During promotion of his new movie, The Post, starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, the 71-year-old has expressed his concern for what superhero movies like the Marvel and DC franchises are doing to modern cinema.
It’s not that Spielberg dislikes the genre itself, having praised Wonder Woman and called Guardians of the Galaxy his favourite superhero movie, but it’s the effect such powerful franchises can have in sidelining smaller projects.
Speaking with the Irish Times, the director highlighted The Post: “I don’t think anybody other than Tom, Meryl and I could have got The Post made this year and that quickly.
“We needed our clout. It’s no longer the kind of film that studios normally make.”
For Spielberg the problem is Hollywood’s safety net: the four-quadrant movie model; appealing to the male, female, adult and child members of the cinema-going public.
He continued: “I think the obsession with four-quadrant and superhero movies puts legitimate cinema in jeopardy.
“It worries me that audiences will only go to the movie when they trust the brand and I worry that some of our small great movies will only be made for the small screen.
“I probably watch five old movies a week and five new movies a week. And it’s the old films more that make me want to keep directing. But there were some really good independent movies made this year – Three Billboards and Lady Bird and I, Tonya.
“And a very good studio movie called The Shape of Water. Those films have a chance to win a lot of Oscars this year.”
Spielberg has also revealed he made The Post in a hurry, because of Trump’s presidency.
Speaking with The Guardian, he said: “The level of urgency to make the movie was because of the current climate of this administration, bombarding the press and labelling the truth as fake if it suited them.
“I deeply resented the hashtag ‘alternative facts’, because I’m a believer in only one truth, which is the objective truth.”
The Post is out now.