Steven Spielberg's 7-Word Response to When He'll Retire From Hollywood
It's hard to imagine a world in which Steven Spielberg isn't making movies—so much so that even the three-time Oscar winner doesn't want to envision it.
The Jaws creator was on hand Thursday night for the dedication of a new, state-of-the-art theater just steps from Universal Studios, according to The Hollywood Reporter.'It's not just a place that is founded on his extraordinary legacy but it is a place of future hopes and dreams of filmmakers, of storytellers who are you going to take this company into the next 100 years, and the 100 after that,' enthused NBCUniversal Entertainment chairman Donna Langley, who has shared a very rare 50 years of making movies with Spielberg.
When it was finally Spielberg's turn to speak, it was clear just how emotional—and touching—a moment it was for the beloved filmmaker. He spoke about witnessing the changing fortunes of the studio first-hand, and how thrilling it was to see the company become what it is today, which he described as 'The rebirth of the belief in the people that work as a family, as a community, as a team to make good thing happen.
Spielberg, 78, concluded his remarks by answering the one question on everyone's mind that was never asked of him: When does he plan to retire?
'I'm making a lot of movies,' Spielberg said, 'and I have no plans ever to retire.'
The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Spielberg separately from his speech, and asked about what films were still on his bucket list. He shared that he has 'an appetite for a Western which I will someday hopefully do… It's something that's eluded me for all of these decades.'
Steven Spielberg's 7-Word Response to When He'll Retire From Hollywood first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 27, 2025
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
I Can't Watch "Jaws" The Same Way After Reading These 13 Behind-The-Scenes Facts
Steven Spielberg got hold of an advanced copy of the 1974 novel Jaws by Peter Benchley before it was published and knew right away that he wanted to shoot it for the screen. But there was a problem. A pair of producers already owned the film rights and had a different director in mind. Then, one day, Spielberg got a call that Benchley wanted to meet with him. In an interview from the book Spielberg: The First Ten Years, the director explained, "They sat me down and announced, 'We want you to direct Jaws.' I said, 'Whatever happened to the director?' And they explained, 'We had the meeting with him, but he kept referring to the shark in front of Peter Benchley as "the white whale." And Peter became very disinterested in having his shark called a whale.' And that's how the project finally came to me." film version of Jaws cut out several subplots from the novel, including one where Ellen Brody has an affair with Matt Hooper. In the book, Ellen dated Matt's older brother when they were younger and, when they met again as adults, succumbed to the rugged marine biologist's charms. Martin Brody finds out about their liaison, but instead of wrapping up the plot with a confrontation or closure, he just stews in his bitterness, leading to a much less happy ending. The book also features a subplot about Mayor Larry Vaughn being under the mafia's thumb, as if his character could be any sleazier. Both subplots were cut because they took focus away from the real heart of the movie, the hunt for the deadly shark. author Peter Benchley appears briefly in the movie as a TV news reporter giving updates from the beach. Benchley had previously worked as an actual TV news reporter, so the role was a natural fit. After Jaws, Benchley became a shark expert and conservationist. He said, "Knowing what I know today, I couldn't write the same book. ... I couldn't possibly demonize an animal the way I did." Dreyfuss, who played Matt Hooper, wasn't Spielberg's first choice for the part. The director first went to Jon Voight, Timothy Bottoms, and Jeff Bridges before George Lucas suggested Dreyfuss, having just worked with him on American Graffiti. Dreyfuss wasn't initially interested in doing the movie, but after meeting with Spielberg a second time, he agreed to join the cast. Before his breakout role in American Graffiti, Dreyfuss had played small parts in various TV shows like Gunsmoke and That Girl. He would go on to work with Spielberg again in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Always. he started shooting Jaws, Spielberg hired the Australian filmmakers Ron and Valerie Taylor to shoot some underwater film with a real great white shark. The Taylors shot footage of a stuntman confronting the shark from within a cage, which was used in the tense scene in the movie where Hooper comes face to jaws with the shark. But despite the Taylors' experience working in the water, it didn't go as planned. The stuntman wasn't a trained diver, so he became overwhelmed with fear at the point of being submerged. During a take when he wasn't in the cage, the shark down below got caught in the wires attached to the cage. In its struggle to break free, the shark severed the wires and the cage sank