Today, we all know Steven Spielberg as one of the best directors in the history of cinema, however, he was once a regular teenager who had a dream of becoming a director. Spielberg has created several films that are often labeled as cinematic masterpieces, including 2002’s Catch Me If You Can.
The film was based on the semi-autobiographical book of the same name by Frank Abagnale Jr., who claimed that he committed many victimless frauds by posing as a Pan American World Airways pilot, a Georgia doctor, and a Louisiana parish prosecutor. Well, Spielberg also did something like that as a teenager in order to achieve his dream of becoming a director.
Steven Spielberg dreamed of becoming a director when he was a teenager
Director Steven Spielberg has been fond of creating films since he was a teenager. He created a lot of films but was looking for a bigger opportunity. The director recalled,
“I was 15, or 16. I was in high school. I was spending a summer in California with my second cousins. And I wanted to be a director really bad. I was making a lot of 8mm home movies, since I was 12, making little dramas and comedies with the neighborhood kids.”
Throughout his early teens, and after entering high school, Spielberg made about fifteen to twenty 8mm “adventure” films.
Steven Spielberg broke into Universal Studios as a teenager
When the director was about 15-16, he went to Universal Studios on a tour, but he was not ready to leave that place so he came up with the plan to act as a Universal Studios employee,
“The next day, having observed how people dressed in those days, I dressed like them, carried a briefcase, and walked past the same guard, Scotty, who had been there for like a long time, because he’s the oldest. He waved me in.”
The director managed to find an empty office, so he put his name on the office directory and became an unofficial “employee” of the studio for the next three months. During those three months, he carefully observed how others worked there and it left a lasting impact on him.
The first studio to offer him a deal was Universal Studios
Spielberg’s first 35mm short film, Amblin, was finished in 1968 and the only studio to offer him a deal was Universal Studios. The director once joked,
“Somehow, ironically, or because I don’t think it was manifest destiny, I wound up back at the place where I first broke into. I’m still there. All these years later I’m still working at Universal.”
It’s surely exciting to see that Spielberg wasn’t any less than Frank Abagnale. That short period where he broke into Universal Studios played a massive role in inspiring the director. In the history of Hollywood, Spielberg will always remain a legend.
Source: SlashFilm
