'You shouldn't dream your film, you should make it!'

Listen to an in-depth, career-spanning interview with Steven Spielberg.

In this conversation with the Ringer's Sean Fennessy, the esteemed director reflects on his early life and how it inspired a career in moviemaking. In particular, Spielberg notes the impact of seeing Disney's "Fantasia" at a young age and how it terrified him in a way he found fascinating.

Ray Bradbury said Steven Spielberg was 'one of the most incredible young talents that's ever come into the world.'

Even at the height of his popularity, Spielberg felt like an outsider

By 1992, Spielberg was already one of the most successful names in Hollywood, but he had trouble kicking the alienation he’d felt as a kid. In this interview from 1992, on the cusp of the biggest year of his career, he talks about that feeling and how it motivated him.

How Spielberg changed film

Before "Jaws," summer was Hollywood’s off-season. Steven Spielberg’s 1975 thriller changed all that, launching the era of the summer blockbuster. From "E.T." to "Jurassic Park," Spielberg’s films redefined how stories were told, how audiences reacted, and how studios marketed.

Steven Spielberg’s movies have a unique style

Despite their distinct genres, Spielberg films often have much in common with one another. For example, supernatural phenomena, middle-class values, and camera techniques—including long, uninterrupted shots and a dolly-zoom method called the "Spielberg Face.”

Many of Spielberg's films were inspired by childhood experiences

Steven Spielberg was inspired to make “Saving Private Ryan” after seeing the toll war took on his father’s generation. Similarly, he felt called to direct “Schindler’s List” by the Holocaust survivors he met when he was only three years old.

'Your failures are your accomplishments because it makes you prepared for whatever it is that you are going to do next.'

- Director Lee Daniels (1959-present)

The best Steven Spielberg movies

Spielberg's impact on Hollywood is massive—so is his filmography. This list from the Guardian ranks every one of his film's from the forgettable, like "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and "Always," to his essential flicks, including the science-fiction classic "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and the first modern blockbuster, "Jaws."

Spielberg was inspired by Hitchcock, Kubrick, and other visionary directors

The influence of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” and Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” can be seen in the cinematography and tone of Spielberg classics like “Jaws” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

A young Spielberg was changed by DeMille’s ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’

The first movie Steven Spielberg saw was Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Greatest Show on Earth.” The movie’s on-screen train wreck frightened yet fascinated the young Spielberg—illustrating the visceral impact movies have on their audiences.

'Everybody has talent and it's just a matter of moving around until you've discovered what it is. A talent is a combination of something you love a great deal and something you can lose yourself in.'

- George Lucas (1944-present)

'You will never feel proud of your work if you find no joy within it; your best work is always joyful work.'

- Stevie Wonder (1950-present)

A quote by Howard Hughes

"Do the impossible, because almost everyone has told me my ideas are merely fantasies."

Alfred Hitchcock influenced the way Spielberg shot 'Jaws'

Steven Spielberg realized the key to unlocking the terror of the shark in "Jaws" would be by obscuring it, remembering an important lesson from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.” Spielberg recalled, “It’s what we don’t see that is truly frightening."

'The best way to make a dream come true is to wake up.'

- Fashion icon Anna Wintour (1949 – present)

A quote by award-winning actor Tom Hanks

"We are still in the position of waking up and having a choice. Do I make the world better today somehow, or do I not bother?"

'I'm always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning ... Every day I find something creative to do with my life.'

- Miles Davis (1926-1991)

'Sometimes opportunities float right past your nose. Work hard, apply yourself, and be ready. When an opportunity comes you can grab it.'

- Actress Julie Andrews (1935 - present)

Stephen King is drawn to horror's childish power

This 1986 appearance promoting King's directorial debut finds him reflecting on what makes horror, which he says is its ability to strip away pretense, reducing supposedly sophisticated people to terrified children. He also seems to have already soured on the movie business, calling filmmaking "a primitive way to create," a not-so-subtle dig at Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of "The Shining," which notoriously disappointed King.

‘Shoah’ director criticized ‘Schindler’s List’ for its portrayal of the Holocaust

“I was watching the Spielberg film, and I thought he’ll never go so far,” Claude Lanzmann said. “And he did. But he even created suspense … And these people, all of them are actors. All of them. They’re actors. They do not look like people who have had these experiences. It is an adventure film.”

'Follow your enthusiasm. It's something I've always believed in. Find those parts of your life you enjoy the most. Do what you enjoy doing.'

