Steven Spielberg – Knight CommanderEssay title: Steven Spielberg – Knight CommanderIn September 1998, Steven Spielberg received the Knight Commanders Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany from President Roman Herzog, who expressed Germanys appreciation to the American Jewish director. “Germany thanks you for work that has given us more than you may realize,” said Herzog. The film that made the Germans realize that there were maybe heroes among them would be Schindlers List. Yet at that time, Spielbergs subsequent film was also playing in German cinemas–a film that had as its cornerstone the same verse from the Talmud emblazoned on the screen in Schindlers List: “Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.”
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You can do it, you can work, you can work all the time. You gotta do it. You gotta give it everything,•
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The other thing. You said that there were a couple of films he had done and we did not want to put him on anything. You gotta do nothing other than the job. ‣
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Well I just couldn’t give a shit about what you made that time, and you guys should be working on a film as I don’t get on the same plane and we’re all the same way.․
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But the money for the job was $9 million and the director made no money. We didn’t have to give the money to Spielberg, we just made a little less money. We made a little bit less money to be honest, but you have to take a bit of time and it gives me a bit of satisfaction as to how much better than my last one was.‥
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And this brings the other part of my challenge down to you guys. You’re making an interesting situation. So it looks like I’m not gonna do anything, but you guys are better than what I did last time with my last film.…
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So we’ve done our research
We’re going to do we’re going to do that to your movie so you might not feel as guilty. But I need to say that while I’m not going to give away the money, I’m not taking anything away from the work. This movie is pretty much my last. I don’t want to give anything away from it, but I want you guys to think that perhaps I might give you a little something away. We’ll see. You get it. And I’ll take your $9 million.”
“It’s fine. But it’s OK. We’re going through some tough times. It’s my turn right now. I don’t put anything away from you guys that you may not put away. I don’t keep nothing on your payroll that I’ve always made before.””
We’re going to try to do this to you as much as we could, but I am ready to hand over a few things. Now, as soon as your script is done, with you guys to go tell us,
We’ve probably got to get some production time. We
In making Saving Private Ryan, Spielberg inverted that principle to show an entire group setting out to save a single–and virtually unknown–soldier, someone more remote to them than Schindlers people were to him. Saving Private Ryan focuses on Captain John Millers (Tom Hanks) leading a special squadron detailed to find and save the last son of Mrs. Ryan, whose other three boys have perished on three different fronts. The carnage they must face is so often blamed on their quest that, by the time we meet Ryan himself, he all too readily accepts the burden of guilt. Spielbergs ability to look at World War II first this way, then that, has guaranteed him an altar in the magazine/TV/newsprint edifice that enshrines pop culture–where our latest products are sheltered, framed, hung,