Hollywood
Steven Spielberg recalls being fired from ‘Nightmare Gallery’
The award-winning filmmaker explains why he was replaced as director for the horror anthology series.
Nowadays, Steven Spielberg is a legendary name in the film industry, but back in 1969, he was fired and replaced as the director on the horror anthology TV series ‘Night Gallery’.
According to Spielberg in an interview on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ the reason was for “irresponsible” creativity.
‘Night Gallery’
‘Night Gallery’ aired from November 1969 to May 1973 with a total of 43 episodes. Spielberg directed the pilot episode before being fired.
“The [Night Gallery] pilot sold and NBC decided to book a season, maybe 20 shows,” he said. “And they hired me once again to come back and do a segment… and I came on the set, and because [my segment] was only 11 minutes long, I had this idea of shooting the whole 11 minutes in one shot…
“I staged the whole thing across four set in one shot, storyboarded it, rehearsed it, everybody was excited about it, and then when the executives sat down to watch the rushes the next day, they saw the entire 10-minute take of most of the show, and they were appalled.”
The NBC executives were less than thrilled about the creative direction of Spielberg’s segment.
“‘Where’s the close-up coverage? Where are the over-the-shoulder shots? Where are the prerequisites for making it look like a television show,’” Spielberg went on.
“And I immediately got a call from an executive, I won’t mention that person’s name, who said, ‘We are appalled by what we’re seen That’s one of the most irresponsible experiences I’ve ever had with a director working for me, and we’re going to reshoot the show with another director.’
“And that was the end of it.”
‘The Fabelmans’
Spielberg’s latest film, ‘The Fabelmans’, is currently up for seven awards at this Sunday’s Oscars. It is a semi-autobiographical film that follows Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) who discovers a passion for filmmaking and sets out on a journey to make his own movies.
The film also stars Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen and Judd Hirsch.
‘The Fabelmans’ has already won several accolades including two Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Director.