including Amistad, Saving Private Ryan, A. I. Artifucial Intelligence, Minority Report, The Terminal and Munich--has continually expanded his range both stylistically and in terms of adventurous, often controversial, subject matter.

Steven Spielberg: A Biography brought about a reevaluation of the great filmmaker s life and work by those who viewed him as merely a facile entertainer. This new edition guides readers through the mature artistry of Spielberg s later period in which he manages, against considerable odds, to run a successful studio while maintaining and enlarging his high artistic standards as one of America s most thoughtful, sophisticated, and popular filmmakers.

Writing a biography is tough enough when the subject is dead and the biographer must rely on a paper trail and recollections of contemporaries to relate the essence of the man or woman s life. When the subject still lives--and especially when he is as powerful as Steven Spielberg--a whole new set of problems emerge. For one thing, it s difficult to find anyone willing to criticize a man who pulls as many strings in the film industry as Spielberg; for another, how does one evaluate a career that is still in progress? If the definitive Spielberg biography cannot yet be written, Joseph McBride s Steven Spielberg: A Biography will suffice in the interim. Though certainly affected by the aforementioned constraints, McBride still creates an impressive portrait of the man behind Schindler s List, E.T., Jurassic Park, and many, many more.

McBride is especially effective at limning the contours of Spielberg s childhood. Born in 1946 to Arnold and Leah Spielberg, the young Steven endured both frequent moves and his parents unhappy domestic life. These factors, combined with the anti-Semitism he encountered as a teenager, drove the introverted Spielberg to seek approval through filmmaking. In addition to exploring Spielberg s private life, McBride offers some perceptive criticism of his work. Anyone interested in the film industry and Spielberg s place in it will find Joseph McBride s Steven Spielberg a valuable resource.