Few filmmakers have been able to do what Steven Spielberg has been doing all these years. With films like Jaws, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, and more, the director has proven that there really aren’t any limits to what can be achieved in the film industry. Once again, in 2017, Steven Spielberg showed the world just what he’s made of thanks to the political thriller, The Post.
Based on a true event, The Post stars two of Hollywood’s greatest actors, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. When Steven Spielberg was first handed the script for the film, he knew that it couldn’t wait and decided to get right down to business. Why? Well, simply because of the story’s relevance to what was going on in the world at that moment, aka Donald Trump’s first run as President.
Why Steven Spielberg Finished The Post in Seven Months
The Post follows the real-life events of journalists Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep) and Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) back in 1971. The film is all about their efforts to publish the infamous but classified Pentagon Papers containing government secrets and records regarding the involvement of the US government in the Vietnam War.
Katharine and Ben faced pushback as they tried to publish the papers in The Washington Post. The board warned Katharine that she would face social exile and there would be a loss of investors if she and Ben went ahead with the plan. She was also warned about retaliation from President Nixon. Despite the attempts to hide the truth, the journalists decided to publish the papers.
When Steven Spielberg was handed the script of The Post, he knew instantly that the film should be materialized as soon as possible given the political scenario of 2017. Principal photography began on May 30, 2017, and the film was out in theatres just seven months later.
In an interview with The Guardian, Spielberg opened up about how the state of the political climate of 2017, Donald Trump’s first run as President, affected the press.
The filmmaker 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.
It takes some serious guts to be able to pull a feat like this one off in less than a year. But hey, Spielberg has always been about taking risks, right? Perhaps when you have the knack of changing the world through storytelling, it seems like nothing is really impossible.
Despite the Urgency, There Was No Tension on Set
One would believe that when you have to rush through filming to bring the director’s vision to life as soon as possible, there might be some tension on set. While this may be true, things on Spielberg’s set were as calm and composed as they could be.
Speaking to Cinema Blend, Carrie Coon, who played the role of Meg Greenfield in the film, confirmed that there was no rush on the set. The only kind of “rush” she felt was when she was preparing for the role since she was offered the part late and had only a few weeks to prepare.
Coon said,
No, there was no rush to the process when you are making it. If anything, the rush happens when you… you know, I got my job very late, so I only got a few weeks to prepare. You don’t have a lot of time to luxuriate and research. You just have to know your stuff and show up and do your lines. But it was fun to be with everyone. But I didn’t feel like the actual process was rushed, itself.
Spielberg once stated that he needed a “motivational purpose” to make a film and when he read the script of The Post, he knew that it wasn’t a project “that could wait three years or two years.” He knew he had to tell it as soon as possible.
We are glad Hollywood has such filmmakers who will go to the ends of the world to make sure raw and relevant storytelling makes it to film fanatics!
Rent/buy The Post from Prime Video.