into the sea. Spielberg had originally intended to have Dreyfuss's character killed by the shark during the cage scene, but he loved the happy accident of the Taylors' footage so much that he rewrote the script to have Hooper escape. Valerie Taylor went on to work as a conservationist and advocate for sharks, and the subject of the National Geographic documentary Playing with Sharks. She believes that sharks have distinct personalities and has said, "Some are shy, some are bullies, some are brave." Vineyard stood in for the town of Amity, but Spielberg chose the location for more than its quaint New England charm. To capture shots of the shark hunters out on the open ocean, Spielberg needed a location with shallow enough water to install and run the mechanical shark. He said, "It was the only place on the East Coast where I could go twelve miles out to sea and avoid any sighting of land but still have a sandy ocean bottom only thirty feet below the surface, where we could install our shark sled." Spielberg felt that shooting on the water without any land visible made these scenes more suspenseful. "I wanted the audience to think the boat couldn't just simply turn around and go back to shore. I literally needed a 360-degree stage at sea." mechanical sharks were built for the movie and were nicknamed Bruce, after Spielberg's lawyer. They were constructed by special effects wizard Bob Mattey, who also built the giant squid in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The sharks cost $250,000 to build and were even more expensive to use in the water. Working with Bruce in the open ocean turned out to be a filmmaker's nightmare. The water rusted its machinery, and it frequently malfunctioned or refused to work at all. The movie had been scheduled to shoot in 55 days, but the trouble with Bruce and the unpredictable nature of shooting in the ocean inflated the shoot to 159 days. Ultimately, Spielberg ended up finding creative ways to shoot around Bruce's limitations. The movie also shows the shark sparingly, with its first appearance coming an hour and 21 minutes into the film. designer Joe Alves worried that Bruce wouldn't be frightening enough for audiences. "I thought people would laugh at the shark because it would make all of these funny noises before the music was added and the crew would laugh." He went on to say, "But when I saw the first screening, nobody laughed. They started screaming. Then I realized, 'Oh, I think we've got a big success here.'" John Williams wrote the iconic "Jaws Theme" on the piano, using low, rhythmic notes to build a primal sense of dread. But when Spielberg first heard the composition, he thought it was "too simple." Williams would later recall that when he first played it for the director, Spielberg said, "You can't be serious." "At that time, I had no idea that it would have that kind of impact on people," Williams said. "Steven and I had a little laugh about it." Williams's score for Jaws won his second Academy Award. He has scored 26 films for Spielberg, including the Indiana Jones trilogy, E.T., and Jurassic Park. grizzled seaman Quint's mannerisms and lines were partly inspired by a Martha's Vineyard selectman named Craig Kingsbury, who showed up to an open audition. Spielberg ended up casting Kingsbury as Ben Gardner after nearly choosing him for the role of Quint, which went to Robert Shaw. Kingsbury ad-libbed lines like, "They'll wish their fathers had never met their mothers, when they start takin' their bottoms out and slammin' into them rocks, boy." Spielberg loved the local color Kingsbury brought to the movie so much that he kept making his part bigger. 11.A scene was cut from Jaws because of actor Gregory Peck. Originally, the movie introduced Quint disrupting a screening of Moby Dick in an Amity cinema. However, Peck owned the rights to the 1956 movie and didn't allow it to be shown in Jaws. Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss didn't get along on set. Shaw thought Dreyfuss was arrogant and inexperienced, and in turn, Dreyfuss was frustrated with the older actor's habit of drinking to excess. One day, Shaw reportedly asked Dreyfuss to help him out, and Dreyfuss responded by grabbing and throwing his costar's glass of bourbon out the window. Later that day, Dreyfuss said that Shaw sprayed him with a fire extinguisher mid-take. In later years, Dreyfuss would speak fondly of his costar, saying, "In private, he was the kindest, gentlest, funniest guy you ever met." the line, "You're gonna need a bigger boat," is probably the most famous bit of dialogue in Jaws, and it was ad-libbed by actor Roy Scheider. The line came from an inside joke among the crew who were often frustrated by the difficulties of loading all the equipment and amenities of a working film set onto a boat. Screenwriter Carl Gottlieb explained, "It became a catchphrase for any time anything went wrong—if lunch was late or the swells were rocking the camera, someone would say, 'You're gonna need a bigger boat.'" Scheider had a habit of slipping the line into his scenes, and the moment when he deadpans it after the movie's first shark sighting was just too good to cut.
