Steven Spielberg slams streamers for throwing ‘best filmmaker friends under the bus’
Tom Hanks is an Oscar winner, and it’s easy to see why. The actor and filmmaker took risks working with his actors and made a personal connection with his filmography, so much so that he’s received Oscar nominations for 11 of his films with his co-stars. But, with his latest film, The Post, in theaters, Spielberg is trying to distance himself from his big-ticket films.
He tells New York Magazine that the studio-funded movie, released last weekend, was his idea in the first place. “The movie was a nightmare to begin with, a catastrophe,” he says. “I would sit there and think, ‘What did I ever do? Did I make this movie?’” A filmmaker is an artist, and Spielberg is an artist.
“I’ve gone back several times over the last ten years,” he says. “And I’ve had to look them in the eye and say, ‘These are my best friends, and I love them tremendously. I love their filmography.’”
This is an all-too-typical story for someone who makes films that rely on the chemistry between an actor and their director, yet often doesn’t receive the due credit they deserve.
But the question of whether Spielberg can work with his longtime director of photography, Greg Silverman, is a difficult one. The director, who turned 84 last week, took to Instagram over Easter this weekend to reveal just how much he disagreed with his close pal’s decision to shoot with a lesser camera. Silverman told New York Magazine, “I would have been so happy if Spielberg would have wanted to shoot with an Arri super camera. That would have been the best camera available, and the best lens available.” Spielberg replied to Silverman, “I like him, but I wouldn’t want to photograph a horse race with him in it.”
Spielberg may be in the same business, but that’s not the type of filmmaker he