Update: Spielberg ‘curriculum’
On Sunday I posted this:
Courtesy of Nate Winslow:
This is a list that someone sent me during a conversation on Twitter. It’s unofficially referred to as “Steven Spielberg’s List of Movies You Have to See Before You Can Work With Him” aka “Steven Spielberg’s Curriculum.” Weirdly enough, I could only find ONE mention of it on Google. ONE. And it was a weird mention here: But it’s a list of 206 movies that Spielberg assembled as movies that should be required viewing for any aspiring filmmaker. And if you listen to the way Spielberg talks about cinema and the history of film, it’s quiiiiite clear he has seen more movies than anyone on earth other than Martin Scorcese. But just goes to show you how overlooked that part of your mantra is: watch. Movies. A lot of the great directors from Spielberg’s era have probably seen more than half of those movies. Maybe even 3/4. The younger filmmakers coming up now? I’d be shocked if they’d seen 30 of them. I haven’t seen anywhere NEAR half of them. Anyways. Pretty interesting list. I uploaded it as a Google document which I figure is probably easier for sharing than a Word document.
Since that post, it has gone viral, picked up on these sites:
Those are just the ones I know about.
Then Nate sent me this email:
Late-night Twitter exchange between me, Edgar Wright and Drew McWeeny just occurred. Edgar started it with this: “That list? Fake.” And then said nothing else. So it wasn’t really an exchange with him. But I followed up and asked so…is that for sure? Or…? And Drew chimed in with a good point: “Well, since he just wrote Spielberg’s latest movie, I’d give him the benefit of the doubt.” Which is a great point. I guess I would too, when I think about it. So. For now, I think we’re taking that as the truth. I’m leaving the list up, changing the title to something more generic, and adding a disclaimer at the bottom of it detailing it’s former existence, and leaving room for anyone closer to Spielberg (or Spielberg himself) to address it’s validity at a later date.
Moviefone picked up on that.
For the record in my OP, I put the word ‘curriculum’ in quotes and said “Spielberg’s alleged list,” my acknowledgement of the fact it could or could not be authentic.
But my larger point was simply this: I will promote anything it takes to get screenwriters and filmmakers, especially those learning their craft, to watch movies. It is a critical, perhaps the critical component of immersing yourself in cinema.
So if the list is not authentic? Those are still movies we should screen.
But the whole thing got me thinking: Wouldn’t it be great if Spielberg… or Scorsese… Coppola… Tarantino… Nolan… Cameron… notable filmmakers would come out with their own lists of movies they think we should watch? Including Edgar Wright!
And not just directors, but screenwriters, too. Zaillian… Darabont… Gilroy… Kasdan… Kaufman… LaGravenese. What movies do they think we should see, scripts we should read to engender one’s understanding of the screenwriting craft?
[I’ve gone down this direction before as with this post featuring three video clips in which Scorcese talks about his favorite movies.]
Would we all love to know if the 206 films in the list actually derived from Steven Spielberg? Absolutely. And if turns out the list is not authentic, it would be a tremendous resource to have access to an actual list of movies he considers required viewing.
Regardless the fact remains, those films on that list? You can not go wrong watching them. They can teach you something about the craft.
Again with the screenwriting mantra:
Read scripts.
Watch movies.
Write pages.
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