The Bearded Trio

Retro Sci-Fi Trivia Time!  ​Take a look at this snippet from Starburst Vol. 1, No. 3 which appropriately features Close Encounters on the cover.  The segment in the news section explains just how much George Lucas and Steven Spielberg loved Chuck Jones’ legendary cartoon, Duck Dodgers in the 24½ Century.  ​According to the article: ​George Lucas loved it so much he opened his initial Hollywood cast and crew screening of Star Wars with it, eventually getting it to play before the main feature in a San Francisco cinema. ​Steven Spielberg gave it a shoutout in Close Encounters, where it plays on the TV in the playroom scene ("H'h'h'happy birthday, you thing from another world, you!"). ​​I love finding little stories like this in old mags. The hype for a movie or the industry back then seemed more exciting and more innocent, but at the same time, more cosy.  But rose tinted glasses and all that as they say - Rob The Bearded Trio - The Site For Steven Spielberg, Geo...

Summer of Amblin' By Jeff Graber For Harvey Graber The Spark of Childhood Wonder. In 1981, a month after my 11th birthday in September, my father ushered me into the cool embrace of a movie theater. The film he had chosen was ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, a title unknown to my young mind. I wasn’t quite sure what I was about to experience, but my dad’s excitement was infectious. As the lights dimmed and the film began, the world outside ceased to exist. Indiana Jones, the whip-cracking, quick-witted archaeologist, leaped onto the screen and into my world. I found myself riveted, perched on the edge of my seat, my young heart drumming in my chest. Each chase, each narrow escape, each victory had me leaning forward, my breaths shallow, my palms damp with anticipation. I could feel the adrenaline surging, pulsating, echoing Indy’s every move.  When the film reached its climactic end, I found myself shaking slightly, a tremor born from the rollercoaster of emotions I’d ridden. As the thea...

Highlights from the Los Angeles Premiere of LucasFilms' Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny at Dolby Theatre on June 14 in Hollywood, California. Harrison Ford thanked the fans and during one interview said we're celebrating the movie but also all these people (pointing to the fans) and said they have kept us making movies for 42 years. Karen Allen laughed at how she has known for the last two years she was in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and how she's not been able to breath a word of it.  "It's been a challenge" she said. One of my favourite actors, Toby Jones look a little bewildered by all the grandeur. "It's not the kind of thing I ever thought I would be part of."  Phoebe Waller-Bridge looked positively excited.  "We've been sitting on this film for so long, I am so excited for it to come out.  It's such a ride and such an adventure." The stars of the movie take to the red carpet to celebrate the US premiere ...

Lets have some good news.  Nay!  Let's have some awesome news!  John Williams it seems isn't retiring. At an event, sponsored by the American Cinematheque and held at the Writers Guild Theater, John Williams and Steven Spielberg spoke for 90 minutes about their career.  Moderator Jon Burlingame left the best question until last. “A final question for each of you. John, are you really retiring from films? Are this” — “The Fabelmans,” the last film to come up for discussion — “and the Indiana Jones film to come your last work for the medium?” “Well, Steven is a lot of things,” replied the composer. “He’s a director, he’s a producer, he’s a studio head, he’s a writer, he’s a philanthropist, he’s an educator. One thing he isn’t is a man you can say no to.” “You never told me that before today,” said Spielberg, slightly, happily rattled. Williams pointed out that Arnold Spielberg, the director’s WWII-veteran father, died at 102, was still working at the Shoah Foundation w...

THE FABELMANS Starring Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Gabriel LaBelle, Julia Buttars, Jeannie Berlin, Robin Bartlett, Judd Hirsh and David Lynch Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner Directed by Steven Spielberg It was in 1981, at the palatial one screen Villa Theatre in Holladay, Utah, that the magic of cinema grabbed my twin brother and me forever when as seven-year-olds we saw Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was not our first movie, and we already had a budding love of the cinema. But Raiders took it to a new level and cemented that (for better or for worse) movies would be my first love and my life’s dream. A year later, the same filmmaker who had taken two seven-year-old agoraphobic boys on the greatest adventure imaginable touched our hears forever with the beauty and emotion of E.T. – The Extra Terrestrial. Both of these experiences will always be tied in my mind and heart to my late mother, who took my siblings and me to see them, and then supported the passion ...

The Fabelmans B-Roll and Interview With Steven Spielberg We are pleased to bring you footage from Sunday's AFI Fest premiere of Steven Spielberg's The Fabelman .  Check out the cast on the red carpet and an interview with the director himself, Steven Spielberg who explains how personal this movie is and how he takes his privacy public for the first time.  It all took place at the famous TCL Chinese Theatre, Hollywood. About The Fabelmans: Directed by Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans is written by Spielberg and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America, Caroline, or Change), who has earned Oscar® nominations for his screenplays for Spielberg’s Lincoln and Munich. The film is produced by three-time Oscar® nominee Kristie Macosko Krieger p.g.a. (West Side Story, The Post), Steven Spielberg p.g.a. and Tony Kushner p.g.a. The film is executive produced by Carla Raij (Maestro, co-producer West Side Story) and Josh McLaglen (Free Guy, Logan). The film sta...

