Comparing David O Selznick and Steven Spielberg Essay

Ask a millennial if they have heard of the movie "Gone with the Wind" or 2The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and the answer is likely to be in the affirmative. Ask the same millennial, and especially if they are not studying or working in any show-biz related field if the name of the producer of these timeless classics David Selznick sounds familiar and the answer will most likely be in the negative. Which naturally leads to the question, who was David O. Selznick? On May 10th, 1902, in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, the genius and now legendary film screenwriter, producer and studio executive David O. Selznick was born to wealthy immigrant parents Florence Anna Sachs Selznick and movie producer and distributor Lewis Selznick. Initially, his parents had named him David Selznick but he added the "O" to his name to differentiate him from an uncle who was also named David Selznick. His father is a screenwriter and producer in the film industry exposed the young David to show business. David attended the Columbia University until his father went bankrupt in 1923. For three years afterward, he worked for father as an apprentice until 1926, when he decided to move to Hollywood and venture into a show the business of motion pictures to create a future and a name for himself. While new to Hollywood, he utilized his father's network of friends and associates to get a break into Hollywood, managing to get a job as an assistant editor and associate producer at one of the world's most iconic film studios Metro Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), the owner of which would become his rival and father-in-law. Two years later, in 1928, he departed from MGM and headed to Paramount Pictures. David stayed with Paramount Pictures till 1931 before he left for RKO Radio Pictures Inc, one of the top studios in Hollywood at the time, where he became the Production Manager. In 1930, he married Irene Gladys Mayer, whose father, Louis B. Mayer, was the CEO of the MGM studios. He had two sons with Irene, Jeffrey and David Selznick, before their separation in 1945. The couple divorced three years later, attributed to David's philandering ways. Years later, in 1949, he married an actress who he had mentored in the early days of her career. Her name was Jennifer Jones and they had one child; a daughter named Jennifer Selznick in 1954. With a myriad of successful films such as What Price Hollywood? Rockabye and A Bill of Divorcement (all released in 1932) under his belt, David's years at RKO proved successful but he did not feel fulfilled even then. He had always, rather ambitiously, dreamt of being autonomous by owning his own studio; therefore in 1935, he actualized this dream by leasing the RKO Los Angeles studios and thereby establishing Selznick International Studios. It was while at the helm of Selznick International Studios that David would go on to produce the critically acclaimed film Gone with the Wind, which remains the highest earning movie of all time. The movie lingers even today. Although I suspect that when the dust settles Black Panther might dethrone it as the highest grossing movie at the box office. The movie scooped a record 8 Oscars in 1939, including the award for Best Picture. The following year, he won the Oscar for Best Picture back to back, this time for the film titled Rebecca, on which he had collaborated with a British Director named Alfred Hitchcock. Rebecca helped launch Hitchcock's career in the United States of America. Before working on Gone with The Wind, he had worked on several projects which were successful but none was as critically acclaimed.

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In spite of the film Rebecca being a success at the box office, Selznick decided to take a break from producing films and hence shut down Selznick International Studios. After the hiatus, Selznick made a comeback in 1944 and established The Selznick Studio. His return was marked by massive success because his movie Since You Went Away proved to be a box office hit. He went on to produce more films but the reality that dawned on him was that Gone with the Wind would always be the movie to beat. Of all the movies he went on to produce in his career, only Duel in the Sun ever came close to beating it. David is described as being a man who was so preoccupied with his own self that it plagued his own family, driving his daughter, Jennifer, to commit suicide. He was also hopelessly addicted to gambling just like his father. He lost most of his fortune in this way. Selznick was a genius at filmmaking but his charm and talent were overshadowed by his haughty, insecure and self-destructive ways. He admitted that he had spent his latter days chasing the ghost of Gone with The Wind. David Selznick died of a heart attack in 1965. (Thomson)

