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Screen legend Steven Spielberg has made films in every genre — except one.
The Oscar-winning director said he still has “an appetite for a Western, which I will someday hopefully do,” in a Thursday, June 26 conversation with The Hollywood Reporter.
“It’s something that’s eluded me for all of these decades,” added Spielberg of a genre he hasn’t yet been able to crack. (Of course, the same was true for musicals before the versatile filmmaker took on 2021’s acclaimed West Side Story remake.)
Spielberg’s comments came at an event honoring him with a state-of-the-art movie theater in his name on the lot at Los Angeles’ Universal Pictures. From E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Back to the Future to The Fabelmans, many of the titles from the filmmaker’s company Amblin Entertainment have been filmed on the Universal lot.
In attendance at the event were John Travolta, Vin Diesel, Seth Rogen, Ke Huy Quan, Colman Domingo, Dakota Fanning, Jeff Goldblum and more, per THR. Addressing the starry crowd, Spielberg shouted out his latest project as producer, Jurassic World Rebirth, the newest installment in a franchise he launched with 1993’s Jurassic Park.
He concluded his remarks by saying, “I’m making a lot of movies and I have no plans… ever… to retire.”
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The special event came on the heels of the 50th anniversary of Jaws, the Universal movie that first made Spielberg a blockbuster director. THR also reported that Spielberg has not been able to focus on the anniversary amid a top-secret project starring Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor. Guests at the event honoring the director were treated to footage from his first action-adventure movie since 2018’s Ready Player One.
Spielberg did weigh in on the experience of filming Jaws in National Geographic’s upcoming documentary Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story, which premieres July 10 and streams the following day on Disney+ and Hulu.
Spielberg’s upcoming projects as a producer include Jurassic World Rebirth (in theaters July 2), The Thursday Murder Club (on Netflix Aug. 28) and Gremlins 3.
