Catch Me If You Can (2002 Steven Spielberg)

One of my favourite Spielberg films. Jeff Nathanson's screenplay approach emerged from talking with Frank Abignale. In the third of four interviews he started talking in detail about his father, and the breakup of his parents, and this gave him the key to the film. Spielberg's input was to focus on the surrogate father-son relationship between Frank and Hanratty and to condense the material - he enjoyed the comedic tone of it. (Source: screenwritersutopia.)

This covers the other stuff. Kaminski's photography is gorgeous - kind of old school. Interested to learn that Steven even picks the lenses he wants, credits Kaminski as being a brilliant lighter. In this one (despite the screen shot below) they want away from a hard backlit look and had faces softly lit from the front.

A scandal that John Williams didn't get the Oscar.

But - get this, from a 2002 interview with Spielberg, on doing his own 'Frank':

"I was fifteen, or sixteen. I was in high school. I was spending a summer in California with my second cousins. And I wanted to be a director really bad. I was making a lot of 8mm home movies, since I was twelve, making little dramas and comedies with the neighborhood kids.

One day I decided to get on the Universal lot. I dressed up in a coat and tie. I actually had taken the tour the day before at Universal, and actually jumped off the tour bus. (It was a bus in those days.) I spent the whole day on the lot. Met a nice man named Chuck Silvers. Told him I was a filmmaker from Arizona.

He said, "Kid, come back tomorrow. I'll write you a pass and you can show me some of your 8mm films."

I had a little film festival for him.

He said, "You're great. I hope you make it. But, because I'm just a librarian I can't write you anymore passes." (He laughs.)

So the next day, having observed how people dressed in those days, I dressed like them, carried a briefcase, and walked past the same guard, Scotty – who had been there for like a long time, because he the oldest. He waved me in.

For three months, that whole summer vacation, I came on the lot every single day. Found an office. Went to a little store that sold cameras and also plastic title letters to title your films. Got the letters. Found an abandoned office, and put my name and the number of my office on this directory. Opened up the glass directory and stuck these stick-on letters on the directory. And basically went into business for myself. But it never amounted to anything. I learned a lot about editing and dubbing by watching all the professionals do it, but I never got a job out of my imposition.

Then when I made [the short film] Amblin, ironically the one person who responded to Amblin, who wanted me to sign a seven-year contract, was the head of television at Universal, who became the head of Universal – Sid Sheinberg.

So, ironically it wasn't like I didn't like moonlight at Universal, and Paramount offered me the contract. Somehow, ironically, or because I don't think it was manifest destiny, I wound up back at the place where I first broke into (he laughs). I'm still there. All these years later I'm still working at Universal."