The latest episode of Citizen Dame is here! And we’re finally talking Steven Spielberg. This week, we’re kicking off summer blockbuster season with a dive into three very Spielberg/Blockbuster movies: Jaws (1975), E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Jurassic Park (1993).
Before he made us all terrified to go into the water, Steven Spielberg got his big start in Hollywood directing for television. With episodes of Night Gallery, The Psychiatrist, and Columbo, he was a director on the rise when he landed a deal with Universal to make TV movies. The first and most successful was Duel, which first aired on ABC on November 13, 1971. It was such a huge hit that it eventually scored a theatrical release with an extended cut.
Spielberg’s first feature was the 1974 film The Sugarland Express. But everything would change the following year when Jaws became the first modern blockbuster.
To date, Spielberg has been nominated for 25 Academy Awards, as well as receiving the Irving G. Thalberg award in 1986. His first nomination for directing came in 1977 with Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He won his first competitive Oscar in 1993 for Schindler’s List, which also won Best Picture. He would win a second directing Oscar for Saving Private Ryan in 1998. Steven Spielberg is currently the only director to have been nominated for the Oscar in six different decades.
