“I’ll never be as good a director as him”: Not Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg Felt Inferior To One Trailblazing Director Who Won Lesser Oscars Than Clint Eastwood
In the entire film industry, over the years, there have been multiple legendary filmmakers and directors who have shocked and continued to shock the world with their extraordinary capabilities. Counted among the best if not the best, Steven Spielberg is among them. Not only is he known for his directing genius but he is also among the most commercially successful filmmakers.
While he might be the one director many budding directors look up to in awe, Spielberg himself once mentioned which director he looks up to the most, even stating that he would never be as great as him.
Who Is Oscar-Winner Steven Spielberg’s Favorite Director?
Steven Spielberg has made multiple high-grossing and high-ranking movies throughout his illustrious career. Not only does he have a very peculiar unique directing style, but the Jaws director is a very dedicated and visionary filmmaker, breaking the confines of creative restrictions every time he gets behind the camera.
He has earned more than 20 nominations till now and won two Oscars for Best Director and one for Best Picture apart from multiple other accolades. Even after such critical acclaim, Spielberg has some directors he admires and seeks inspiration from.
And his favorite director is not Clint Eastwood or Alfred Hitchcock, but rather the very respected movie director and producer William Wyler.
In an interview with The Herald Times, when talking about directing, Spielberg stated,
“Among my favorite directors is William Wyler, who never came out of the same hole twice. I’ve always admired those directors who were able to so totally reinvent themselves stylistically. To be able to go from ‘Mrs. Miniver’ to ‘Ben-Hur,’ to go from ‘The Big Country’ to ‘Funny Girl’ — those were the directors I admired. I basically lit candles to the directors that I couldn’t pigeonhole. I’ll never be as good a director as William Wyler, but to be eclectic like he was — that was always something I wanted.”
His statement was surprising yet obvious, for William Wyler has received over 12 Academy Award nominations for Best Director.
Who Is William Wyler, Steven Spielberg’s Favorite?
An extremely acclaimed American film director and producer, William Wyler is now remembered as a prominent figure in the golden age of the film industry. Regarded as one of the greatest directors of Hollywood, he has made multiple Oscar-nominated movies like Wuthering Heights and Ben-Hur.
Having a record of having over 12 Oscar nominations for the Best Director, he has won over three Oscars for Best Director. However, his contemporaries like Clint Eastwood, have a total of 4 Academy Awards, 2 each for directing and producing.
Despite all the accolades, there is no doubt that directors like William Wyler, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, and Clint Eastwood all certainly deserve their names in the Hall of Fame when it comes to the title of ‘legendary directors and filmmakers’.
