:''This article is about the 1997 drama Firelight. For the 1964 movie by Steven Spielberg, see ''Firelight (1964 film)''.''

name	Firelight
director	William Nicholson
producer	Brian Eastman
writer	William Nicholson
starring	Sophie Marceau Stephen Dillane
music	Christopher Gunning
cinematography	Nic Morris
editing	Chris Wimble
distributor	Buena Vista International (Austria) GmbH Buena Vista International Spain S.A. (Spain) Buena Vista International (Germany) Eurozoom (France) Miramax Films (1998) (USA)
released	14 September 1997 (Deauville Film Festival)4 September 1998 (USA)
runtime	103 minutes
language	English French
gross	}}

''Firelight'' (1997) is a period romance/drama film written and directed by William Nicholson. It was Nicholson's first, and to date only, film as director.

Plot

In 1838, Swiss governess Elisabeth Laurier agrees to bear a child for an anonymous Englishman. In return, the Englishman will pay all of her father's debts. They meet over three nights at a lonely island hotel. Despite their wish for detachment, they develop a deeply passionate connection during their lovemaking by firelight. Their feelings grow after they converse on the beach and at the hotel.

Elisabeth gives birth to a girl, Louisa, nine months later. As agreed she gives the child away, but never forgets her. She begins to keep a journal of watercolor flowers and plants, adding a page for each holiday and birthday they are apart.

The anonymous Englishman is Charles Godwin, a landowner and struggling sheep farmer. He can barely keep the debtors of his philandering father, Lord Clare, at bay. Charles's wife, Amy Godwin, is paralyzed and catatonic due to a horseriding accident. Amy's sister, Constance, runs the Godwin household.

Never having forgotten the voice of her daughter at birth, Elizabeth manages to track her down seven years later, and get herself hired as Louisa's new governess. Charles rejects Elisabeth, and demands she leave immediately. However, Constance insists that he give the new governess a month in order to find a new situation. Showing Elisabeth the catatonic form of his wife, Charles forces Elisabeth to swear never to reveal to Louisa or anyone the nature of their previous relationship.

Louisa is spoiled, ignorant, willful, foulmouthed, and unloved by anyone except her father. Though the father and daughter have a loving relationship, Elisabeth is appalled by the lack of control Charles exercises over Louisa. He refuses to use any forms of discipline in her upbringing. Unable to keep Louisa at her lessons, Elisabeth locks the child in the classroom. Charles is furious. He roughly manhandles Elisabeth in an effort to extract the key to the schoolroom. While Charles wants his daughter to enjoy life as much as she can before she comes to understand how awful it really is, Elisabeth is determined that her daughter will learn to behave in such a way that she can be loved by others, and that she will have an education so she can determine her own path in the world. To convince Charles to allow this discipline, Elizabeth promises she will never harm Louisa, and whatever she does to Louisa she will also do to herself.

Outside of class, Louisa spends all of her spare time in her "Lakehouse", a small belvedere on the estate in the middle of a pond, which can only be reached by boat. Here, Louisa pretends she has a mother. At first, Elisabeth watches clandestinely from the boat docks while Louisa is in the Lakehouse. However, when she finds out that Charles swims naked there in the morning, she begins to go to watch Charles too, leaving before he can see her.

In the classroom, Elisabeth paints picture cards to teach the seven-year-old how to read. She also tells Louisa a tale about the firelight:

"It's a kind of magic. Firelight makes time stand still. When you put out the lamps and sit in the firelight's glow there aren't any rules any more. You can do what you want, say what you want, be what you want, and when the lamps are lit again, time starts again, and everything you said or did is forgotten. More than forgotten it never happened."

She finds this helps Louisa concentrate on her lessons, knowing there is a time at the end of the day when there are no rules.

Increasingly attracted to Elisabeth, Charles asks her to promise him that they can never be close like they once were. Elisabeth is unable to make such a promise and they renew their physical relationship. The firelight becomes a metaphor for the secret nature of their relationship together, and of Elizabeth and Louisa. Charles talks of the three of them leaving together, but Elizabeth says she knows it is impossible, as he has obligations to his estate, family and wife.

It is suddenly announced that the entire estate is being appraised for sale, purportedly to cover overwhelming debts. On a bitterly cold night, Charles consults his conscience as to whether his wife, Amy, would want him to release her from her prison of ten years. He opens the windows of her bedchamber, removes her covers, and allows the fire in her room to go out, leaving her to die of exposure. With Amy's death, her sister Constance expects to be Charles's choice as a new wife. However, she concedes a dignified defeat when she realizes Charles's depth of feeling toward Elisabeth. Elizabeth confronts Charles, and asks him if he killed her, which he admits. They both feel strong guilt, but no regret.

Louisa pokes through Elisabeth's room and finds the illustrated journal dedicated to "My English Daughter". Louisa confirms that her governess is her mother.

The film ends with the sale of the Godwin's estate. Charles, Elisabeth and Louisa leave on a snowy day to begin their new lives together as a family.

Cast

Sophie Marceau as Elisabeth Laurier

Stephen Dillane as Charles Godwin

Dominique Belcourt as Louisa Godwin

Kevin Anderson as John Taylor

Lia Williams as Constance

Joss Ackland as Lord Clare

Sally Dexter as Molly Holland

Emma Amos as Ellen

Maggie McCarthy as Mrs. Jago

Wolf Kahler as Sussman

Annabel Giles as Amy Godwin

John Flanagan as Robert Ames

Valerie Minifie as Hannah

Diana Payan as Mrs. Maidment

John Hodgkinson as Carlo

Awards

British Society of Cinematographers (1998)

* Nominated for Best Cinematography Award - Nic Morris

San Sebastián International Film Festival (1997)

* Prize of the Jury - Best Cinematography - Nic Morris

* Special Prize of the Jury - William Nicholson

* Nominated for Golden Seashell - William Nicholson

References

External links

Category:1997 films Category:1990s drama films Category:Miramax Films films Category:Hollywood Pictures films Category:Screenplays by William Nicholson

de:Verborgenes Feuer fr:Firelight, le lien secret ru:Пламя страсти (фильм)

birth date	December 18, 1946
birth place	Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
nationality	American
spouse
children	6, including Sasha
occupation	Film director, producer, screenwriter
education	Saratoga High School
alma mater	California State University, Long Beach
religion	Jewish
networth	$3.0 billion (2011)
years active	1963–present }}

Steven Allan Spielberg (born December 18, 1946) is an American film director, screenwriter, film producer, video game designer and studio executive. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an archetype of modern Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking. In later years, his films began addressing such issues as the Holocaust, slavery, war and terrorism. He is considered one of the most popular and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. He is also one of the co-founders of the DreamWorks movie studio.

Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Schindler's List'' (1993) and ''Saving Private Ryan'' (1998). Three of Spielberg's films—''Jaws'' (1975), ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), and ''Jurassic Park'' (1993)—achieved box office records, each becoming the highest-grossing film made at the time. To date, the unadjusted gross of all Spielberg-directed films exceeds $8.5 billion worldwide. Forbes puts Spielberg's wealth at $3.0 billion.

Early life

Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to a Jewish family. His mother, Leah Adler, was a restaurateur and concert pianist, and his father, Arnold Spielberg, was an electrical engineer involved in the development of computers. He spent his childhood in Haddon Township, New Jersey, where he saw one of his first films in a theater, as well as in Scottsdale, Arizona. Throughout his early teens, Spielberg made amateur 8 mm "adventure" films with his friends, the first of which he shot at the Pinnacle Peak Patio restaurant in Scottsdale. He charged admission (25 cents) to his home films (which involved the wrecks he staged with his Lionel train set) while his sister sold popcorn.

In 1958, he became a Boy Scout, and fulfilled a requirement for the photography merit badge by making a nine-minute 8 mm film entitled ''The Last Gunfight''. Spielberg recalled years later to a magazine interviewer, "My dad's still-camera was broken, so I asked the scoutmaster if I could tell a story with my father's movie camera. He said yes, and I got an idea to do a Western. I made it and got my merit badge. That was how it all started." At age 13, Spielberg won a prize for a 40-minute war film he titled ''Escape to Nowhere'' which was based on a battle in east Africa. In 1963, at age 16, Spielberg wrote and directed his first independent film, a 140-minute science fiction adventure called ''Firelight'' (which would later inspire ''Close Encounters''). The film, which had a budget of US$500, was shown in his local cinema and generated a profit of $1. He also made several WWII films inspired by his father's war stories.

After his parents divorced, he moved to Saratoga, California with his father. His three sisters and mother remained in Arizona. Although he attended Arcadia High School in Phoenix, Arizona for three years, Spielberg ended up graduating from Saratoga High School in 1965. It was during this time Spielberg attained the rank of Eagle Scout.

Spielberg attended synagogue as a young boy in Haddon Heights, NJ, an area which did not allow Jews before World War II. He attended Hebrew school from 1953 to 1957, in classes taught by Rabbi Albert L. Lewis, who would later be memorialized as the main character in Mitch Albom's, ''Have a Little Faith''.

As a child, Spielberg faced difficulty reconciling being an Orthodox Jew with the perception of him by other children he played with. “It isn’t something I enjoy admitting,” he once said, “but when I was 7, 8, 9 years old, God forgive me, I was embarrassed because we were Orthodox Jews. I was embarrassed by the outward perception of my parents’ Jewish practices. I was never really ashamed to be Jewish, but I was uneasy at times. My grandfather always wore a long black coat, black hat and long white beard. I was embarrassed to invite my friends over to the house, because he might be in a corner davening [praying], and I wouldn’t know how to explain this to my WASP friends.” Spielberg also said he suffered from acts of anti-Semitic prejudice in his early life: he later said, "In high school, I got smacked and kicked around. Two bloody noses. It was horrible."

