In Steven Spielberg’s legendary 50+ year career, he has directed some of the most iconic movies of all time. If, for some reason, his name doesn’t ring a bell, his filmography definitely will, as it includes movies such as Jaws, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, and Saving Private Ryan. In total, movies directed by Spielberg have grossed over $10 billion worldwide, making him one of the most accomplished directors ever.
While Spielberg is a beloved and successful figure in the movie industry today, his earlier life had its difficult moments, which led to the inspiration behind some of his most iconic movies. Here is the story of how Spielberg’s parents influenced the story of 4 of his greatest movies.
Spielberg’s Parent’s Divorce Was Incredibly Difficult For Him
Spielberg’s parents divorced when he was 19 years old, and the future director would blame his father for many of the problems in his parent’s marriage and their home life. He then later discovered that his mother had fallen in love with a friend of his father and had been the one to initiate the divorce.
When his parents split, his father left the home, and that helped to inspire the movies Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T.: The Extraterrestrial. Both movies have the father figure of the movie left, which is something he was struggling with. In later years, Spielberg’s mother urged him to reconcile with his father, which helped inspire the stories of the movies Catch Me If You Can and Lincoln.
Did Spielberg Manage To Reconcile With His Father?
Spielberg spent many years estranged from his father, ultimately blaming his father for the divorce despite it being his mother that caused it. He had stated that he saw his mother “like an older sister” and that he “put her up on a pedestal.”
After many years, Spielberg took advice from his wife, Kate Capshaw, to make peace with his father and rebuild the relationship. The two managed to achieve it and remained on good terms and connected ever since that day. Sadly, Arnold Spielberg died in 2020 at the age of 103, which gave the father and son 25 years together after they reconciled their relationship.
Other Directors That Inserted Their Personal Lives Into Movies
Spielberg isn’t the only director to insert his own life into his movies, although he is perhaps the most well-known. Directors are very notorious for doing this as their own lives are a great place to draw inspiration from as they understand the emotions and situations having lived through them. This can help make a movie feel more realistic and help to connect with the viewer as some will be able to live through the character and relate to them.
Thankfully, not all instances of directors using their own lives as inspiration are from negative experiences. M. Night Shyamalan put himself in the movie The Sixth Sense playing the character of Dr. Hill. This is a light-hearted jab at his family, who wanted him to be a doctor when he grew up.
If you are a movie director or writer and are struggling with a story or a way to develop a character or plot line, try and look at your own life and you might be able to pull something from it as Spielberg did and use it to create a masterpiece.
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