Once in a lifetime, life puts you in front of the toughest son of a gun with the most valuable advice. The same happened with a 15-year-old Steven Spielberg when he met his idol, to whom many of the greatest directors of our generation owe their editing and visual styles. Ford asked, “Where’s the horizon?” The young Spielberg heard this and started trembling and mumbling as he stood face-to-face with his hero. He wanted to convey his appreciation to a genius of a person, but ended up learning a life lesson that would change the way he makes movies.Let’s understand what Ford meant by his advice to Spielberg in this inspiring yet short meeting.When Spielberg Met FordAt the age of fifteen, Spielberg managed to arrange a meeting with his hero, John Ford, in his office at Republic Studios.Ford’s office was decorated with Western paintings. When Spielberg walked into the office, he saw a pair of cowboy boots sitting on his desk. Wearing a safari jacket, a floppy hat, an eyepatch over his left eye, and smoking a cigar, Ford didn’t deliver a formal filmmaking lecture to the young Spielberg.The Golden Interaction His very first question to Spielberg was, “They tell me you wanna be a picture-maker?” To which Spielberg happily obliged. Then he asked, “What do you know about art?” Spielberg stammered hard while constructing his answer, and Ford interrupted, telling Spielberg to move over and keenly observe the paintings hanging on the wall one by one, repeatedly asking, “What...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Today