Spielberg on Spielberg
What do a man-eating shark and a maniacal truck driver have in common? They both helped launch Steven Spielberg’s career. During an appearance at Harvard on Tuesday, the Oscar-winning director recalled the offbeat stars of his early movies and explained the bedrock influences behind his decades of notable filmmaking. Harvard President Drew Faust introduced the session, which was sponsored by the Mahindra Humanities Center’s Rita E. Hauser Forum for the Arts, welcoming Spielberg as a fellow historian, and “as much an educator as an artist.” Center director Homi Bhabha oversaw the 90-minute conversation with the director, which included questions from the audience. Bhabha, who structured the evening around clips from Spielberg films, opened with a snippet from the 1971 TV movie “Duel,” about a motorist terrorized by the mysterious driver of a tractor-trailer truck. The film had a particular relevance because it was the first project Spielberg really “went after,” he said, and...