After moving to California, he applied to attend the film school at University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television two separate times, but was unsuccessful. He was a student subsequently of California State University, Long Beach. While attending Long Beach State in the 1960s, Spielberg became a member of Theta Chi Fraternity. His actual career began when he returned to Universal Studios as an unpaid, seven-day-a-week intern and guest of the editing department (uncredited). After Spielberg became famous, USC awarded him an honorary degree in 1994, and in 1996 he became a trustee of the university. In 2002, thirty-five years after starting college, Spielberg finished his degree via independent projects at CSULB, and was awarded a B.A. in Film Production and Electronic Arts with an option in Film/Video Production.

As an intern and guest of Universal Studios, Spielberg made his first short film for theatrical release, the 26 minute film ''Amblin''' (1968), the title of which Spielberg later took as the name of his production company, Amblin Entertainment. After Sidney Sheinberg, then the vice-president of production for Universal's TV arm, saw the film, Spielberg became the youngest director ever to be signed for a long-term deal with a major Hollywood studio (Universal). He dropped out of Long Beach State in 1969 to take up the television director contract at Universal Studios and began his career as a professional director. In 1969, ''Variety'' announced that Spielberg would direct his first full length film, ''Malcolm Winkler'', written by Claudia Salter, produced by John Orland, with Frank Price being the executive producer. However, because of the difficulty in casting the key male role, the film was not made. Steven Spielberg also attended Brookdale Community College for undergrad.

Career

Early career (1969–75)

His first professional TV job came when he was hired to do one of the segments for the 1969 pilot episode of ''Night Gallery''. The segment, "Eyes," starred Joan Crawford, and she and Spielberg were reportedly close friends until her death. The episode is unusual in his body of work, in that the camerawork is more highly stylized than his later, more "mature" films. After this, and an episode of ''Marcus Welby, M.D.'', Spielberg got his first feature-length assignment: an episode of ''The Name of the Game'' called "L.A. 2017". This futuristic science fiction episode impressed Universal Studios and they signed him to a short contract. He did another segment on ''Night Gallery'' and did some work for shows such as ''Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law'' and ''The Psychiatrist'' before landing the first series episode of ''Columbo'' (previous episodes were actually TV films).

Based on the strength of his work, Universal signed Spielberg to do four TV films. The first was a Richard Matheson adaptation called ''Duel''. The film is about a psychotic Peterbilt 281 tanker truck driver who chases a terrified driver (Dennis Weaver) of a small Plymouth Valiant and tries to run him off the road. Special praise of this film by the influential British critic Dilys Powell was highly significant to Spielberg's career. Another TV film (''Something Evil'') was made and released to capitalize on the popularity of ''The Exorcist'', then a major best-selling book which had not yet been released as a film. He fulfilled his contract by directing the TV film length pilot of a show called ''Savage'', starring Martin Landau. Spielberg's debut feature film was ''The Sugarland Express'', about a married couple who are chased by police as the couple tries to regain custody of their baby. Spielberg's cinematography for the police chase was praised by reviewers, and ''The Hollywood Reporter'' stated that "a major new director is on the horizon." However, the film fared poorly at the box office and received a limited release.

Studio producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown offered Spielberg the director's chair for ''Jaws'', a thriller-horror film based on the Peter Benchley novel about an enormous killer shark. Spielberg has often referred to the gruelling shoot as his professional crucible. Despite the film's ultimate, enormous success, it was nearly shut down due to delays and budget over-runs.

But Spielberg persevered and finished the film. It was an enormous hit, winning three Academy Awards (for editing, original score and sound) and grossing more than $470 million worldwide at the box office. It also set the domestic record for box office gross, leading to what the press described as "Jawsmania." ''Jaws'' made him a household name, as well as one of America's youngest multi-millionaires, and allowed Spielberg a great deal of autonomy for his future projects. It was nominated for Best Picture and featured Spielberg's first of three collaborations with actor Richard Dreyfuss.

Mainstream breakthrough (1975–93)

Rejecting offers to direct ''Jaws 2'', ''King Kong'' and ''Superman'', Spielberg and actor Richard Dreyfuss re-convened to work on a film about UFOs, which became ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' (1977). One of the rare films both written and directed by Spielberg, ''Close Encounters'' was a critical and box office hit, giving Spielberg his first Best Director nomination from the Academy as well as earning six other Academy Awards nominations. It won Oscars in two categories (Cinematography, Vilmos Zsigmond, and a Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Editing, Frank E. Warner). This second blockbuster helped to secure Spielberg's rise. His next film, ''1941'', a big-budgeted World War II farce, was not nearly as successful and though it grossed over $92.4 million dollars worldwide (and did make a small profit for co-producing studios Columbia and Universal) it was seen as a disappointment, mainly with the critics.

Spielberg then revisited his ''Close Encounters'' project and, with financial backing from Columbia Pictures, released ''Close Encounters: The Special Edition'' in 1980. For this, Spielberg fixed some of the flaws he thought impeded the original 1977 version of the film and also, at the behest of Columbia, and as a condition of Spielberg revising the film, shot additional footage showing the audience the interior of the mothership seen at the end of the film (a decision Spielberg would later regret as he felt the interior of the mothership should have remained a mystery). Nevertheless, the re-release was a moderate success, while the 2001 DVD release of the film restored the original ending.

Next, Spielberg teamed with ''Star Wars'' creator and friend George Lucas on an action adventure film, ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', the first of the Indiana Jones films. The archaeologist and adventurer hero Indiana Jones was played by Harrison Ford (whom Lucas had previously cast in his ''Star Wars'' films as Han Solo). The film was considered an homage to the cliffhanger serials of the Golden Age of Hollywood. It became the biggest film at the box office in 1981, and the recipient of numerous Oscar nominations including Best Director (Spielberg's second nomination) and Best Picture (the second Spielberg film to be nominated for Best Picture). ''Raiders'' is still considered a landmark example of the action-adventure genre.

A year later, Spielberg returned to the science fiction genre with ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''. It was the story of a young boy and the alien he befriends, who was accidentally left behind by his companions and is attempting to return home. ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' went on to become the top-grossing film of all time. ''E.T.'' was also nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.

Between 1982 and 1985, Spielberg produced three high-grossing films: ''Poltergeist'' (for which he also co-wrote the screenplay), a big-screen adaptation of ''The Twilight Zone'' (for which he directed the segment "Kick The Can"), and ''The Goonies'' (Spielberg, executive producer, also wrote the story on which the screenplay was based).

His next directorial feature was the ''Raiders'' sequel ''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom''. Teaming up once again with Lucas and Ford, the film was plagued with uncertainty for the material and script. This film and the Spielberg-produced ''Gremlins'' led to the creation of the PG-13 rating due to the high level of violence in films targeted at younger audiences. In spite of this, ''Temple of Doom'' is rated PG by the MPAA, even though it is the darkest and, possibly, most violent Indy film. Nonetheless, the film was still a huge blockbuster hit in 1984. It was on this project that Spielberg also met his future wife, actress Kate Capshaw.

In 1985, Spielberg released ''The Color Purple,'' an adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, about a generation of empowered African-American women during depression-era America. Starring Whoopi Goldberg and future talk-show superstar Oprah Winfrey, the film was a box office smash and critics hailed Spielberg's successful foray into the dramatic genre. Roger Ebert proclaimed it the best film of the year and later entered it into his Great Films archive. The film received eleven Academy Award nominations, including two for Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. However, much to the surprise of many, Spielberg did not get a Best Director nomination. ''The Color Purple'' is the second of two Spielberg films not to be scored by John Williams, the first being ''Duel''.

In 1987, as China began opening to Western capital investment, Spielberg shot the first American film in Shanghai since the 1930s, an adaptation of J. G. Ballard's autobiographical novel ''Empire of the Sun'', starring John Malkovich and a young Christian Bale. The film garnered much praise from critics and was nominated for several Oscars, but did not yield substantial box office revenues. Reviewer Andrew Sarris called it the best film of the year and later included it among the best films of the decade.

After two forays into more serious dramatic films, Spielberg then directed the third Indiana Jones film, 1989's ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade''. Once again teaming up with Lucas and Ford, Spielberg also cast actor Sean Connery in a supporting role as Indy's father. The film earned generally positive reviews and was another box office success, becoming the highest grossing film worldwide that year; its total box office receipts even topped those of Tim Burton's much-anticipated film ''Batman'', which had been the bigger hit domestically. Also in 1989, he re-united with actor Richard Dreyfuss for the romantic comedy-drama ''Always'', about a daredevil pilot who extinguishes forest fires. Spielberg's first romantic film, ''Always'' was only a moderate success and had mixed reviews.

In 1991, Spielberg directed ''Hook'', about a middle-aged Peter Pan, played by Robin Williams, who returns to Neverland. Despite innumerable rewrites and creative changes coupled with mixed reviews, the film proved popular with audiences, making over $300 million worldwide (from a $70 million budget).

In 1993, Spielberg returned to the adventure genre with the film version of Michael Crichton's novel ''Jurassic Park'', about a theme park with genetically engineered dinosaurs. With revolutionary special effects provided by friend George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic company, the film would eventually become the highest grossing film of all time (at the worldwide box office) with $914.7 million. This would be the third time that one of Spielberg's films became the highest grossing film ever.

Spielberg's next film, ''Schindler's List'', was based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a man who risked his life to save 1,100 Jews from the Holocaust. ''Schindler's List'' earned Spielberg his first Academy Award for Best Director (it also won Best Picture). With the film a huge success at the box office, Spielberg used the profits to set up the Shoah Foundation, a non-profit organization that archives filmed testimony of Holocaust survivors. In 1997, the American Film Institute listed it among the 10 Greatest American Films ever Made (#9) which moved up to (#8) when the list was remade in 2007.

Since 1994

In 1994, Spielberg took a hiatus from directing to spend more time with his family and build his new studio, DreamWorks, with partners Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. In 1997, he helmed the sequel to 1993's ''Jurassic Park'' with ''The Lost World: Jurassic Park'', which generated over $618 million worldwide despite mixed reviews, and was the second biggest hit of 1997 behind James Cameron's ''Titanic'' (which topped the original ''Jurassic Park'' to become the new recordholder for box office receipts).

