Steven Spielberg’s movies continue to draw sizable audiences to theaters even after more than 50 years in the industry. The man behind cult classics like Jurassic Park and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is credited with creating the modern Hollywood blockbusters.
Amazingly, seven of his movies have been recognized as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress and added to the National Film Registry.
Do you remember his 2021 musical romantic drama, which won praise for Spielberg’s direction and the cast’s performances? The acclaimed director, who had long wanted to direct one, finally made his long-awaited entry into the musical genre with West Side Story.
However, he regrettably announced last year that he would never again direct another musical. The movie struggled at the box office.
But impressively, the movie received seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and Ariana DeBose took home the award for Best Supporting Actress.
Steven Spielberg’s Surprising Pledge: No More Musical Direction?
If you think musical films and Steven Spielberg are a match made in heaven, enjoy West Side Story, since this was the last musical that the filmmaker directed. The 76-year-old director reportedly announced last year at the PGA Awards Breakfast that he would not be directing any more musicals.
Spielberg said the following at a breakfast before the PGA Awards:
“The worst day of the ‘West Side Story’ shoot was the last day, because I knew I wouldn’t direct another musical.”
In his account of a meeting with the late composer and lyricist, Stephen Sondheim to discuss the possibility of creating West Side Story, the esteemed director also offered plenty of humor. Sondheim’s two dogs, he claimed, kept “sniffing at his crotch”, but he did not dare chastise them.
“So I endured these lovely animals for a while.”
For the unversed, the movie earned only $76 million while having a $100 million production budget.
Steven Spielberg Always Wanted to Helm a Musical
Steven Spielberg has made several references to directing a musical throughout his filmography. The Adventures of Tintin director discussed his early desire to helm a musical in an interview with Cinefix in December 2021:
“I had wanted to make a musical right out of the gate when I was in my early 20s. For some reason, it eluded me. When I had gotten more experience, more successful and I could write my own ticket, I developed 2 or 3 films that were designed to have music in them. One of them like American Graffiti and one of them a little more like La La Land.”
Spielberg continued by claiming that he was never happy with his own works. He made comparisons to his favorite musical, West Side Story, and had a dream of reimagining it:
“I just was never happy with my own attempts because looming in the background and upstaging everything original that I tried to mount as a musical was always my favorite musical West Side Story. That was really my true love and it was my true dream to someday be able to reimagine West Side Story.”
Spielberg has directed several movies over the course of his career, many of which established franchises that are still expanding.
The filmmaker, who directed the first two Jurassic films as well as the first four Indiana Jones films, earlier provided an explanation to The New York Times for why The Lost World: Jurassic Park failed to become a big hit.
“My sequels aren’t as good as my originals because I go onto every sequel I’ve made and I’m too confident. This movie made a ka-zillion dollars, which justifies the sequel, so I come in like it’s going to be a slam dunk and I wind up making an inferior movie to the one before. I’m talking about The Lost World and Jurassic Park.”
Last year, his coming-of-age drama, The Fabelmans, was released. The film was a semi-autobiographical story loosely based on Spielberg’s youth and formative years as a director.
West Side Story is now streaming on Disney Plus.
Source – The Hollywood Reporter