David Spielberg is one of the most prolific, revered and celebrated American producers and directors of the modern time. It is reported by Forbes that Spielberg's movies have grossed so much money at the box office that he has been inducted into the club of the directors who have earned 10 billion dollars and above, of which he is the only member since he is currently the well-paid director in Hollywood. He has an estimated net worth of about $3 billion. Steven Allan Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in December 1946 (the year David O. Selznick did not release any movie). He was raised an orthodox Jew, the perception of which he once admitted that brought him constant embarrassment and made him the subject of ridicule and anti-Semitic prejudice especially from his peers. Spielberg made his first movie (a home movie) when he was just 12 years old. As a boy scout, he had to earn his photography merit badge and to do so he made an eight-minute film called The Last Gunfight. And thus, he began his movie-making career that would span over 4 decades. After completing high school and following his parents' divorce in 1965, Spielberg relocated from Saratoga, California to Los Angeles to go hone his craft and become a director. Whilst a student at California State University taking a BA in Film and Electronic Arts, he worked as an intern at Universal Studios. During his internship he was afforded an opportunity to write and direct a short film. His work was so impressive that the President of Studio Universal at the time, Sidney Sheinberg, offered him a seven-year contract, making him the youngest director to ever be signed by a studio like the one of Universal Studio's stature. He subsequently deferred out of college to focus all his energy and resources at becoming a director at Universal Studios although he later reenrolled into California State in Long Beach, completed his course and graduated with a degree in the year 2002. His debut television gig as a director was on the pilot of Night Gallery. He was only twenty years old as by then, a television series starring one of Hollywood's leading ladies back then; a star named Joan Crawford. At first Joan questioned Spielberg's ability to handle a task of such magnitude but later, after working with him, came to describe Spielberg as a 'genius, with intuitive inspiration'. She was admitting that indeed Spielberg had the ambition and creativity to make it in Hollywood. Spielberg just kept on impressing the executives at Universal studio with each assignment he was given.

Based on his impressive growing body of work, Universal signed him to direct four films. Spielberg's biggest break came when he directed Jaws, a horror and a thriller movie rolled into one, but which was a box office success and went on to win 3 Academy Awards. But it was the work he did in the 1980s that solidified his status as a genius, so to speak. Teaming up with Lucas, they produced the adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark, the initial movie from the Indiana Jones series. The movie turned out to be the best movie of 1981, receiving scores of Oscar nominations, but did not win any. Nonetheless, Spielberg kept on doing what he did best. The Color Purple, Spielberg's adaption of the novel by Alice Walker by the same title, was released in 1985. The film starred Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. The film instantly became a box office success and is still a topic of conversation today as it was back then in 1985. Other legendary and critically acclaimed films and television series that have been directed and/or produced by Spielberg over his career include Jurassic Park, Amistad and Saving Private Ryan (for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director) among many others. Some of his latest works include The Post, featuring a star-studded cast led by Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. It is worth mentioning that Spielberg took an indefinite break in 1994, the year in which he founded DreamWorks Studios, just like David O. Selznick did at some point in his career as well. In issues appertaining his personal life, he and actress Amy Irving got married in 1985 but later went their separate ways in 1989. They begot a son from the marriage. Spielberg later married another actress, Cate Bradshaw in 1991 and they are still married to date. The couple have 6 children together, both biological and adopted. (McBride)

It is evident from their biographies that even though they had a few similarities and were both impeccable masters in the film industry, Selznick and Spielberg lived in different eras of Hollywood. In the 1930s, when Selznick worked in Hollywood, screenwriters and directors were not taken very seriously when it came to making creative decisions regarding films. Selznick and Alfred Hitchcock's paths had crossed when Selznick hired the British director when winding up work on Gone with The Wind. At that time the British film industry was not flourishing and Hitchcock longed to go to Hollywood where the best movies were being made. It was in collaboration with Hitchcock that Selznick made the movie Rebecca, albeit with a lot of difficulty. Selznick, as the producer, took it upon himself to make every major decision about the film, something that did not go down well with Hitchcock who had been accustomed to having all creative control as a director. This turmoil did not augur well for their partnership in the coming future. Predictably, the two went to work on separate projects until 1945, when they joined forces again and worked on Spellbound, which became an instant hit. By this time, Hitchcock's star was just beginning to shine while Selznick's career had reached the maxima and was now descending. The last film they worked on together was titled The Paradine Case. This collaboration with Hitchcock is significant in that after the success of Gone with The Wind, Selznick became obsessed with surpassing its success with another of his own productions. One of Selznick's greatest contributions to American film will always be bringing Hitchcock to America. Hitchcock became renowned for his sense of creativity and independence and died of Hollywood's most famous directors. A list of his most outstanding world includes Vertigo, Notorious and Shadow of Doubt. The fact that Selznick was a creative genius is not in dispute, but I can't help but feel that had he been a team-player, had he not been unpleasant and domineering and had he given Alfred Hitchcock the time of day, maybe today we would be talking of a different film being the greatest of all time. But we will never know. On the hand, some of Spielberg's best works have been collaborations. Note that Spielberg joined Hollywood at a time when Producers had all creative control and made all the executive decisions concerning a movie. First, he joined the film industry as an underdog due to his young age. He had to work and master his craft to prove that age was just but a number. Secondly, the epic adventure-filled Indiana Jones series was a collaboration between himself and the creator of Star Wars George Lucas and actor Harrison Ford. Raiders of the lost ark...