His next film, ''Amistad'', was based on a true story (like ''Schindler's List''), specifically about an African slave rebellion. Despite decent reviews from critics, it did not do well at the box office. Spielberg released ''Amistad'' under DreamWorks Pictures, which issued all of his films from ''Amistad'' until ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' in May 2008 (see below).

In 1998, Spielberg re-visited ''Close Encounters'' yet again, this time for a more definitive 137-minute "Collector's Edition" that puts more emphasis on the original 1977 release, while adding some elements of the previous 1980 "Special Edition," but deleting the latter version's "Mothership Finale," which Spielberg regretted shooting in the first place, feeling it should have remained ambiguous in the minds of viewers.

His next theatrical release in that same year was the World War II film ''Saving Private Ryan'', about a group of U.S. soldiers led by Capt. Miller (Tom Hanks) sent to bring home a paratrooper whose three older brothers were killed in the last twenty four hours of action in France. The film was a huge box office success, grossing over $481 million worldwide and was the biggest film of the year at the North American box office (worldwide it made second place after Michael Bay's ''Armageddon''). Spielberg won his second Academy Award for his direction. The film's graphic, realistic depiction of combat violence influenced later war films such as ''Black Hawk Down'' and ''Enemy at the Gates''. The film was also the first major hit for DreamWorks, which co-produced the film with Paramount Pictures (as such, it was Spielberg's first release from the latter that was not part of the ''Indiana Jones'' series). Later, Spielberg and Tom Hanks produced a TV mini-series based on Stephen Ambrose's book ''Band of Brothers''. The ten-part HBO mini-series follows Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The series won a number of awards at the Golden Globes and the Emmys.

In 2001, Spielberg filmed fellow director and friend Stanley Kubrick's final project, ''A.I. Artificial Intelligence'' which Kubrick was unable to begin during his lifetime. A futuristic film about a humanoid android longing for love, ''A.I.'' featured groundbreaking visual effects and a multi-layered, allegorical storyline, adapted by Spielberg himself. Though the film's reception in the US was relatively muted, it performed better overseas for a worldwide total box office gross of $236 million.

Spielberg and actor Tom Cruise collaborated for the first time for the futuristic neo-noir ''Minority Report'', based upon the sci-fi short story written by Philip K. Dick about a Washington D.C. police captain in the year 2054 who has been foreseen to murder a man he has not yet met. The film received strong reviews with the review tallying website Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 92% approval rating, reporting that 206 out of the 225 reviews they tallied were positive. The film earned over $358 million worldwide. Roger Ebert, who named it the best film of 2002, praised its breathtaking vision of the future as well as for the way Spielberg blended CGI with live-action.

Spielberg's 2002 film ''Catch Me If You Can'' is about the daring adventures of a youthful con artist (played by Leonardo DiCaprio). It earned Christopher Walken an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The film is known for John Williams' score and its unique title sequence. It was a hit both commercially and critically.

Spielberg collaborated again with Tom Hanks along with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Stanley Tucci in 2004's ''The Terminal'', a warm-hearted comedy about a man of Eastern European descent who is stranded in an airport. It received mixed reviews but performed relatively well at the box office. In 2005, ''Empire'' magazine ranked Spielberg number one on a list of the greatest film directors of all time.

Also in 2005, Spielberg directed a modern adaptation of ''War of the Worlds'' (a co-production of Paramount and DreamWorks), based on the H. G. Wells book of the same name (Spielberg had been a huge fan of the book and the original 1953 film). It starred Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning, and, as with past Spielberg films, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) provided the visual effects. Unlike ''E.T.'' and ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', which depicted friendly alien visitors, ''War of the Worlds'' featured violent invaders. The film was another huge box office smash, grossing over $591 million worldwide.

Spielberg's film ''Munich'', about the events following the 1972 Munich Massacre of Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games, was his second film essaying Jewish relations in the world (the first being ''Schindler's List''). The film is based on ''Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team'', a book by Canadian journalist George Jonas. It was previously adapted into the 1986 made-for-TV film ''Sword of Gideon''. The film received strong critical praise, but underperformed at the U.S. and world box-office; it remains one of Spielberg's most controversial films to date. Munich received five Academy Awards nominations, including Best Picture, Film Editing, Original Music Score (by John Williams), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director for Spielberg. It was Spielberg's sixth Best Director nomination and fifth Best Picture nomination.

Spielberg directed ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'', which wrapped filming in October 2007 and was released on May 22, 2008. This was his first film not to be released by DreamWorks since 1997. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, and has performed very well in theaters. As of May 10, 2010, ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' has grossed $317 million domestically, and over $786 million worldwide.

Production credits

Since the mid-1980s Spielberg has increased his role as a film producer. He headed up the production team for several cartoons, including the Warner Brothers hits ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', ''Animaniacs'', ''Pinky and the Brain'', ''Toonsylvania'', and ''Freakazoid!'', for which he collaborated with Jean MacCurdy and Tom Ruegger. Due to his work on these series, in the official titles, most of them say, "Steven Spielberg presents" as well as making numerous cameos on the shows. Spielberg also produced the Don Bluth animated features, ''An American Tail'' and ''The Land Before Time'', which were released by Universal Studios. He also served as one of the executive producers of ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' and its three related shorts (''Tummy Trouble'', ''Roller Coaster Rabbit'', ''Trail Mix-Up''), which were all released by Disney, under both the Walt Disney Pictures and the Touchstone Pictures banners. He was furthermore, for a short time, the executive producer of the long-running medical drama ''ER''. In 1989, he brought the concept of ''The Dig'' to LucasArts. He contributed to the project from that time until 1995 when the game was released. He also collaborated with software publishers Knowledge Adventure on the multimedia game ''Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair'', which was released in 1996. Spielberg appears, as himself, in the game to direct the player. The Spielberg name provided branding for a Lego Moviemaker kit, the proceeds of which went to the Starbright Foundation.

In 1993, Spielberg acted as executive producer for the highly anticipated television series ''seaQuest DSV''; a science fiction series set "in the near future" starring Roy Scheider (who Spielberg had directed in ''Jaws'') and Jonathan Brandis akin to ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' that aired on Sundays at 8:00 pm. on NBC. While the first season was moderately successful, the second season did less well. Spielberg's name no longer appeared in the third season and the show was cancelled mid way through it.

Spielberg served as an uncredited executive producer on ''The Haunting'', ''The Prince of Egypt'', ''Just Like Heaven'', ''Shrek'', and ''Evolution''. He served as an executive producer for the 1998 film ''Men in Black'', and its sequels, ''Men in Black II'' and the upcoming ''Men in Black III''. In 2005, he served as a producer of ''Memoirs of a Geisha'', an adaptation of the novel by Arthur Golden, a film he was previously attached to as director. In 2006, Spielberg co-executive produced with famed filmmaker Robert Zemeckis a CGI children's film called ''Monster House'', marking their eight collaboration together since 1990's ''Back to the Future Part III''. He also teamed with Clint Eastwood for the first time in their careers, co-producing Eastwood's ''Flags of Our Fathers'' and ''Letters from Iwo Jima'' with Robert Lorenz and Eastwood himself. He earned his twelfth Academy Award nomination for the latter film as it was nominated for Best Picture. Spielberg served as executive producer for ''Disturbia'' and the ''Transformers'' live action film with Brian Goldner, an employee of Hasbro. The film was directed by Michael Bay and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and Spielberg continued to collaborate on the sequels, ''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' and ''Transformers: Dark of the Moon''. In 2011, he produced the J. J. Abrams science fiction thriller film ''Super 8'' for Paramount Pictures.

Other major television series Spielberg produced were ''Band of Brothers'', ''Taken'' and ''The Pacific''. He was an executive producer on the critically acclaimed 2005 TV miniseries ''Into the West'' which won two Emmy awards, including one for Geoff Zanelli's score. For his 2010 miniseries ''The Pacific'' he teamed up once again with co-producer Tom Hanks, with Gary Goetzman also co-producing'. The miniseries is believed to have cost $250 million and is a 10-part war miniseries centered on the battles in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Writer Bruce McKenna, who penned several installments of (''Band of Brothers''), was the head writer.

In 2007, Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett co-produced ''On the Lot'' a short-lived TV reality show about filmmaking. Despite this, he never gave up working on television. He currently serves as one of the executive producers on ''United States of Tara'', a show created by Academy Award winner Diablo Cody which they developed together (Spielberg is uncredited as creator).

In 2011, Spielberg launched ''Falling Skies'', a science fiction television series, on the TNT network. He developed the series with Robert Rodat and is credited as an executive producer.

Acting credits

Steven Spielberg had cameo roles in ''The Blues Brothers'', ''Gremlins'', ''Vanilla Sky'', and ''Austin Powers in Goldmember'', as well as small uncredited cameos in a handful of other films, such as a life-station worker in ''Jaws''. He also made numerous cameo roles in the Warner Brothers cartoons he produced, such as Animaniacs, and even made reference to some of his films. Spielberg voiced himself in the film ''Paul'', and in one episode of ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' titled ''Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian''.

Involvement in video games

Apart from being an ardent gamer Spielberg has had a long history of involvement in video games. In 2005 the director signed with Electronic Arts to collaborate on three games including an action game and an award winning puzzle game for the Wii called ''Boom Blox'' (and its 2009 sequel: ''Boom Blox Bash Party''). Previously, he was involved in creating the scenario for the adventure game ''The Dig''. In 1996, Spielberg worked on and shot original footage for a movie-making simulation game called ''Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair''. He is the creator of the ''Medal of Honor'' series by Electronic Arts. He is credited in the special thanks section of the 1998 video game ''Trespasser''.

