We thought we could finish the week without another story regarding Steven Spielberg and Netflix. However, right before the end of the day, a new person is speaking out about the situation and says that the filmmaker was taken completely out of context when the initial reports surfaced recently that he was going to attempt to stop Netflix from earning Oscar nominations.
READ MORE: Netflix Responds To Spielberg’s Attempt To Block It From Oscar Gold
Film executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, who has worked with Spielberg numerous times and is clearly a personal friend to the filmmaker, was speaking at a panel recently and decided to put an end to this Spielberg vs. Streaming talk, once and for all.
“I talked to Steven about this yesterday. I asked him very specifically,” Katzenberg said (via Deadline). “He said, ‘I absolutely did not say that.’”
For those not aware, what Katzenberg is alluding to is the reports that a spokesperson for Amblin (Spielberg’s production company) said that the filmmaker had plans to attend an Academy meeting in April and would discuss the recent Oscars and how “Roma” took home trophies.
The full statement reads, “Steven feels strongly about the difference between the streaming and theatrical situation. He’ll be happy if the others will join [his campaign] when that comes up [at the Academy Board of Governors meeting]. He will see what happens.”
“What happened is a journalist was onto a story about this and had heard a rumor about Steven,” said Katzenberg. “They called a spokesperson to get a comment and honestly, just twisted it around.”
The producer also shot down the notion that Spielberg would attend an upcoming Academy Board of Governors meeting, where it was previously said that he would discuss ideas on how to change the qualifications for films.
“He has not opined at all, nor has he aligned with some specific thing,” he said. “[Spielberg] knows there is a realignment coming and he wants everyone to win and prosper.”
We are most definitely willing to believe Katzenberg and what he says he discussed with Spielberg. However, these comments don’t seem to be “twisted.” Perhaps, the spokesperson spoke out of turn and shouldn’t have said what was said, but the words are fairly clear. And when you combine that statement with the previous statements made by Spielberg, where he made comments that streaming films are not real movies but are instead “TV movies,” it paints a picture that the filmmaker is against streaming films being recognized by the Oscars. It’s also clear that Spielberg, along with other filmmakers, wants to preserve the theatrical experience (which many film fans would agree with).
At this point, it’s hard to know exactly what Spielberg is thinking because, well, he won’t say anything about it. It’s clear there’s something going on here between the filmmaker and his displeasure with streaming films at the Oscars, but until we hear it from his mouth, directly, this is just more information to add to the debate.