Steven Spielberg is the mind behind some of the biggest and best regarded films in Hollywood history, from blockbusters such as Jurassic Park, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the Indiana Jones Franchise to Oscar winners such as Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. His latest film, Disclosure Day, arrived June 12, more 50 years after he invented the blockbuster genre with Jaws.
Yet a pair of unknown filmmakers have become the surprise box office story of the summer, with the rise of Gen Z YouTubers Curry Barker (Obsession) and Kane Parsons (Backrooms). Call it a moment of generational shift in Hollywood.
Amid this backdrop, The Hollywood Reporter spent a Sunday afternoon in New York’s Washington Square Park, a common hangout for the younger crowd, particularly students attending New York University, to discuss the current state of the film industry and their feelings on Spielberg, who at 79 is one of the great living filmmakers.
“I’m first going to have to look at some of these movies,” said many of the participants initially — until THR started to list off his blockbuster résumé.
“Oh! Jaws was genuinely one of the first movies that I remember,” quips Katie Young, a 21-year-old student at the University of Rochester who is interning in the city for the summer.
