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The works of Steven Spielberg are already timeless as they are, without being labeled as all-time classics. The auteur found a knack for pioneering the big screen after first falling in love with movie sets. The fascinating escapism he found within the made-up world where fiction and reality meet combined to deliver a singularly unique experience to every viewer who sits in a theater.
To realize in hindsight that not only are Spielberg’s works classics but a rarity that almost never existed is a tad too tragic for Monday morning news. And this is exactly what happened when theJurassic Parkdirector came across one of the most brilliant movies ever made –Lawrence of Arabia, the 1962 film directed by David Lean, starring Peter O’Toole.
Steven Spielberg’s Crisis of Faith
In the moviemaking business, faith and creativity go hand in hand. Talent simply does not do the job completely. One also needs to have faith that their idea, dialogue delivery, costume choice, action sequence, or even the musical number is going to pan out in the fully cut, edited, and revised version of the film.
In 1962,Steven Spielbergwas 16 years old. He was already molding himself into a director by then, sneaking his way into the Universal parking lot, meeting John Ford, pretending to be a young movie executive, and even deceptively giving himself an office on the lot. As a teenager, Spielberg fully realized that when he stepped into the world of make-believe, whatever he dreamed of and believed in could come true if he held a camera in his hands.
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All his dreams faltered the momentLawrence of Arabiacame out. No longer was Spielberg an ambitious teen well on his way to securing the title of the youngest director to hold a long-term deal with a major Hollywood studio (that came later). The mastery of David Lean and Peter O’Toole gave him a serious complex about the profession he found himself so enamored with.
Lawrence of Arabiaversus Steven Spielberg
David Lean’s 1962 masterpiece inspired a lot of young, innovative minds and impressed a lot of older, knowledgeable ones. Among the list areJames Cameronand Denis Villeneuve, both of whom were inspired so immensely byLawrence of Arabiaas teenagers that its influence can still be found in the bulk ofDuneand Cameron’sAvatar.
Spielberg, on the other hand, had an extreme reaction to the movie: he almost lost faith in his choice of profession and gave up on his dream of becoming a filmmaker. In the Max documentarySpielberg, the director proclaimed thatLawrence of Arabiawas one of the most influential movies he had seen. However, that realization also came with a negative epiphany:
I remember the time I almost gave up my dream of being a movie director. When the film was over, I wanted to not be a director anymore. Because the bar was too high. It was the first time seeing a movie I realize that there are themes that aren’t narrative story themes, they are themes that are character themes, that are personal themes, and at the heart and core of Lawrence of Arabia is: who am I?
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Despite the unparalleled masterclass that David Lean delivered on the silver screen, Steven Spielberg still went on to become the most revered director of all time, the most commercially successful director in film history, and one of the greatest innovative artists of the modern era.
Lawrence of Arabiais streaming on Netflix, Prime Video, and MGM+.
Diya Majumdar
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2408
Diya Majumdar is a Senior Content Writer at FandomWire with over 2000 published articles on the website. Since 2022, she has been working as an entertainment journalist with a special focus on films and pop culture.Among the countless genres and themes of Hollywood, the ones that particularly favor Diya’s tastes include Game of Thrones, DC, and well-aged thrillers and classics.
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Steven Spielberg
