

The Sugarland Express with Steven Spielberg
Anniversaries & Retrospectives
Feature | 110 MINUTESThe Sugarland Express, (United States). Steven Spielberg made his feature film directorial debut in 1974 with The Sugarland Express, which he also co-wrote, and follows a woman (Goldie Hawn) and her husband (William Atherton) as they take a police officer (Michael Sacks) hostage and flee across Texas while they try to get to their child before he is placed in foster care. The following year, he directed JAWS, the first film to break the $100 million box office mark and transform the economics of the film business. He earned Academy Award nominations for Best Director for The Fabelmans, West Side Story, Lincoln, Munich, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Additionally, he earned DGA Award nominations for those films, as well as Amistad, Empire of the Sun, The Color Purple, and JAWS. With thirteen to date, Spielberg has been honored by his peers with more DGA Award nominations than any other director. A Universal Pictures release.
After the movie: A conversation with Steven Spielberg, moderated by Variety’s Executive Editor Brent Lang.


Panelists

Brent Lang
Brent Lang is Variety’s Executive Editor. In that capacity, he guides the magazine's news coverage, as well as helps oversee its print publication. As a reporter, Lang continues to cover the major Hollywood studios and their corporate parents. He joined Variety in 2014, and has written extensively about the streaming revolution, the #MeToo movement, the decline of the theatrical film business, as well as various bankruptcies, criminal trials and labor strikes. He has also penned dozens of cover stories on the likes of Kevin Hart, Michael J. Fox, David Fincher, Mindy Kaling, Christopher Nolan and Michelle Williams. Lang is a graduate of Brown University and the Columbia University School of Journalism

Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg made his feature film directorial debut in 1974 with The Sugarland Express which he also co-wrote. The following year, he directed Jaws, the first film to break the 100m box office mark and transformed the economics of the film business.
He earned Academy Award nominations for Best Director for The Fabelmans, West Side Story, Lincoln, Munich, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Additionally, he earned DGA Award nominations for those films, as well as Amistad, Empire of the Sun, The Color Purple, and Jaws. With thirteen to date, Spielberg has been honored by his peers with more DGA Award nominations than any other director.
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