Academy Museum to unveil Steven Spielberg retrospective in 2028

Washington DC [US], September 11 : Following the success of its 50th-anniversary exhibition for 'Jaws', the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has announced plans for a full-scale retrospective dedicated to legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg, scheduled to open in 2028, according to Deadline.

The announcement was made by Academy Museum director and president Amy Homma during the press preview of Jaws: The Exhibition, the museum's first-ever large-scale showcase focused on a single film.

While details about the Spielberg retrospective remain under wraps, Jaws: The Exhibition, open to the public from September 14 through July 26, offers visitors an immersive experience into the making of the 1975 blockbuster.

The exhibition chronicles the arduous production process, the film's impact on cinema history, and its influence on ocean conservation, according to Deadline.

Hundreds of artefacts, including props, scripts, schematics, merchandise, and posters, are on display. Visitors can also engage with interactive elements, such as playing John Williams' iconic two-note score on a miniature keyboard or recreating the famous dolly zoom in front of an orange-and-white striped beach hut.

Spielberg, a three-time Oscar winner, reflected on the challenges of filming Jaws. Recalling the shoot 12 miles offshore in the Atlantic, he described the experience as an "exercise in hubris and futility," Spielberg remarked, "How did anybody know to take the buoy [in the film and currently on display in the exhibit] and take it home and sit on it for 50 years and then loan it to the Academy? How did they know? I didn't know. I thought my career was virtually over halfway through the production of Jaws ... I really thought that I better give this my all because I'm not working in the industry again after they see the movie," as quoted by Deadline.

Noting that Universal Pictures offered him, several times, "a chance to gracefully bow out" for the film to be shut down, Spielberg said the project persevered because no one above or below the line wanted to quit.

"Every week, I'd have five or six people come over to me to say, 'I have children, I have dependents, I haven't seen them, I haven't seen my family, I've been here for five months just give me an incentive to keep working on your movie, give me a date, a guarantee of when you're gonna wrap.' And I didn't know when we were gonna wrap until two weeks before we wrapped at Martha's Vineyard," the director recalled. "That's how little control we had over the shark, the weather, the currents, the regattas."

The filmmaker credited the success of Jaws with giving him the creative freedom to pursue projects previously rejected by studios, such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Reflecting on the collaborative nature of filmmaking, Spielberg said, "Every room has the minutiae of how this picture got together and proves that this motion picture industry is really, truly a collaborative art form no place for auteurs," he said. "This is an art form that only survives based on getting the best people in all the right positions," as quoted by Deadline.

The upcoming 2028 retrospective will offer a comprehensive look at Spielberg's illustrious career, covering films such as Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., The Color Purple, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, West Side Story, and The Fabelmans. The exhibition is expected to explore the director's creative process, origins, and lasting impact on the film industry, according to Deadline.

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