This weekend, fantasy/horror master Guillermo del Toro took to Twitter to praise one fellow filmmaker that needs no introduction. Steven Spielberg — who made History by setting several records when this year's Academy Award nominees were announced — is known across the world as a mastermind when it comes to composing a shot. He created iconic sequences in blockbusters like Jurassic Park and in smaller films like Bridge of Spies. The three-time Oscar winner has assembled a roster of Cinema classics, and now del Toro is here to tell you that there is a lot more craft in Spielberg's work than meets the eye.
Across an extensive thread, del Toro singled out a scene from Spielberg's most recent film, the musical remake West Side Story, and pinpointed the reasons why the camera "dances" with the scene and why exactly this is important. The scene, which was shot in one take, had already been discussed by Spielberg himself, who called it "very hard" to do. Of course, we all know that one-take scenes are incredibly difficult to film and are often praised, but del Toro had more to add about the technique:
“Extremely hard to execute. Pure, masterly clockwork precision and a lot more complex than ‘seamed’ shots or steadicam-to-crane ‘relay’ shots. Baffling, virtuoso— but one of so, so many shots that make the camera "dance" with each musical number. There are some of the dance number shots that are extremely (if not impossible) to decipher and almost all of them require brain-surgery levels of precision.”
Del Toro went on to equate Spielberg's work with other cinema legends like Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho), John Ford (The Grapes of Wrath), Max Ophüls (La Ronde), Douglas Sirk (Written on the Wind), Mikhail Kalatozov (The Cranes Are Flying), and others. He stresses the importance of dramaturgy but reminds readers that this is only 50% of a film. Also, he throws in a Breaking Bad reference for good measure.
“[West Side Story] is intoxicating, Heisenberg-level pure, uncut Cinema. And this is why every craft in our discipline needs to be honored. Because a conductor can only deliver with a perfect string section or a perfect wind section- there are few solos in our craft. We need to talk about Cinema in Cinema terms again- and celebrate those who do it.”
Finally, the Nightmare Alley director urges moviegoers and filmmakers alike to pay more attention to the craft of cinema-making, which is a lot more than pointing a camera and yelling "Action!". Del Toro recommends that people worry less about ratings and more about perfecting and learning the craft because, at the end of the day, this is what makes cinema eternal.
West Side Story is nominated in seven categories at this year's Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Directing (for Spielberg), and Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (for newcomer Ariana DeBose). Del Toro's Nightmare Alley is nominated in four categories: Best Film, Production Design, Costume Design, and Cinematography.
The Oscar winners will be announced on March 27.
You can check out del Toro's Twitter thread here: