Spielberg spies a return to prolific filmmaking
Director’s newest opens next month and he already has two other movies on the go
NEW YORK — The nearly threeyear wait since Steven Spielberg’s last movie (2012’s Lincoln) comes to an end this October with the spy thriller Bridge of Spies.
Good news for moviegoers: There won’t be another gap like that for a while. Spielberg is already editing his next film, Roald Dahl’s The BFG, and is in pre-production on Ready Player One, a sci-fi adventure from Ernest Cline’s bestseller. It’s a pace Spielberg, 68, says he plans to continue.
“I’m doing a long stretch of directing over the next several years,” Spielberg says. “We put our last child into college. Number seven went to college last week and (wife Kate Capshaw) and I are enjoying the empty nest. It gives her a chance to get more involved with her art — she’s a wonderful painter — and it gives me a chance to direct movies back to back now.”
Bridge of Spies, due out Oct. 16, stars Tom Hanks as James Donovan, a lawyer the CIA recruited to rescue a spy pilot downed in the Soviet Union.
Q What attracted you to Bridge of Spies?
A I’ve always wanted to make a spy movie. This is not James Bond. Only James Bond can be James Bond. I’ve always been fascinated with the entertainment value of the James Bond spy series of movies, as well as the serious John le Carré spy novels.
Q Were you interested in making a film set during the Cold War?
A I lived through the Cold War and I was very aware of the possibility of walking down the street and seeing a white flash and being atomized. I was very aware of what a tentative and in- secure time it was, especially for young people. It’s something that made a big impression on me as a kid.
Q You caused a stir two years ago when you predicted Hollywood was headed toward an “implosion” because of the over-abundance of mega-budget movies. Do you still feel that way?
A I do. I still feel that way. We were around when the western died and there will be a time when the superhero movie goes the way of the western. It doesn’t mean there won’t be another occasion where the western comes back and the superhero movie someday returns. I’m only saying that these cycles have a finite time in popular culture. There will come a day when the mythological stories are supplanted by some other genre that possibly some young filmmaker is just thinking about discovering for all of us.