Upcoming and announced projects

In early 2009, Spielberg shot the first film in a planned trilogy of motion capture films based on ''The Adventures of Tintin'' written by Belgian artist Hergé, with Peter Jackson. ''The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn'', will not be released until December 23, 2011 due to the complexity of the computer animation involved. Jackson has been announced to direct the second film, which Spielberg will produce. Spielberg's next film ''War Horse'', was shot in England in the summer of 2010, and will be released just five days after ''The Adventures of Tintin'', on December 28, 2011. The film, based on the novel of the same name, is about the long friendship between a British boy and his horse Joey before and during World War I — a novel that was adapted into a hit play in London which is running on Broadway as of April 2011. It will be released and distributed by Disney, with whom DreamWorks has made a 30-picture deal. The novel was written by Michael Morpurgo and published in 1982. He will follow this with ''Lincoln'', starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln. Based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's bestseller ''Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln'', the film will follow Lincoln's leadership during the years of the American Civil War. Written by Tony Kushner, the film will be shot in the fall of 2011 in Richmond, Virginia and released in the fourth quarter of 2012 by Disney's Touchstone Pictures division. Spielberg also made a commitment to direct a film based on the novel ''Robopocalypse''.

In 2009, Spielberg reportedly tried to obtain the screen rights to make a film based on Microsoft's ''Halo'' series. In September 2008, Steven Spielberg bought film rights for John Wyndham's novel ''Chocky'' and is interested in directing it. He is also interested in making an adaptation of ''A Steady Rain'', ''Pirate Latitudes'', ''The 39 Clues'', and ''Under the Dome'', along with a remake of ''When Worlds Collide''. In May 2009, Steven Spielberg bought the rights to the life story of Martin Luther King, Jr.. Spielberg will be involved not only as producer but also as a director. However, the purchase was made from the King estate, led by son Dexter, while the two other surviving children, the Reverend Bernice and Martin III, immediately threatened to sue, not having given their approvals to the project.

In June 2006, Steven Spielberg announced he would direct a scientifically accurate film about "a group of explorers who travel through a worm hole and into another dimension", from a treatment by Kip Thorne and producer Lynda Obst. In January 2007, screenwriter Jonathan Nolan met with them to discuss adapting Obst and Thorne's treatment into a narrative screenplay. The screenwriter suggested the addition of a "time element" to the treatment's basic idea, which was welcomed by Obst and Thorne. In March of that year, Paramount hired Nolan as well as scientists from Caltech, forming a workshop who will begin adapting the treatment after completing the script for Warner Bros.' ''The Chicago Fire''. The following July, Kip Thorne said there was a push by people for him to portray himself in the film ''Interstellar''.

Spielberg is also producing the Fox TV series ''Terra Nova''. ''Terra Nova'' will begin in the year 2149 when all life on the planet Earth is threatened with extinction resulting in scientists opening a door that allows people to travel back 85 million years to prehistoric times. Spielberg will also help produce the upcoming TV series ''The River'' and ''Smash''.

Themes

Spielberg's films often deal with several recurring themes. Most of his films deal with ordinary characters searching for or coming in contact with extraordinary beings or finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances. In an AFI interview in August 2000 Spielberg commented on his interest in the possibility of extra terrestrial life and how it has influenced some of his films. Spielberg described himself as feeling like an alien during childhood, and his interest came from his father, a science fiction fan, and his opinion that aliens would not travel light years for conquest, but instead curiosity and sharing of knowledge.

A strong consistent theme in his family-friendly work is a childlike, even naïve, sense of wonder and faith, as attested by works such as ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'', ''Hook'', and ''A.I. Artificial Intelligence''. According to Warren Buckland, these themes are portrayed through the use of low height camera tracking shots, which have become one of Spielberg's directing trademarks. In the cases when his films include children (''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'', ''Empire of the Sun'', ''Jurassic Park'', etc.), this type of shot is more apparent, but it is also used in films like ''Munich'', ''Saving Private Ryan'', ''The Terminal'', ''Minority Report'', and ''Amistad''. If one views each of his films, one will see this shot utilized by the director, notably the water scenes in ''Jaws'' are filmed from the low-angle perspective of someone swimming. Another child oriented theme in Spielberg's films is that of loss of innocence and coming-of-age. In ''Empire of the Sun'', Jim, a well-groomed and spoiled English youth, loses his innocence as he suffers through World War II China. Similarly, in ''Catch Me If You Can'', Frank naively and foolishly believes that he can reclaim his shattered family if he accumulates enough money to support them.

The most persistent theme throughout his films is tension in parent-child relationships. Parents (often fathers) are reluctant, absent or ignorant. Peter Banning in ''Hook'' starts off in the beginning of the film as a reluctant married-to-his-work parent who through the course of his film regains the respect of his children. The notable absence of Elliott's father in ''E.T.'', is the most famous example of this theme. In ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'', it is revealed that Indy has always had a very strained relationship with his father, who is a professor of medieval literature, as his father always seemed more interested in his work, specifically in his studies of the Holy Grail, than in his own son, although his father does not seem to realize or understand the negative effect that his aloof nature had on Indy (he even believes he was a good father in the sense that he taught his son "self reliance," which is not how Indy saw it). Even Oskar Schindler, from ''Schindler's List'', is reluctant to have a child with his wife. ''Munich'' depicts Avner as a man away from his wife and newborn daughter. There are of course exceptions; Brody in ''Jaws'' is a committed family man, while John Anderton in ''Minority Report'' is a shattered man after the disappearance of his son. This theme is arguably the most autobiographical aspect of Spielberg's films, since Spielberg himself was affected by his parents' divorce as a child and by the absence of his father. Furthermore to this theme, protagonists in his films often come from families with divorced parents, most notably ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (protagonist Elliot's mother is divorced) and ''Catch Me If You Can'' (Frank Abagnale's mother and father split early on in the film). Little known also is Tim in ''Jurassic Park'' (early in the film, another secondary character mentions Tim and Lex's parents' divorce). The family often shown divided is often resolved in the ending as well. Following this theme of reluctant fathers and father figures, Tim looks to Dr. Alan Grant as a father figure. Initially, Dr. Grant is reluctant to return those paternal feelings to Tim. However, by the end of the film, he has changed, and the kids even fall asleep with their heads on his shoulders.

Most of his films are generally optimistic in nature. Critics frequently accuse his films of being overly sentimental, though Spielberg feels it is fine as long as it is disguised. The influence comes from directors Frank Capra and John Ford.

Contemporaries

In terms of casting and production itself, Spielberg has a known penchant for working with actors and production members from his previous films. For instance, he has cast Richard Dreyfuss in several films: ''Jaws'', ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', and ''Always''. Aside from his role as Indiana Jones, Spielberg also cast Harrison Ford as a headteacher in ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (though the scene was ultimately cut). Although Spielberg directed him only once (in Raiders of the Lost Ark, for which he voiced many of the animals), veteran voice actor Frank Welker has lent his voice in a number of productions Spielberg has executively produced from ''Gremlins'' to its sequel ''Gremlins 2: The New Batch'', as well as ''The Land Before Time'' (and lending his voice to its sequels which Spielberg had no involvement in), ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', and television shows such as ''Tiny Toons'', ''Animaniacs'', and SeaQuest DSV. Recently Spielberg has used Tom Hanks on several occasions and has cast him in ''Saving Private Ryan'', ''Catch Me If You Can'', and ''The Terminal''. Spielberg also has collaborated with Tom Cruise twice on ''Minority Report'' and ''War of the Worlds''. Spielberg has also cast Shia LaBeouf in five films: ''Transformers'', ''Eagle Eye'', ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'', ''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'', and ''Transformers: Dark of the Moon''. Spielberg prefers working with production members with whom he has developed an existing working relationship. An example of this is his production relationship with Kathleen Kennedy who has served as producer on all his major films from ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' to the recent ''Munich''. Other working relationships include Allen Daviau, a childhood friend and cinematographer who shot the early Spielberg film ''Amblin'' and most of his films up to ''Empire of the Sun''; Janusz Kamiński who has shot every Spielberg film since ''Schindler's List'' (see List of film director and cinematographer collaborations); and the film editor Michael Kahn who has edited every film directed by Spielberg from ''Close Encounters'' to ''Munich'' (except ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''). Most of the DVDs of Spielberg's films have documentaries by Laurent Bouzereau.

A famous example of Spielberg working with the same professionals is his long time collaboration with John Williams and the use of his musical scores in all of his films since ''The Sugarland Express'' (except ''The Color Purple'' and ''Twilight Zone: The Movie''). One of Spielberg's trademarks is his use of music by John Williams to add to the visual impact of his scenes and to try and create a lasting picture and sound of the film in the memories of the film audience. These visual scenes often uses images of the sun (e.g. ''Empire of the Sun'', ''Saving Private Ryan'', the final scene of ''Jurassic Park'', and the end credits of ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' (where they ride into the sunset), of which the last two feature a Williams score at that end scene. Spielberg is a contemporary of filmmakers George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, John Milius, and Brian De Palma, collectively known as the "Movie Brats". Aside from his principal role as a director, Spielberg has acted as a producer for a considerable number of films, including early hits for Joe Dante and Robert Zemeckis.

Personal life

Marriages and children

From 1985 to 1989 Spielberg was married to actress Amy Irving. In their 1989 divorce settlement, she received $100 million from Spielberg after a judge controversially vacated a prenuptial agreement written on a napkin. Their divorce was recorded as the third most costly celebrity divorce in history. Following the divorce, Spielberg and Irving shared custody of their son, Max Samuel.

Spielberg subsequently developed a relationship with actress Kate Capshaw, whom he met when he cast her in ''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom''. They married on October 12, 1991. Capshaw is a convert to Judaism. They currently move among their four homes in Pacific Palisades, California; New York City; Quelle Farm, Georgica Pond in East Hampton, NY; and Naples, Florida.

There are seven children in the Spielberg-Capshaw family:

Jessica Capshaw (born August 9, 1976) – daughter from Kate Capshaw's previous marriage to Robert Capshaw

Max Samuel Spielberg (born June 13, 1985) – son from Spielberg's previous marriage to actress Amy Irving

Theo Spielberg (born 1988) – son adopted by Capshaw before her marriage to Spielberg, who later also adopted him Sasha Rebecca Spielberg (born May 14, 1990, Los Angeles) Sawyer Avery Spielberg (born March 10, 1992, Los Angeles)

Mikaela George (born February 28, 1996) – adopted with Kate Capshaw

Destry Allyn Spielberg (born December 1, 1996)

Wealth

''Forbes'' magazine places Spielberg's personal net worth at $3.0 billion.

