Steven Spielberg | No 2 | Film Power 100
Director: Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park, ET: The Extra Terrestrial
Producer: Letters from Iwo Jima, Flags of Our Fathers
Steven Spielberg, 62, is an undisputed giant of cinema. He has delivered milestone films every decade he has been directing: in the 70s, Jaws and Close Encounters; in the 80s, the Indiana Jones trilogy and ET; in the 90s, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan; in the noughties, Catch Me if You Can and Minority Report. Perhaps more than any other member of his Hollywood generation the one known as the "movie brats" he has kept working at a breakneck pace. Next year, he releases the first of his Tintin series and the first world war epic War Horse. And that's just his directing work. If you take into account his role as a producer, Spielberg's output is staggering. He became a studio boss in 1995, setting up DreamWorks SKG with Jeffrey Katzenberg and music mogul David Geffen, taking a piece of films as varied as Men in Black and the Coen brothers' upcoming remake of True Grit. He also has his Holocaust educational charity, the Shoah Foundation Institute, which has funded documentaries such as The Lost Children of Berlin. What's the downside? Critics have claim that by creating the era of the blockbuster, Spielberg has been primarily responsible for replacing American cinema with amusement-park movies. Others accuse him of showy sentimentalism. Spielberg argues it's about giving the audience what they haven't seen before: iconic set pieces, great movie moments and unbeatable entertainment. Of that, he's certainly offered more than his fair share.