Saying Steven Spielberg is a veteran director would dishonor his legendary career as his imaginative mind has changed cinema as we know it. From creating iconic movies like Jaws and Jurassic Park to Oscar-winning films like Schindler’s List, Spielberg has had quite a filmography to his name.
Throughout his entire career, it has been noted and observed by people around him that Spielberg only does seven takes for a scene. Not furthering the number any higher, Spielberg’s shots are usually done in seven takes. However, one scene from Jurassic Park needed so much perfection that the director had to break his golden rule!
Steven Spielberg Does Not Need More Than Seven Takes!
Steven Spielberg is proud of the fact that he does not do more than seven takes to shoot a scene. Despite his films taking quite some time to get over, Spielberg considered himself an efficient filmmaker.
Admittedly, Spielberg found a legendary status when he created and released the 1993 film Jurassic Park. With veteran actors like Richard Attenborough, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and, Jeff Goldblum, the film earned a billion dollars at the global box office (via IMDB) and the shooting was also done quite efficiently.
e
This fact was confirmed by his assistant director John T. Kretchmer during the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Jurassic Park. During the Q&A panel, Kretchmer revealed that Spielberg has an unwritten rule that he does not shoot more than seven takes for a scene.
Steven never did more than seven takes on any setup. He shot it very much like a television show. We’d do seven takes, he’d print one and we’d move on.
However, things took a little turn when Spielberg was directing the last shot of Jurassic Park. Not sequence-wise, but when Richard Attenborough popped the champagne and drank from the glass before they entered the park.
So we’re doing this last shot: He does one take, two takes, five takes, seven takes, ten takes, fifteen takes, twenty takes. Finally I take Steven by the elbow and pull him aside, and I say ‘Steven, enough.’
Spielberg did shoot the scene for an extended amount of time, which was uncommon for the director. Taking multiple shots, and reshooting the same thing over and over, something was definitely off with the director.
Assistant director John T. Kretchmer had to literally pull Spielberg aside by the elbow and had to stop the director from working. The reason that Spielberg did so many takes will break your heart.
Steven Spielberg Didn’t Want Jurassic Park To End
Yes, the director got attached to his own film. Steven Spielberg did not want to finish the journey that he had started some months ago. Spielberg had stated that he got addicted to the journey of making the film, and he simply didn’t want it to end.
As per Kretchmer, Spielberg already had the perfect shot, the take had already been done, but the director did not want to stop. Not wanting to break the reality that the film was actually over, the Jaws director kept on shooting and broke his golden rule of seven takes.
‘You don’t understand, this is my drug.’ He was so dedicated and didn’t want to give up directing. You have to remember, in six weeks he was going to be directing ‘Schindler’s List.’ It wasn’t like he was going into retirement.
Kretchmer further continued,
But it just increased my admiration for the man so incredibly, it was the most incredible person to work with.
Well, Spielberg’s dedication and love for his film indeed paid off in the end since Jurassic Park went on to earn a whopping $1.103 billion at the global box office and paved the way for sequels and spin-offs.
Jurassic Park received a rating of 8.2/10 on IMDB and a whopping 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. Being one of the most iconic films of all time, Jurassic Park is available to stream on Peacock in the U.S.