Recognition

In 2002, Spielberg was one of eight flagbearers who carried the Olympic Flag into Rice-Eccles Stadium at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. In 2006, ''Premiere'' listed him as the most powerful and influential figure in the motion picture industry. ''Time'' listed him as one of the 100 Most Important People of the Century. At the end of the 20th century, ''Life'' named him the most influential person of his generation.

Starbright

In 1991 Steven Spielberg co-founded Starbright with Randy Aduana—a foundation dedicated to improving sick children's lives through technology-based programs focusing on entertainment and education. In 2002 Starbright merged with the Starlight Foundation forming what is now today the Starlight Children's Foundation.

Politics

Spielberg usually supports U.S. Democratic Party candidates. He has donated over $800,000 for the Democratic party and its nominees. He has been a close friend of former President Bill Clinton and worked with the President for the USA Millennium celebrations. He directed an 18-minute film for the project, scored by John Williams and entitled ''The American Journey''. It was shown at America's Millennium Gala on December 31, 1999, in the National Mall at the Reflecting Pool at the base of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Spielberg resigned as a member of the national advisory board of the Boy Scouts of America in 2001 because of his disapproval of the organization's anti-homosexuality stance.

Spielberg joined Jeffrey Katzenberg and Haim Saban in endorsing the re-election of Hollywood friend Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican Governor of California, on August 7, 2006.

In 2007 the Arab League voted to boycott Spielberg's movies after he donated $1 million for relief efforts in Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War.

On February 20, 2007, Spielberg, Katzenberg, and David Geffen invited Democrats to a fundraiser for Barack Obama. However, on June 14, 2007, Spielberg endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) for President. While Geffen and Katzenberg supported Obama, Spielberg was always a supporter of Hillary Clinton. However Spielberg directed a video for Obama at the DNC in August 2008 and attended Obama's inauguration.

In February 2008, Spielberg pulled out of his role as advisor to the 2008 Summer Olympics in response to the Chinese government's inaction over the War in Darfur. Spielberg said in a statement that "''I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual''." It also said that "''Sudan's government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these on-going crimes, but the international community, and particularly China, should be doing more.''." The International Olympic Committee respected Spielberg's decision, but IOC president Jacques Rogge admitted in an interview that "''[Spielberg] certainly would have brought a lot to the opening ceremony in terms of creativity.''" Spielberg's statement drew criticism from Chinese officials and state-run media calling his criticism "unfair".

In September 2008, Spielberg and his wife offered their support to same-sex marriage, by issuing a statement following their donation of $100,000 to the "No on Proposition 8" campaign fund, a figure equal to the amount of money Brad Pitt donated to the same campaign less than a week prior.

Hobbies

Spielberg is an avid film buff, and, when not shooting a picture, he will indulge in "movie orgies" (watching many over a single weekend). He sees almost every major summer blockbuster in theaters if not preoccupied and enjoys most of them; "If I get pleasure from anything, I can't think of it as dumb or myself as shallow [...] I'll probably go late to that movie and go, 'What the dickens was everybody complaining about, that wasn't so bad!'".

Since playing Pong while filming ''Jaws'' in 1974, Spielberg has been an avid video gamer. He owns a Wii, a PlayStation 3, a PSP, and Xbox 360, and enjoys playing first-person shooters such as the ''Medal of Honor'' series and ''Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare''. He has also criticized the use of cut scenes in games, calling them intrusive, and feels making story flow naturally into the gameplay is a challenge for future game developers.

Stalking

In 2001, Spielberg was stalked by conspiracy theorist and former social worker Diana Napolis. She accused him, along with actress Jennifer Love Hewitt, of controlling her thoughts through "cybertronic" technology and being part of a satanic conspiracy against her. Napolis was committed for life in a mental institution before pleading guilty to stalking and released on probation with a condition that she have no contact with either Spielberg or Hewitt.

Spielberg was a target of the 2002 white supremacist terror plot.

Jonathan Norman was arrested after making two attempts to enter Spielberg's Pacific Palisades home in June and July 1997. Norman was jailed for 25 years in California. Spielberg, told the court: "Had Jonathan Norman actually confronted me, I genuinely, in my heart of hearts, believe that I would have been raped or maimed or killed."

Achievements

Spielberg has won three Academy Awards. He has been nominated for six Academy Awards for the category of Best Director, winning two of them (''Schindler's List'' and ''Saving Private Ryan''), and seven of the films he directed were up for the Best Picture Oscar (''Schindler's List'' won). In 1987 he was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his work as a creative producer.

Drawing from his own experiences in Scouting, Spielberg helped the Boy Scouts of America develop a merit badge in cinematography. The badge was launched at the 1989 National Scout Jamboree, which Spielberg attended, and where he personally counseled many boys in their work on requirements.

That same year, 1989, saw the release of ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade''. The opening scene shows a teenage Indiana Jones in scout uniform bearing the rank of a Life Scout. Spielberg stated he made Indiana Jones a Boy Scout in honor of his experience in Scouting. For his career accomplishments and service to others, Spielberg was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.

Steven Spielberg received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1995.

In 1998 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit with Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Award was presented to him by President Roman Herzog in recognition of his film ''Schindler's List'' and his Shoa-Foundation.

In 1999, Spielberg received an honorary degree from Brown University. Spielberg was also awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service by Secretary of Defense William Cohen at the Pentagon on August 11, 1999; Cohen presented the award in recognition of Spielberg's film ''Saving Private Ryan''.

In 2001, he was honored as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2004 he was admitted as knight of the Légion d'honneur by president Jacques Chirac. On July 15, 2006, Spielberg was also awarded the Gold Hugo Lifetime Achievement Award at the Summer Gala of the Chicago International Film Festival, and also was awarded a Kennedy Center honour on December 3. The tribute to Spielberg featured a short, filmed biography narrated by Tom Hanks and included thank-yous from World War II veterans for ''Saving Private Ryan'', as well as a performance of the finale to Leonard Bernstein's ''Candide'', conducted by John Williams (Spielberg's frequent composer).

In November 2007, he was chosen for a Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented at the sixth annual Visual Effects Society Awards in February 2009. He was set to be honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the January 2008 Golden Globes; however, the new, watered-down format of the ceremony resulting from conflicts in the 2007–08 writers strike, the HFPA postponed his honor to the 2009 ceremony. In 2008, Spielberg was awarded the Légion d'honneur.

In June 2008, Spielberg received Arizona State University's Hugh Downs Award for Communication Excellence.

Spielberg received an honorary degree at Boston University's 136th Annual Commencement on May 17, 2009. In October 2009 Steven Spielberg received the Philadelphia Liberty Medal; presenting him with the medal was former US president and Liberty Medal recipient Bill Clinton. Special guests included Whoopi Goldberg, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

Praise and criticism

Film

In 2005, Steven Spielberg was rated the greatest film director of all time by Empire Magazine.

After watching the unconventional, off-center camera techniques of ''Jaws'', Alfred Hitchcock praised "young Spielberg," saying "He's the first one of us who doesn't see the proscenium arch." Or, to paraphrase, he was the first mainstream director to think outside the visual dynamics of the theater, although that didn’t stop Hitchcock from removing Spielberg from the set of ''Family Plot'', his last film.

Some of Spielberg's most famous fans include film legends Robert Aldrich, Ingmar Bergman, Werner Herzog, Stanley Kubrick, David Lean, Sidney Lumet, Roman Polanski, Martin Scorsese, Francois Truffaut and Zhang Yimou.

Subsequently, Spielberg's movies have also influenced many directors that followed, including J.J Abrams, Paul Thomas Anderson, Neill Blomkamp, James Cameron, Guillermo del Toro, Roland Emmerich, David Fincher, Peter Jackson, Kal Ng, Robert Rodriguez, John Sayles, Ridley Scott, John Singleton, Kevin Smith, Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino.

British film critic Tom Shone has said of Spielberg, "If you have to point to any one director of the last twenty-five years in whose work the medium of film was most fully itself – where we found out what it does best when left to its own devices, it has to be that guy."

However, Spielberg is not without his critics—many of whom complain that his films are overly sentimental and tritely moralistic. In his book ''Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood'', Peter Biskind summarized the views of Spielberg's detractors, accusing the director of "infantilizing the audience, reconstituting the spectator as child, then overwhelming him and her with sound and spectacle, obliterating irony, aesthetic self-consciousness, and critical reflection."

Critics of mainstream film such as Ray Carney and American artist and actor Crispin Glover (who starred in the Spielberg-produced ''Back to the Future'' and also sued Spielberg for using Glover's likeness in ''Back to the Future Part II'') claim that Spielberg's films lack depth and do not take risks.

The late film critic, Pauline Kael, who had championed Spielberg's films in the 1970s, expressed disappointment in his later development, stating that "he’s become, I think, a very bad director.... And I’m a little ashamed for him, because I loved his early work.... [H]e turned to virtuous movies. And he’s become so uninteresting now.... I think that he had it in him to become more of a fluid, far-out director. But, instead, he’s become a melodramatist."

Imre Kertész, Hungarian Jewish author, Nazi concentration camp survivor, and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, criticized Spielberg's depiction of the Holocaust in ''Schindler's List'' as kitsch, saying "I regard as kitsch any representation of the Holocaust that is incapable of understanding or unwilling to understand the organic connection between our own deformed mode of life and the very possibility of the Holocaust."

French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard stated that he holds Spielberg partly responsible for the lack of artistic merit in mainstream cinema and accused Spielberg of using his film ''Schindler's List'' to make a profit of tragedy while Schindler's wife lived in poverty in Argentina. In defense of Spielberg, critic Roger Ebert said "Has Godard or any other director living or dead done more than Spielberg, with his Holocaust Project, to honor and preserve the memories of the survivors?"

Stephen Rowley wrote an extensive essay about Spielberg and his career in Senses of Cinema. In it he discussed Spielberg's strengths as a film maker, saying "there is a welcome complexity of tone and approach in these later films that defies the lazy stereotypes often bandied about his films" and that "Spielberg continues to take risks, with his body of work continuing to grow more impressive and ambitious", concluding that he has only received "limited, begrudging recognition" from critics .