Buzz Feed
2 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
13 Facts That Will Forever Change How You See 'Jaws'
Director Steven Spielberg got hold of an advanced copy of the 1974 novel Jaws by Peter Benchley before it was published and knew right away that he wanted to shoot it for the screen. But there was a problem. A pair of producers already owned the film rights and had a different director in mind. Then, one day, Spielberg got a call that Benchley wanted to meet with him. In an interview from the book Spielberg: The First Ten Years, the director explained, "They sat me down and announced, 'We want you to direct Jaws.' I said, 'Whatever happened to the director?' And they explained, 'We had the meeting with him, but he kept referring to the shark in front of Peter Benchley as "the white whale." And Peter became very disinterested in having his shark called a whale.' And that's how the project finally came to me." The film version of Jaws cut out several subplots from the novel, including one where Ellen Brody has an affair with Matt Hooper. In the book, Ellen dated Matt's older brother when they were younger and, when they met again as adults, succumbed to the rugged marine biologist's charms. Martin Brody finds out about their liaison, but instead of wrapping up the plot with a confrontation or closure, he just stews in his bitterness, leading to a much less happy ending. The book also features a subplot about Mayor Larry Vaughn being under the mafia's thumb, as if his character could be any sleazier. Both subplots were cut because they took focus away from the real heart of the movie, the hunt for the deadly shark. Jaws author Peter Benchley appears briefly in the movie as a TV news reporter giving updates from the beach. Benchley had previously worked as an actual TV news reporter, so the role was a natural fit. After Jaws, Benchley became a shark expert and conservationist. He said, "Knowing what I know today, I couldn't write the same book. ... I couldn't possibly demonize an animal the way I did." Richard Dreyfuss, who played Matt Hooper, wasn't Spielberg's first choice for the part. The director first went to Jon Voight, Timothy Bottoms, and Jeff Bridges before George Lucas suggested Dreyfuss, having just worked with him on American Graffiti. Dreyfuss wasn't initially interested in doing the movie, but after meeting with Spielberg a second time, he agreed to join the cast. Before his breakout role in American Graffiti, Dreyfuss had played small parts in various TV shows like Gunsmoke and That Girl. He would go on to work with Spielberg again in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Always. Before he started shooting Jaws, Spielberg hired the Australian filmmakers Ron and Valerie Taylor to shoot some underwater film with a real great white shark. The Taylors shot footage of a stuntman confronting the shark from within a cage, which was used in the tense scene in the movie where Hooper comes face to jaws with the shark. But despite the Taylors' experience working in the water, it didn't go as planned. The stuntman wasn't a trained diver, so he became overwhelmed with fear at the point of being submerged. During a take when he wasn't in the cage, the shark down below got caught in the wires attached to the cage. In its struggle to break free, the shark severed the wires and the cage sank into the sea. Spielberg had originally intended to have Dreyfuss's character killed by the shark during the cage scene, but he loved the happy accident of the Taylors' footage so much that he rewrote the script to have Hooper escape. Valerie Taylor went on to work as a conservationist and advocate for sharks, and the subject of the National Geographic documentary Playing with Sharks. She believes that sharks have distinct personalities and has said, "Some are shy, some are bullies, some are brave." Martha's Vineyard stood in for the town of Amity, but Spielberg chose the location for more than its quaint New England charm. To capture shots of the shark hunters out on the open ocean, Spielberg needed a location with shallow enough water to install and run the mechanical shark. He said, "It was the only place on the East Coast where I could go twelve miles out to sea and avoid any sighting of land but still have a sandy ocean bottom only thirty feet below the surface, where we could install our shark sled." Spielberg felt that shooting on the water without any land visible made these scenes more suspenseful. "I wanted the audience to think the boat couldn't just simply turn around and go back to shore. I literally needed a 360-degree stage at sea." Three mechanical sharks were built for the movie and were nicknamed Bruce, after Spielberg's lawyer. They were constructed by special effects wizard Bob Mattey, who also built the giant squid in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The sharks cost $250,000 to build and were even more expensive to use in the water. Working with Bruce in the open ocean turned out to be a filmmaker's nightmare. The water rusted its machinery, and it frequently malfunctioned or refused to work at all. The movie had been scheduled to shoot in 55 days, but the trouble with Bruce and the unpredictable nature of shooting in the ocean inflated the shoot to 159 days. Ultimately, Spielberg ended up finding creative ways to shoot around Bruce's limitations. The movie also shows the shark sparingly, with its first appearance coming an hour and 21 minutes into the film. Production designer Joe Alves worried that Bruce wouldn't be frightening enough for