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

An in-depth 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.

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.

'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)

'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."

'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)

‘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.”

'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)

'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)

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

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

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

- Teacher and astronaut Christa McAuliffe (1948-1986)

'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)

The art of miniature sets in Hollywood

Many films utilize meticulously designed miniature sets to produce scenes that would otherwise be too big to film. While artsy filmmaker Wes Anderson is well-known for reviving this technique in an idiosyncratic style, more mainstream films like "Star Wars" and "Inception" rely heavily on small-scale sets filmed in such a way as to make them appear normal-sized. This nine-minute video breaks down how it all works.

Stephen King doesn't believe writing can be taught

But he does believe it can be learned. He argues that the best writers are "voracious readers" who start their careers by copying the style of the masters before developing their own.

An ‘auteur’ is another name for the chief creative mind of a film

“Auteur” is French for author. In film studies, the word refers to a film director who is considered the principal creative mind, or author, behind a film. Directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Akira Kurosawa, Steven Spielberg, and Greta Gerwig are often considered auteurs.

The 31 best science fiction films ever

This list refreshingly starts off with the best first—1968's "2001: A Space Odyssey," Stanley Kubrick's cerebral, futuristic icon. Coming in at 31st is Disney's "Wall-E."

Lessons learned from Steve Jobs

From predicting our screen-filled future in 1983 to slashing Apple's product line in 1997, Steve Jobs believed in focus, simplicity, and the fusion of technology and art. His philosophies still influence how products are built and marketed today.

In 2026, Timothée Chalamet suggested 'no one cares' about opera

In a February 2026 conversation with fellow actor Matthew McConaughey, Chalamet noted that he wanted movie theaters to remain vital and commercially relevant, unlike other areas of the arts that he felt had become charity cases, specifically mentioning ballet and opera. The comment sparked a backlash from other celebrities and artists working in ballet and opera, who said he was out of touch.

Scientists are learning to guide your dreams using sound and touch

Researchers are using a technique called "targeted dream incubation"—where stimuli like sounds or vibrations are introduced as you drift off—to influence dream content and potentially improve creativity, memory consolidation, and PTSD treatment. With the same mechanism, companies could theoretically target sleeping consumers with brand suggestions while they're unaware and neurologically susceptible, or assist in reducing nightmares.

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

Film festivals are where independent projects find studios

Film festivals are incubators for the movie industry, providing smaller films and their producers with opportunities to screen in front of live audiences, as well as potential investors who may offer wider distribution.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

The first horror movie is believed to be George Méliès' 1986 short 'The Haunted Castle,' which pioneered the use of special effects

Researchers believe the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and plans for the future during dream states

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

The Dracula character, now seen as the vampire archetype, was inspired by a seafood-induced nightmare its creator experienced.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

One of the most famous portraits ever taken is 'Afghan Girl' (1984) by Steve McCurry, yet the subject Sharbat Gula went much of her life without being identified or benefitting from the image's success.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.