Other

Spielberg, as a then co-owner of DreamWorks, was involved in a heated debate in which the studio proposed building on the remaining wetlands in Southern California, though development was later dropped.

In August 2007, Ai Weiwei, artistic designer for the Beijing Olympic Stadium Bird's Nest accused those choreographing the Olympic opening ceremony, including Spielberg, of failing to live up to their responsibility as artists. Ai said, "It's disgusting. I don't like anyone who shamelessly abuses their profession, who makes no moral judgment."

Filmography

Awards and nominations

'''Academy Awards:

1978: Best Director (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', nominated)

1982: Best Director (''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', nominated)

1983: Best Director (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', nominated)

1983: Best Picture (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', nominated)

1986: Best Picture (''The Color Purple'', nominated)

1987: Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (won)

1994: Best Director (''Schindler's List'', won)

1994: Best Picture (''Schindler's List'', won)

1999: Best Director (''Saving Private Ryan'', won)

1999: Best Picture (''Saving Private Ryan'', nominated)

2006: Best Director (''Munich'', nominated)

2006: Best Picture (''Munich'', nominated)

2007: Best Picture (''Letters from Iwo Jima'', nominated)

'''BAFTA Awards:

1976: Best Direction (''Jaws'', nominated)

1979: Best Direction (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', nominated)

1979: Best Screenplay (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', nominated)

1983: Best Direction (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', nominated)

1983: Best Film (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', nominated)

1986: Academy Fellowship (won)

1994: Best Film (''Schindler's List'', won)

1994: David Lean Award for Direction (''Schindler's List'', won)

1999: Best Film (''Saving Private Ryan'', nominated)

1999: David Lean Award for Direction (''Saving Private Ryan'', nominated)

'''Cannes Film Festival

1974: Best Screenplay (''The Sugarland Express'', won)

1974: Golden Palm (''The Sugarland Express'', nominated)

'''Critics Choice Awards:

1999: Best Director (''Saving Private Ryan'', won)

2003: Best Director (''Catch Me If You Can'' and ''Minority Report'', won)

2006: Best Director (''Munich'', nominated)

'''Directors Guild of America:

1976: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''Jaws'', nominated)

1978: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', nominated)

1982: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', nominated'')

1983: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', nominated)

1986: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''The Color Purple'', won); this was the first time a director won this award without receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Director.

1988: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''Empire of the Sun'', nominated)

1994: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''Schindler's List'', won)

1998: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''Amistad'', nominated)

1999: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''Saving Private Ryan'', won); this win makes Spielberg the only individual to win this award three times.

2000: The D.W. Griffith Award for Lifetime Achievement

2006: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''Munich'', nominated)

'''Golden Globes:

1976: Best Director (''Jaws'', nominated)

1978: Best Director (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', nominated)

1978: Best Screenplay (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', nominated)

1982: Best Director (''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', nominated)

1983: Best Picture – Drama (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', won)

1983: Best Director (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', nominated)

1986: Best Director (''The Color Purple'', nominated)

1994: Best Picture – Drama (''Schindler's List'', won)

1994: Best Director (''Schindler's List'', won)

1998: Best Director (''Amistad'', nominated)

1999: Best Picture – Drama (''Saving Private Ryan'', won)

1999: Best Director (''Saving Private Ryan'', won)

2002: Best Director (''AI: Artificial Intelligence'', nominated)

2006: Best Director (''Munich'', nominated)

2008: Cecil B. DeMille Award (won)

'''Hasty Pudding Theatricals:

1983: Man of the Year (won)

'''Hollywood Walk of Fame:

2003: Star on the Walk of Fame (won)

'''NBR Award:

1987: Best Director (''Empire of the Sun'', won)

2001: Billy Wilder Award (won)

'''Primetime Emmys:

1986: Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series (''Amazing Stories'' for episode "The Mission", nominated)

1991: Outstanding Animated Program – One Hour or Less (''Tiny Toon Adventures'' for episode "The Looney Beginning", nominated)

1995: Outstanding Animated Program – One Hour or Less (''Tiny Toon Adventures: Night Ghoulery'', nominated)

1996: Outstanding Animated Program – One Hour or Less (''A Pinky & the Brain Christmas Special'', won)

2002: Outstanding Non-Fiction Special – Informational (''We Stand Alone Together'', nominated)

2002: Outstanding Miniseries (''Band of Brothers'', won)

2003: Outstanding Miniseries (''Taken'', won)

2006: Outstanding Miniseries (''Into the West'', nominated)

'''Producers Guild of America:

1994: Motion Picture Producer of the Year (''Schindler's List'', won)

1998: Motion Picture Producer of the Year (''Amistad'', nominated)

1998: Vision Award (''Amistad'', won)

1999: Motion Picture Producer of the Year (''Saving Private Ryan'', won)

1999: Milestone Award (won)

2000: PGA Hall of Fame – Motion Pictures (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', won)

2002: Television Producer of the Year – Longform (''Band of Brothers'', won)

2006: Television Producer of the Year – Longform (''Into the West'', nominated)

'''Saturn Awards:

1978: Best Director (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', won); tied with George Lucas for ''Star Wars''

1978: Best Writing (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', won); tied with George Lucas for ''Star Wars''

1982: Best Director (''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', won)

1983: Best Science Fiction Film (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', won)

1983: Best Director (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', nominated)

1985: Best Director (''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'', nominated)

1994: Best Science Fiction Film (''Jurassic Park'', won)

1994: Best Director (''Jurassic Park'', won)

1994: President's Award (won)

1998: Best Director (''The Lost World: Jurassic Park'', nominated)

1999: Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film (''Saving Private Ryan'', won)

2002: Best Science Fiction Film (''AI: Artificial Intelligence'', won)

2002: Best Director (''AI: Artificial Intelligence'', nominated)

2002: Best writing (''AI: Artificial Intelligence'', won)

2003: Best Science Fiction Film (''Minority Report'', won)

2003: Best Director (''Minority Report'', won)

2006: Best Director (''War of the Worlds'', nominated)

2009: Best Director (''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'', nominated)

'''Venice Film Festival:

1993: Career Golden Lion (won)

2001: Future Film Festival Digital Award (''AI: Artificial Intelligence'', won)

'''Writers Guild of America:

1975: Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen (''The Sugarland Express'', nominated)

1978: Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', nominated)

Other

2009 Liberty Medal

2006 Kennedy Center Honors

2001 Knight Commander, Order of the British Empire (Honorary)

2003 Knight Grand Cross Order of Merit of the Italian Republic

1998 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

References

Further reading

External links

Steven Spielberg Bibliography (via UC Berkeley)

Official website of DreamWorks

Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation (founded by Spielberg)

''Time'' 100: Steven Spielberg

Spielberg at 60 – Empire

Fansite and forum "Playmountain," the successor of "Spielbergfilms"

Spielberg's financial success in a single image

The Question Spielberg: A Symposium — Part One: Position Papers and Part Two: Films and Moments, ''Senses of Cinema'' (2003)

Spielberg Symposium, ''Reverse Shot'' (2003)

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Name	Taylor Swift
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Taylor Alison Swift
Birth date	December 13, 1989
Birth place	Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, ganjo, piano, ukulele
Genre	Country pop, pop, country, dance-pop
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, actress
Years active	2006–present
Label	Big Machine
Associated acts	Nathan Chapman, Liz Rose
Website	150pxTaylor Swift's signature }}

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.

In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. In November 2008, Swift released her second album, ''Fearless'', and the recording earned Swift four Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year, at the 52nd Grammy Awards. ''Fearless'' and ''Taylor Swift'' finished 2008 at number-three and number-six respectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million. ''Fearless'' topped the ''Billboard'' 200 for 11 non-consecutive weeks. Swift was named ''Artist of the Year'' by ''Billboard'' Magazine in 2009. Swift released her third album ''Speak Now'' on October 25, 2010, which sold 1,047,000 copies in its first week.

In 2008, her albums sold a combined four million copies, making her the best-selling musician of the year in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. ''Forbes'' ranked Swift 2009's 69th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $18 million, 2010's 12th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million and 2011's 7th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million, too. Swift was ranked the 38th Best Artist of the 2000s by ''Billboard''. In January 2010 Nielsen SoundScan listed Swift as the most successful digital artist in music history with over 34.3 million digital tracks sold. On June 2011, renowned site The Boot named Swift and Carrie Underwood ''The Country Royalty'', as they were the only female country artists to be ranked on ''Rolling Stone'' Queens of Pop list. , she has sold over 20 million albums and 34.3 million singles worldwide. She has been listed in the 2012 ''Guinness Book Of World Records'' as the Fastest Selling Digital Album by a Female Artist for her album ''Speak Now'', and Most Simultaneous U.S. Hot 100 Hits by a Female Artist. In 2011, ''Billboard'' named her woman of the year.

Early life

Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, and raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Andrea Gardner (née Finlay), a homemaker who previously worked in finance, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a stockbroker. Her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (née Moehlenkamp), was an opera singer. Swift has a younger brother, Austin. She grew up on a Christmas-tree farm.

When Swift was in fourth grade, she won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem, "Monster in My Closet". At the age of ten, a computer repairman showed her how to play three chords on a guitar, sparking her interest in learning the instrument. Afterwards, Swift wrote her first song, "Lucky You". When Swift was 12, she devoted an entire summer to writing a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished. She began writing songs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. Swift was a victim of bullying, and spent her time writing songs to express her emotions. She also started performing at local karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs.

Swift began to regularly visit Nashville, Tennessee, and work with local songwriters. When she was 14, her family relocated to Nashville. Her first major show was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair. In Tennessee, Swift attended Hendersonville High School, but was subsequently homeschooled for her junior and senior years. In 2008, she earned her high school diploma.

Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain. Her other influences include LeAnn Rimes, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, and Swift's grandmother. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer, Swift's tastes always leaned more toward country music. In her younger years, she developed a love for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton. She also credits the Dixie Chicks for demonstrating the impact that one can have by "stretching boundaries".