audiences. "I thought people would laugh at the shark because it would make all of these funny noises before the music was added and the crew would laugh." He went on to say, "But when I saw the first screening, nobody laughed. They started screaming. Then I realized, 'Oh, I think we've got a big success here.'" Composer John Williams wrote the iconic "Jaws Theme" on the piano, using low, rhythmic notes to build a primal sense of dread. But when Spielberg first heard the composition, he thought it was "too simple." Williams would later recall that when he first played it for the director, Spielberg said, "You can't be serious." "At that time, I had no idea that it would have that kind of impact on people," Williams said. "Steven and I had a little laugh about it." Williams's score for Jaws won his second Academy Award. He has scored 26 films for Spielberg, including the Indiana Jones trilogy, E.T., and Jurassic Park. The grizzled seaman Quint's mannerisms and lines were partly inspired by a Martha's Vineyard selectman named Craig Kingsbury, who showed up to an open audition. Spielberg ended up casting Kingsbury as Ben Gardner after nearly choosing him for the role of Quint, which went to Robert Shaw. Kingsbury ad-libbed lines like, "They'll wish their fathers had never met their mothers, when they start takin' their bottoms out and slammin' into them rocks, boy." Spielberg loved the local color Kingsbury brought to the movie so much that he kept making his part bigger. A scene was cut from Jaws because of actor Gregory Peck. Originally, the movie introduced Quint disrupting a screening of Moby Dick in an Amity cinema. However, Peck owned the rights to the 1956 movie and didn't allow it to be shown in Jaws. Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss didn't get along on set. Shaw thought Dreyfuss was arrogant and inexperienced, and in turn, Dreyfuss was frustrated with the older actor's habit of drinking to excess. One day, Shaw reportedly asked Dreyfuss to help him out, and Dreyfuss responded by grabbing and throwing his costar's glass of bourbon out the window. Later that day, Dreyfuss said that Shaw sprayed him with a fire extinguisher mid-take. In later years, Dreyfuss would speak fondly of his costar, saying, "In private, he was the kindest, gentlest, funniest guy you ever met." Finally, the line, "You're gonna need a bigger boat," is probably the most famous bit of dialogue in Jaws, and it was ad-libbed by actor Roy Scheider. The line came from an inside joke among the crew who were often frustrated by the difficulties of loading all the equipment and amenities of a working film set onto a boat. Screenwriter Carl Gottlieb explained, "It became a catchphrase for any time anything went wrong—if lunch was late or the swells were rocking the camera, someone would say, 'You're gonna need a bigger boat.'"Scheider had a habit of slipping the line into his scenes, and the moment when he deadpans it after the movie's first shark sighting was just too good to cut.
Buzz Feed
8 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
17 Old Hollywood Movies That Were Almost Banned For Being Gay
Old Hollywood movies had to follow strict guidelines throughout the 1930s–1960s, known as the Hays Code. This basically prevented all US films from featuring anything that was overtly sexual or "inappropriate," which forced a lot of filmmakers to get creative about how they could navigate potential censorship. I have running lists on Letterboxd of every Old Hollywood and LGBTQ+ movie that I watch, so I sifted through them to find a bunch from the Hays Code era that are subtly (and not so subtly) suuuuuper gay. Here are some of my favorites. Enjoy! Rebel Without a Cause (1955) stars James Dean as a bisexual hottie, so you really can't ask for much more. The original script had his character kissing Plato, who was one of the first gay teen characters on screen, but the Hays Code quickly squashed that from happening. Still, this movie is edgy and dramatic and romantic, and the whole cast is just so fun to look at. Who's in it: James Dean, Sal Mineo, Natalie Wood, and Dennis Hopper Here's the trailer: All About Eve (1950) is a witty and toxic drama about an aging actress who befriends a fan who ultimately tries to usurp her. This movie shares the record for the most Oscar nominations ever, with 14, and it briefly features Marilyn Monroe in one of her first roles ever. There are so many queer undertones and characters throughout, and they're all so delicious. Also, I personally think this is the best film ever made, so I'm basically begging you to watch it. Who's in it: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, Thelma Ritter, Celeste Holm, George Sanders, and Gary Merrill Here's the trailer: Homicidal (1961) was made towards the end of the Hays Code and sort of pushed the boundaries of what was allowed. You'll see why when the big twist in this horror-thriller is revealed, so I won't spoil anything for you now. Just know that this film was deemed so scary that it literally included a 45-second "fright break" that appeared on screen before the climax, which told viewers they could request a full refund from the movie theater if they were too scared to finish watching. Who's in it: Glenn Corbett, Patricia Breslin, Joan Marshall, and Eugenie Leontovich Here's the trailer: Tea and Sympathy (1956) follows a "sensitive" prep school teen who's bullied by the other students and teachers. He finds solace in an older woman, played by Deborah Kerr, and the whole thing is just sooooo pretty to look at. Who's in