- "Muppets" creator Jim Henson (1936-1990)

'Keep working on a plan. Make no little plans. Make the biggest one you can think of, and spend the rest of your life carrying it out.'

- President Harry Truman (1884-1972)

Steven Spielberg submitted his films 'Schindler's List' and 'Jurassic Park' for college credit when he reenrolled in school as an adult.

'Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.'

- Inventor Thomas Edison (1847 - 1931)

'You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation.'

- Hollywood legend Bette Davis (1908 - 1989)

'You can't be that kid standing at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute.'

- Actress and comedian Tina Fey (1970-present)

Spielberg worked on ‘Schindler’s List’ and ‘Jurassic Park’ at the same time

Seemingly polar opposites, two of Steven Spielberg’s most popular movies were created in the same time period. Spielberg would shoot “Schindler’s List” during the day, then work on special-effects editing for “Jurassic Park” at night. The movies won a combined 10 Oscars at the 1994 Academy Awards.

'Pioneering is never done in front of cheerleaders urging on a roaring grandstand of popular approval.'

- "Star Trek" actor George Takei (1937-present)

Spielberg wrote ‘Poltergeist,’ and some say he directed it, too

Although the horror classic doesn’t credit Spielberg as a director, several people from the cast and crew suggested he was in charge of the film. The film’s credited director, Tobe Hooper, says Spielberg was merely brought on as a second director—which Spielberg has repeatedly confirmed.

What is 'Spielberg Face'?

Spielberg's career is filled with a consistent technique: zooming in on a significant character's face as they process some essential element of the story. One of the most famous is from "Jaws," when Brody first witnesses the shark.

Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are noted fans of Norman Rockwell

The famous film directors are admirers and collectors of the American painter. Lucas, in particular, relates to Rockwell’s process, which resembles casting for a film. In 2010, the Smithsonian American Art Museum introduced a Rockwell exhibit showcasing works from Lucas’ and Spielberg’s private collections. This video from that exhibit features both directors talking about how and why they became interested in acquiring Rockwell’s work.

Read the writing advice of science-fiction legend Ray Bradbury.

Spielberg improvised most of the iconic D-Day scene from 'Saving Private Ryan'

Although action sequences are often tightly choreographed, one of cinema's most famous war scenes was mostly shot on the fly. Spielberg wrote seven pages (or approximately seven minutes of screen time) for the scene, though the final cut of the sequence was 25 minutes long.

'May your future be limited only by your dreams.'

- Teacher and astronaut Christa McAuliffe (1948-1986)

The 'Movie Brats'—the nickname given to 1970s film directors like Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and others—ushered in a new era of Hollywood.

'Because of phones, we always have the ability to jump out of ourselves. But unless you learn how to be in your head, you’ll never learn how to create.'

- Songwriter and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda (1980-present)

In 1980, Steven Spielberg added a scene depicting the interior of an alien spaceship to a rerelease of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' at the studio's request, but later regretted the decision, believing it depleted the movie's enchanting mystery.

'If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.'

- Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

'An idea is salvation by imagination.'

- US architect Frank Lloyd Wright

B-movie king Roger Corman mentored many of the star directors of 1970s Hollywood, including Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Ron Howard.

'If you want to succeed, you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.'

- Billionaire John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937)

John Williams has scored 29 of Spielberg’s films

A significant part of Spielberg’s style is how music is used. The overwhelming majority of that music is composed by John Williams. The duo first collaborated on 1974’s “The Sugarland Express.”

Steve Jobs revolutionized animated filmmaking

Steve Jobs left his mark beyond Apple with Pixar, the animated studio he acquired in 1986. In addition to pushing Pixar to focus on storytelling, Jobs led the studio to revolutionize animation via computer-generated imagery.

Francis Ford Coppola began working on 'The Godfather' to bail his production company out of dire financial straits.

'Jaws' creators regret making sharks the monsters

Both Peter Benchley, the author of the original 1974 novel, and Steven Spielberg, the director of the blockbuster film based on it, acknowledge that the film's popularity has led to the stigmatization of the mostly harmless creatures.

'I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.'

-Inventor and businessman Thomas Edison (1847-1931)

'Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world.'

- Albert Einstein

'Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise.'

- Ted Turner, on his secret to success (1938-2026)

Hitchcock regularly made cameos in his own films

Long before Tarantino was born, Hitchcock was casting himself in his movies’ bit parts, allowing careful audience members to find the director walking through the fictional world he’d created. The history behind that decision was an accident.

'Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.'

- Pablo Picasso