Music career

2000–2005: musical beginnings

At age 11, Swift made her first trip to Nashville, hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town, but was rejected. After Swift returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the US Open tennis tournament, where her rendition of the national anthem received much attention.

When Swift was 15, she rejected RCA Records because the company wanted to keep her on an artist development deal. After performing at Nashville's songwriters' venue, The Bluebird Café, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, who signed her to his newly formed record label, Big Machine Records. At age 14, she became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house.

2006–2008: ''Taylor Swift''

Swift released her debut single, "Tim McGraw", in mid-2006, reaching No.6 on ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot Country Songs chart. Her self-titled debut album was later released on October 24, 2006. Debuting high on the ''Billboard'' 200, the album sold 39,000 copies during its first week. It peaked at No.1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and No.5 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Her debut album spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums charts and remained at the top for 24 out of 91 weeks. The only other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks or more are The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood. The music video for "Tim McGraw" won Swift an award for Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards. Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music-video series airing since the summer of 2006. On May 15, 2007, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Swift has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She has opened in the past for George Strait, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts as well. The second single from the ''Taylor Swift'' album, "Teardrops on My Guitar", was released February 24, 2007. In mid-2007, the song peaked at No.2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and No.33 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was re-released with a pop remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to No.13 on the Hot 100 and No.11 on the Pop 100. In October 2007, Swift was awarded Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Assn. Intl., making her the youngest artist ever to win the award. Her third song off her debut album, "Our Song" spent six weeks at No.1 on the Country charts, peaked at No.16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and rose to No.24 on the ''Billboard'' Pop 100. Swift recorded a holiday album, ''Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection,'' which was released exclusively at Target in late 2007. Swift was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse. Swift's successful single, "Picture to Burn", was the fourth single from her debut album. The song debuted and soon peaked at No.3 on the Billboard Country chart in spring 2008. left|upright|thumb|Swift performing at Yahoo HQ in 2007 "Should've Said No" became Swift's second No.1 single. In Summer 2008, Swift released ''Beautiful Eyes'', an EP sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. In its first week of release, the album sold 45,000 copies, debuting at No.1 on ''Billboard'''s Top Country Albums chart and No.9 on the ''Billboard'' 200. With her self-titled debut album sitting at No.2 during the same week, Swift became the first artist since 1997 to hold the Top 2 positions of the Top Country Albums chart. In October 2008, Swift performed a duet with best selling rock band Def Leppard in a taped show in Nashville, Tennessee, and their collaboration was up for both Performance of the Year and Wide Open Country Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards in 2009.

2008–2010: ''Fearless'' and MTV VMA incident

Swift's second studio album, ''Fearless'', was released in the United States on November 11, 2008. The album debuted at No.1 on the ''Billboard'' 200 Album Chart. Its sales of 592,304 were the highest debut of any country artist in 2008. This is also the largest opening U.S. sales week in 2008 by a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest overall behind Lil Wayne, AC/DC and Coldplay. Its lead single "Love Story" became a hit on both the country and pop charts. During the first week of release, more than 129,000 of Swift's sales were sold digitally. This gives Swift the best online start for any country album in history. It also makes Swift the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004. Through its eighth week of release, ''Fearless'' has sold more than 338,467 downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history. In second place is Swift's debut ''Taylor Swift'' with sales of 236,046 downloads as of April 18, 2009. In its debut week, seven songs in total on ''Fearless'' were charted on ''Billboard'' Hot 100, tying Swift with Miley Cyrus for the most by a female artist in a single week. With "White Horse" charted at #13, this gave Swift her sixth top 20 debut of 2008, a calendar year record for any artist in the history of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Of the 13 tracks on ''Fearless'', 11 have already spent time on the Hot 100. "Change", a song from the album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA's efforts in the 2008 Summer Olympics. The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics. The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released on September 12, 2008. The Fearless album includes the "Love Story" music video which is based on ''Romeo and Juliet''. The song has reached No.2 on iTunes Store Top Downloaded Songs and No.4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Fifteen weeks after being added to pop radio, "Love Story" also became the first country crossover recording to hit number one on the Nielsen BDS CHR/Top 40 chart in the 16-year-history of the list, as well as number one on the Mediabase Top 40 Chart. The second single from ''Fearless'', "White Horse", was released on December 8, 2008. The music video for the song premiered on CMT on February 7, 2009. Though it missed the No.1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse" claimed the No.1 spot atop the USA Today/Country Aircheck chart (powered by Mediabase) in that week. "Forever & Always", another song from the album, was based on Swift's relationship with singer Joe Jonas. She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan to have two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart. It also was the first album by a female artist in country music history to log eight weeks at No.1 on The ''Billboard'' 200. In mid-January 2009, Swift became the first country artist to top the 2 million mark in paid downloads with three different songs. Swift is ''Billboard'''s Top Country Artist and Hot Country Songwriter of 2008; she is also country music's best-selling artist of 2008. Swift ranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada's top-10 selling artists across all genres in 2008. ''Fearless'' and ''Taylor Swift'' took the No.1 and No.2 slots on 2008 Year-End Canadian Country Albums Chart. Swift sang the Star-Spangled Banner at game three of the World Series in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008. In January 2009, Swift announced her North American Fearless Tour planned for 52 cities in 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months. The tour kicked off April 23 in Evansville, Indiana. In the same month, Swift made her first musical guest appearance on ''Saturday Night Live''. On February 8, 2009, Swift performed her song "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards. As of the week ending February 8, 2009, Swift's single "Love Story" became the country song with the most paid downloads in history. Since the release of Swift's second album, ''Fearless'', she has released one new song "Crazier" for the soundtrack of the feature film ''Hannah Montana: The Movie''. At the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Swift picked up Album of the Year honors as a performer and producer for ''Fearless''. Swift is the youngest artist in history to win the ACM ''Album of the Year'' award. The Academy lauded her for career achievements including selling more albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album, and the worldwide crossover success of her No.1 single "Love Story". The Academy also cited Swift's contribution to helping country music attract a younger audience. As of late April 2009, Swift has sold more than 14 million downloads, as well as three Gold Mobile Ringtones. On April 28, 2009, Swift gave a free, private concert to students at Bishop Ireton High School, a small Catholic school in Alexandria, Virginia after the school won a national "TXT 2 WIN" contest from Verizon Wireless. The students sent over 19,000 text messages to Verizon during a roughly one month long contest. Swift played for about an hour during the school's field day, an annual day-long recess with games and activities. On October 8, 2009 Swift's official website announced that her sold-out Fearless Tour would return to North America for 37 additional dates in 2010.

Scheduled to perform on September 13, 2009, Swift attended the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. This was her first VMA performance, where she became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award. During the show, as Swift was on stage accepting the award for Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me," singer/rapper Kanye West came on stage and took the microphone from Swift, saying that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time," an action that caused the many audience members to boo West. He handed the microphone back to a stunned and reportedly upset Swift, who did not finish her acceptance speech. When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech. Following the awards show, West apologized for his verbal outburst in a blog entry (which was subsequently removed). He was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst, and even by President Barack Obama who called West a "jackass" in an "off the record" comment. He later posted a second apology on his blog and made his first public apology one day after the incident on the debut episode of ''The Jay Leno Show''. On September 15, 2009, Swift talked about the matter on ''The View'', where she said she was at first excited to see West on stage and then disappointed once he acted out. She said West had not spoken to her following the incident. Following her appearance on ''The View'', West contacted her to apologize personally; Swift said she accepted his apology. However, on November 8, 2010, in an interview with a Minnesota radio station, West seemed to recant a bit of his past apologies by attempting to describe the act at the 2009 awards show as "selfless" and downgrade the perception of disrespect it created. Swift would later perform a song at the 2010 VMA called "Innocent" which is about the incident and in the song she absolves West of his actions. On November 11, 2009, Swift became the youngest artist ever to win the Country Music Association Award for Entertainer of the year, and is one of only six women to win the Country Music Association's highest honor. On the chart week of November 14, 2009, Swift set a record for the most songs on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 by a female artist at the same time with eight singles from the re-release of her 2008 album ''Fearless'' namely five debut new songs in the top 30: "Jump Then Fall" at #10, "Untouchable" at #19, "The Other Side of the Door" at #22, "Superstar" at No.27 and "Come in With the Rain" at No.30 and three already-charted songs that were released as singles—"You Belong with Me" (#14), "Forever & Always" which re-entered the chart at #34, and "Fifteen" (#46). In addition, the song "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls which features Swift, debuted at No.80 in the same issue. This gives Swift six debuts in one week, the biggest number of debuts by any female artist of all time. It also lifts the number of her simultaneously-charting songs to nine, setting another record for the biggest number of charting songs by the same female artist in the same week. When "Fifteen" reached No.38 on the chart week of November 21, 2009, Swift became the female artist with the most Top 40 singles this decade, surpassing Beyoncé. "Fifteen" became Swift's twentieth Top 40 single overall. "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls and John Mayer's "Half of My Heart" both featured Swift, peaking at No.40 and No.25 respectively. The two songs are her 21st and 22nd Top 40 singles. ''Fearless'' was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US with more than 3.2 millions copies sold in that year. Swift claimed both the No.1 and No.2 positions atop Nielsen's BDS Top 10 Most Played Songs chart (all genres), with "You Belong With Me" and "Love Story," respectively. She also topped the all format 2009 Top 10 Artist Airplay chart with over 1.29 million song detections, and the Top 10 Artist Internet Streams chart with more than 46 million song plays.

