James Baquet

    Unlike some of the other directors we’ve met, Steven Spielberg always knew what he wanted to do: make films.

    At 12, he made an 8-millimeter film of his toy trains crashing into each other. Other 8 mm “adventure” films followed. As a Boy Scout, he made the nine-minute Western film “The Last Gunfight.” At age 13, he made a 40-minute war film, using other high-school kids as actors. And at 16, he made a science fiction film of over two hours long. Shot at a cost of US$500 (of his father’s money), he arranged a one-time showing at the local cinema — and earned his money back.

    After high school, he moved to Los Angeles for college, where he took a job as an unpaid intern in the Universal Studios editing department. There he made a short film called “Amblin” (a word meaning “walking casually,” and now the name of his company, “Amblin Entertainment”). The studio head was impressed. Spielberg was given a seven-year directing contract (the youngest director ever to sign such a deal with a major Hollywood studio) and he dropped out of college, though many years later he completed his BA degree in film.

    After paying his dues in television and making a few nondescript films, success came in the form of a giant shark — “Jaws” — and soon after with the arrival of aliens — “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” From then on it seems like it was one blockbuster after another, though there were many mediocre films in between.

    He has directed and/or produced such notable hits as the “Indian Jones” movies, “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” the “Back to the Future” franchise, “Jurassic Park” and its sequels, several historically-based films such as “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan” (his only two Oscar best picture winners), the paired films “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima” (both directed by Clint Eastwood) and the complex portrait of “Lincoln,” which was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won two.

    Some consider him our greatest director. Others say he infantilizes his audience. Regardless, he has made plenty of films worth watching.

    Vocabulary:

    Which word above means:

    1. do the necessary work to get ahead

    2. not very good

    3. nevertheless

    4. on old home-movie format

    5. written agreement

    6. person working in a training position

    7. series of creative works

    8. worth remembering

    9. treats like babies, talks down to

    10. uninteresting