One of the most famous filmmakers in the world, Steven Spielberg pulls back the curtain on his remarkable career more than ever before in the exclusive HBO presentation Spielberg. The feature-length documentary examines Spielberg’s filmography in depth, revealing how his experiences fed his work and changed it over time. Directed and produced by award-winning documentarian Susan Lacy, this unprecedented chronicle debuts same time as the U.S. on Sunday, October 8 at 8am, with a same day primetime encore at 10pm, exclusively on HBO. The documentary will also be streaming on HBO GO.
Steven Spielberg has built an unrivaled catalogue of groundbreaking films over the course of his nearly 50-year career. Charting the evolution of this iconic figure, Lacy draws on nearly 30 hours of exclusive interviews with the director, who opens up about his bittersweet childhood and lifelong obsession with moviemaking, his precocious early work as a TV “wunderkind,” his rise to fame through an incredible string of blockbusters, his later forays into more serious dramatic films, and the personal and professional relationships he’s cultivated through the years.
SPIELBERG also includes insights from members of Spielberg’s family, as well as friends and colleagues, plus clips and behind-the-scenes footage from many of his milestone films, including Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Arc, ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Bridge of Spies and many more.
Lacy interviewed more than 80 subjects for the film, ranging from A-list celebrities, to directors and producers, to industry insiders, including J.J. Abrams, Christian Bale, Drew Barrymore, Cate Blanchett, Francis Ford Coppola, Daniel Craig, Daniel Day-Lewis, Brian de Palma, Laura Dern, Leonardo DiCaprio, Richard Dreyfuss, Ralph Fiennes, Harrison Ford, David Geffen, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Holly Hunter, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Ben Kingsley, Kathleen Kennedy, George Lucas, Liam Neeson, Martin Scorsese, Oprah Winfrey and Robert Zemeckis.
The result is a remarkably intimate portrait that combines Spielberg’s compelling first-person narrative with an in-depth exploration of the creative process and craftsmanship that have set him apart, highlighting themes such as separation, reconciliation, patriotism, humanity and wonder, which recur throughout his work.
Susan Lacy is the creator and former executive producer of the celebrated WNET series American Masters, which is shown on PBS nationwide. She has won countless awards, including ten Primetime Emmys® for Outstanding Documentary Series and 12 Peabody Awards. As executive producer of American Masters, Lacy produced a library of 250 films exploring the lives of America’s most enduring cultural icons, from Charlie Chaplin to James Baldwin to Bob Dylan. She has also directed films on subjects as diverse as Leonard Bernstein, David Geffen, Joni Mitchell, Judy Garland, Paul Simon, Rod Serling and Lena Horne.
An HBO Documentary Films presentation, SPIELBERG is directed and produced by Susan Lacy; produced by Emma Pildes and Jessica Levin; edited by Deborah Peretz.