2010–present: ''Speak Now''

Swift released the track "Today Was a Fairytale" as a digital download on iTunes on January 19, 2010. The song was featured on the soundtrack for the film ''Valentine's Day'', in which she made her feature-film acting debut. The song debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at No. 2, becoming her sixth Top 10 and 23rd Top 40 single on that chart. According to Nielsen SoundScan, with sales of "Today Was a Fairytale" more than 325,000 in its first week, Swift has broken the record for first-week download sales by a female artist. The song also debuted at number one on the Canadian Hot 100, making it Swift's first number one hit in Canada. In February 2010, Swift brought her Fearless Tour to 5 cities in Australia. Opening acts included Gloriana. In mid-July 2010, ''Billboard'' revealed that Swift's new album is called ''Speak Now''. It was released on October 25, 2010. She has written the album completely by herself in Arkansas, New York, Boston and Nashville with Nathan Chapman serving as co-producer. On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, the lead single from the album, "Mine," was leaked onto the internet. Big Machine Records decided to rush the release of the song to counteract the leak. Swift appeared at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010. In 2011, Swift visited Singapore as the first stop of the Asian leg of her first world tour. Hong Kong is the last stop of the Speak Now World Tour and Swift will begin the European and American leg afterwards. Swift's first live album, ''Speak Now World Tour: Live'', featuring all seventeen performances from the North American leg of her concert tour, is scheduled for a November 21, 2011 release. Many dates on the Speak Now World Tour were cancelled due to Swift suffering from bronchitis and was told she is unable to perform. Swift sold approximately 4,470,000 albums in the US in 2010 (more than any other artist) and sold 9.9 million digital tracks. She was ranked second on ''Rolling Stone'''s lists of Top 16 "Queen Of Pops" of the decade. Swift appeared on the ''Hamish & Andy'' show where she performed a new song called "Chaperone Dads", which is dedicated to a select group of her fans. The week following the release of her "Sparks Fly" video Swift jumped from nineteen to ten on the ''Billboard'''s Social 50. Swift has revealed that she has already written 25 songs for an untitled follow-up album to ''Speak Now'', set to release in the later part of 2012. She commented on them, "They’re sad. If I'm being honest."

On December 23, 2011, Taylor announced via Twitter, "Something I've been VERY excited about for a VERY long time is going to be happening VERY soon." Several hours later, Taylor announced that she is featured on ''The Hunger Games'' Official Movie Soundtrack. Her song, entitled "Safe & Sound", was the first track released from the album. The song was co-written by The Civil Wars, who also co-recorded the song with Taylor. On January 8, 2012, Taylor was elected the fifth top artist (fourth female top artist) of all-time with the best-selling digital music tracks. Taylor has sold 41,821,000 million digital tracks as of the end of 2011 according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Songwriting style

Swift's lyrics are highly autobiographical; she has said that "If you listen to my albums, it’s like reading my diary." For example, the song "Forever & Always" was inspired by her relationship with Joe Jonas, while the song "Hey Stephen" was written about a boy whom she toured with in the past. "Fifteen" was written about her freshman year of high school. It has been said that her lyrics "can be tinged with acid: the quiet loner girl getting one over on the cheerleaders, or a caustic payback for the boy who dumped her." She has also indicated that she tries to write so her fans can relate to the lyrics, saying "My goal is to never write songs that my fans can't relate to." She parodied her confrontational style of songwriting during her appearance on ''Saturday Night Live''; during her opening monologue, she performed an original song that featured lines such as "You might think I'd bring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone/ Hey, Joe, I'm doing real well, tonight I'm hosting 'SNL'" referring to her highly publicized relationship with Joe Jonas.

The intensely personal nature of the songs has drawn her attention in the music industry. Swift once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that the more personal my songs were, the more closely people could relate to them." Due to the autobiographical nature of her songs, some fans have researched the songs' origins. Swift once said, "Every single one of the guys that I’ve written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace by my fans." ''The New York Times'' described Swift as "one of pop's finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults".

Other work

Acting

In 2008, Swift made her acting debut in Brad Paisley's music video "Online". In that same year Swift filmed a documentary for MTV entitled ''MTV's Once Upon a Prom'' and a documentary with Def Leppard for CMT entitled ''CMT Crossroads'', which premiered on November 7, 2008. Swift collaborated with the Jonas Brothers in their 3D Concert Film, ''Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience''. The film was released on February 27, 2009 in North America and brought in $12.7 million on its opening weekend. Swift made her primetime television acting debut on CBS's ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' "Turn, Turn, Turn" as Haley Jones on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watched by 20.8 million viewers. Swift made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler's music video "Best Days of Your Life". Swift also appeared in ''Hannah Montana: The Movie'' credited as herself. The film was released on April 10, 2009 in North America. The television show Dateline NBC showcased an hour on Swift on May 31, 2009. The episode titled ''Dateline NBC: On Tour With Taylor Swift'' included scenes from her tour bus, concert footage, and rehearsals. Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7, 2009 episode of ''Saturday Night Live''. In 2010, Swift made her feature film acting debut as Felicia in the film ''Valentine's Day''. For this role she won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Female Breakout. She has been cast to voice the role of Audrey in the animated film ''The Lorax'', set to be released in 2012. In January 2012, Swift was offered the role of Eponine in the film adaptation of the musical, ''Les Misérables''.

Cover model and recognition

Swift has been featured on the cover of a number of magazines. She has been a cover girl for ''Blender'', for which she was one of two country artists during the magazine’s fifteen year run to be a cover subject. She was included in ''People'''s annual "100 Most Beautiful People" 2008, 2009, and 2010 lists. Additionally, she was named number fifty-seven on ''Maxim's'' sexiest women of 2008, number fifty on the 2009 list and number thirty-one on the 2010 list. ''CosmoGirl'' voted Swift as the "2008 Girl of the Year". Swift was named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change". She was nominated as a candidate for ''TIME''s "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined by online voting. ''People'' magazine named Swift one of 25 Most Intriguing People of 2009.

Merchandise

Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of Swift in late 2008. Swift has been the face of L.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008. Swift and the L.e.i. Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing, which will appear in Wal-Mart in the coming months. However, Swift said she does not want to be called a designer. Instead, she says she will inspire the clothing company's dress line based on her own style. "I don't look at it like I'm branching out as a designer... It's not the Taylor Swift designer line." In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League's newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators.

In May 2009, Swift filed a lawsuit (kept sealed until August 2010) against numerous sellers of unauthorized counterfeit merchandise bearing her name, likeness, and trademarks, where she demanded a trial by jury, sought a judgement for compensatory damages, punitive damages, three times the actual damages sustained, and statutory damages, and sought for recovery of her attorney's fees and prejudgement interest. Nashville's U.S. District Court granted an injunction and judgment against the sellers, who had been identified at Swift's concerts in several states. The court ordered merchandise seized from the defendants to be destroyed. On July 15, 2011, Swift's official website announced that she had partnered with Elizabeth Arden to launch a fragrance, which is to be released in October 2011. The fragrance's name, "Wonderstruck", is a reference to the song "Enchanted" featured on her ''Speak Now'' album. Swift is also working with American Greetings, Inc.

Philanthropy

On September 21, 2007, Swift helped launch a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has teamed up with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to combat internet sex crimes. The year-long campaign, in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state. In early 2008, Swift donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to the children’s charity, the ''Victory Junction Gang''; in June 2008, Swift donated all the proceeds from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country Music Festival to Red Cross, the ''Nashville Area Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund'' and the ''National American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund''.

Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008. Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly". Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift's song, "Fifteen", is featured in this campaign. Swift lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert, reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross. Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org. On November 20, 2009 after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night Swift announced to Sir Terry Wogan she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.

On December 13, Swift's own birthday, she donated $250,000 to various schools around the country which she had either attended or been involved with. Swift has donated a pair of her shoes – a gently-worn pair of black Betsey Johnson heels with her autograph on the sole – to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's Hero in Heels fundraiser for auction to raise money to benefit women with cancer.

In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a flood relief telethon hosted by WSMV, a Nashville television station.

On May 23, 2011, Taylor Swift transformed what was to have been the final dress rehearsal for the North American leg of her Speak Now tour into a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the United States southeast region. The concert in Nashville drew more than 13,000 people and raised more than $750,000 from proceeds from ticket sales, merchandise and other facets of the show. The benefit concert for tornado relief was subsequently honored at the 2011 Do Something Awards. In July 2011, Swift further aided to the cause by donating $250,000 to Alabama football coach Nick Saban's charity Nick's Kids to aid in the tornado relief efforts of West Alabama.

Personal life

In addition to her relationship with Joe Jonas, which ended in October 2008, Swift's dating history has included other celebrities: Taylor Lautner, for three months in 2009; and Jake Gyllenhaal, from late 2010 to early 2011. Swift has also been romantically linked to John Mayer. There has been speculation that the songs "Dear John" and "The Story of Us" from her album ''Speak Now'' are about Mayer. In October 2011, she revealed to Ellen Degeneres on her show ''Ellen'' that, "I don't even have, like, kind of a boyfriend. I don't have someone that I'm texting that is a guy that someday might be my boyfriend. There's like nothing going on right now."

In November 2011, Taylor adopted a Scottish fold kitten. She named her Meredith after the character Meredith Grey from the popular ABC drama ''Grey's Anatomy''. The kitten appeared in the official music video for Taylor's song ''Ours'' alongside Taylor and ''Friday Night Lights'' star Zach Gilford.

Filmography

>

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2007		Herself	Guest; Episode: Season 2 Finale
2008	''CMT Crossroads''	Herself	Episode: "Taylor Swift and Def Leppard"
2009	''Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience''	Herself
2009	''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''	Haley Jones
2009	''Hannah Montana: The Movie''	Herself	Cameo
2009	''Saturday Night Live''	Herself	Host/Musical Guest
2009		Herself	Guest; Episode: Week 6 results
2010		Felicia	Movie acting debut
2010	''Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless''	Herself	Main Role
2010		Herself	Guest; Episode: 200th episode
2012	''''	Audrey
2012	''Bruno the Robot''	Various

Discography

Albums

''Taylor Swift'' (2006)

''Fearless'' (2008)

''Speak Now'' (2010)

Awards and nominations

Tours

Fearless Tour (2009–10)

Speak Now World Tour (2011–2012)

References

External links

Category:1989 births Category:American child singers Category:American country banjoists Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American female guitarists Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American pianists Category:American pop singers Category:American television actors Category:Big Machine Records artists Category:Child pop musicians Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Pennsylvania Category:People from Reading, Pennsylvania Category:People from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania Category:Ukulele players

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