it: Deborah Kerr, Leif Erickson, John Kerr, and Edward Andrews Here's the trailer: Compulsion (1959) follows two hot, wealthy, and secretly queer college boys who commit a murder and think they're too smart to get away with it. It's loosely based on the real-life Leopold and Loeb murder trial, so just trust me on this one. Who's in it: Orson Welles, Dean Stockwell, Bradford Dillman, Diane Varsi, and Richard Anderson Here's the trailer: Rope (1948) is Alfred Hitchcock's adaptation of a play that was ~also~ inspired by the Leopold and Loeb murder trial. This one focuses on two young (and queer) killers who host a dinner party after hiding the dead body in their apartment. The movie was shot to look like it was filmed in a single take, which heightens its suspense and helps to keep the characters (and viewers) on edge. Who's in it: Farley Granger, John Dall, and James Stewart Here's the trailer: Edge of the City (1957) is a gritty drama about the friendship between John Cassavetes and Sidney Poitier's characters. It's rough and tough and has a lotttt of queer subtext. Ruby Dee is also in this movie, and she's especially fantastic. Who's in it: Sidney Poitier, John Cassavetes, Ruby Dee, and Jack Warden Here's the trailer: The Children's Hour (1961) stars Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine as two women who run a boarding school for girls in 1930s New England. One of the students is a troublemaking little b*tch who starts a rumor that they're in a lesbian relationship, and all hell breaks loose. The movie is based on Lillian Hellman's famous play of the same name, and it's a must-watch. Who's in it: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner, Fay Bainter, and Miriam Hopkins Here's the trailer: Purple Noon (1960) is actually adapted from the book The Talented Mr. Ripley. This French film is just so freaking hot, and if you're into suspenseful dramas or even remotely liked the 1999 version with Jude Law and Matt Damon then you absolutely need to check this out. Who's in it: Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet, Marie Laforêt, and Billy Kearns Here's the trailer: Strangers on a Train (1951) is a psychological thriller from Alfred Hitchcock. It's about two strangers who both want someone murdered, so they swap victims to prevent anyone from getting suspicious of them. It's a super fun watch, and Farley Granger is so handsome that he'll kinda take your breath away. Who's in it: Farley Granger, Robert Walker, and Ruth Roman Here's the trailer: Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) is centered around a wealthy widow who tries to get her niece lobotomized to cover up the truth about her secretly queer (and now deceased) son. This one is a little out there, but Katharine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor both received Best Actress Oscar nominations for their roles, so there's that. Who's in it: Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift, and Gary Raymond Here's the trailer: The Hitch-Hiker (1953) is about two male friends who are basically taken hostage after picking up a hitchhiker while on their way to a fishing trip. The film is based on the 1950 killing spree of Billy Cook, and it examines homosexual panic, masculinity, and traditional gender roles. Who's in it: Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy, and William Talman Here's the trailer: The Servant (1963) deals with unspoken desires, homoerotic tensions, and the ultimate dom-sub power dynamic. In it, a wealthy, young Londoner hires a man to be his servant. The servant slowly takes control and manipulates his "master," and it's a wilddddd ride. Who's in it: James Fox, Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles, and Wendy Craig Here's the trailer: Victim (1961) is centered around a closeted lawyer in London who's blackmailed for being gay, which was illegal in England until 1967. This is a groundbreaking piece of movie history because it was the first British film to explicitly mention homosexuality, and it should be required viewing for everyone. Who's in it: Dirk Bogarde, Dennis Price, Anthony Nicholls, and Sylvia Syms Here's the trailer: Advise & Consent (1962) is a political drama that was adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name. It's centered around the confirmation of a nominee for Secretary of State, who just so happens to be a married US senator who's being blackmailed for secretly having past relations with a man. Who's in it: Henry Fonda, Don Murray, Gene Tierney, Walter Pidgeon, and Charles Laughton Here's the trailer: The Haunting (1963) is a revolutionary horror movie that features one of the only lesbian characters of its time to be feminine and not predatory. The film is based on the book The Haunting of Hill House, which was ultimately turned into a hugely popular Netflix series, so if you like either of them then you should watch this too. Who's in it: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, and Russ Tamblyn Here's the trailer: Finally, Rebecca (1940) is the only Alfred Hitchcock film to win Best Picture at the Oscars. It features one of the most famous ~coded~ queer characters from Old Hollywood: Mrs. Danvers. Throughout the film, her obsession with Rebecca becomes more and more prevalent, though under the Hays Code her queerness had to be implied rather than stated outright. Who's in it: Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, George Sanders, and Judith Anderson Here's the trailer: Looking for more LGBTQ+ content? Check out all of BuzzFeed's Pride 2025 posts here!