On the opening weekend of The Phantom Menace, Rumours Were Already Happening for Episode II If there's one thing I like doing is reading a magazine from years ago just to see what wild rumours were doing the rounds back then.  Back in '99 the hype was of course for Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace.  But in July's edition of SFX the attention was already leaning towards the sequel!   The article on page 13 (shown above) was obviously written on the opening weekend of The Phantom Menace where it states the movie had toppled "The Lost World's" record of most successful opening day in screen history.  "While Steven Spielberg's dinofest took $26.1 million on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend 1997, Episode 1 bagged a gross of $28,542,349 in its first 24 hours, a litle short of the $30 million confidently predicted by industry insiders.  One estimate puts its potential worldwide gross at $1.5 Billion." The Lucasfilm President of the time, Gord...

I was nine years old, galloping down the carpeted stairs of my childhood home in Farmington Hills, Michigan. It was 1982. I was intent on getting a snack, but it was just a quick snack. The kind of snack that wasn't worth going all the way to the record player to lift the needle while you were out of the room. I wanted that music to already be playing when I returned to my bedroom with that coveted snack. "Heroics of Luke and Han" was coming out of my primitive little record player, from the soundtrack album Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980). As I started my sprint back up the stairs, my mom called to me. I think I defied the laws of gravity in stopping, waiting to hear about either the speed of my movement or the questionable nutritional quality of my snack. "I just wanted to say how nice it is that you're listening to classical music!" my mom declared to me, also hearing the bombastic music from my bedroom.  I paused for an indignant moment before ...

In the history of cinema, there have been directors who have specialized in eliciting particular emotions from audiences. Some thrill us. Some help us remember. Others help us forget. A few crafted true moving-picture art. Steven Spielberg checked every box on that list and added a few in an unprecedented career. Today he turns 75 years old. A milestone birthday in any culture, and now is as good a time as any to celebrate not just the career, but the man. A man who is responsible for one of the most recognizable characters in the medium’s history (Indiana Jones) while also ushering in an entirely new way to tell a story (Jurassic Park). For children of the 1980s like myself, Spielberg was the ideal storyteller to identify with. Through his films and his characters, he spoke with us, not to us. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982) might be the best example of this. The entire first half of the film is shot from the kids’ point of view. He was there with us. An adult perspective meant dan...

Planes and Ford Spell Trouble On The Set Of Raiders of the Lost Ark The Flying Wing scene is a memorable one in Raiders of the Lost Ark as we get to witness an exciting few minutes of action including a fight scene with Indy and a muscly German mechanic, Indy almost losing his head from a propeller all coupled with big explosions and fast-paced action.  But for Steven Spielberg the Flying Wing scene was a bit of struggle.  The prop itself didn't always perform properly and Steven had to figure out how to piece together 120 shots for the fight sequence and of course the blazingly hot temperatures on set. But it was these hot temperatures that saved Harrison Ford from having a major disaster and a potential life-changing injury.  The wheel of the Flying Wing actually ran over Ford's leg at one point as the actor lay on the ground for a fight sequence.  Ford recalls "I go down and start to roll away - and my foot slips, right under the rolling plane's tire.  Everyb...

It's been a long year for everybody, but slowly, signs of normalcy are starting to return to our world. Projects that have encountered delays are finally coming to fruition. Among those projects is the next work from the great Steven Spielberg. During Sunday night's broadcast of The Oscars, the official teaser trailer for West Side Story debuted.  View the full trailer here: The teaser seems to perfectly capture the 1960s cinematic atmosphere of the original, released in 1961. The music appears to be fairly typical 21st century era movie trailer music, but to me, that is no indication of the kind of music we're sure to get in this film. West Side Story is scheduled to hit theaters on December 10. Brad Monastiere I live in Michigan and have been an unconditional fan of Star Wars and Indiana Jones for decades. Follow me on twitter @bmonastiere The Bearded Trio - The Site For Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, John Williams and a whole lot more.

Lucasfilm released some big news at noon EDT Friday regarding our favorite archaeologist. LFL announced the official release date for Indiana Jones 5 as July 29, 2022. The film's original release date had been July 10, 2020, but COVID-19 scuttled those plans, as it has so many other projects around the world.  John Williams, the only film composer the Indiana Jones film franchise has ever had, will return to score the final movie in the series. I wasn't taking his involvement for granted, and I had it in my head that perhaps Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) would be the last time we'd see The Maestro command the baton for a motion picture film.  Given that James Mangold is set to direct the film and not Steven Spielberg, I wasn't ruling out Indy 5 having a different composer. Thankfully, Williams will be back. What is super cool for a numbers nerd like me is this will mark the eighth different decade Williams will have handled the score for a film. EIGHT DIFFER...

E.T's Original Ending Featured Dungeons & Dragons We all love E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial from start to finish   and that ending will have us all in tears.  That goodbye scene and that magical John Williams score is the perfect ending to the 1982 Steven Spielberg classic.  But did you know that the ending was going to be completely different?  Spielberg had a different idea to the ending and it was, in a way thanks to the epic music by John Williams that gave us the ending we all love. Robert MacNaughton who played Michael, Elliott's older brother in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial had this to say about the ending in an interview with Yahoo Movies back in 2019: “The last scene was going to be all of us playing Dungeons & Dragons again, except this time, Elliott’s the dungeon master. Because he was the one that found ET, he sort of got in with the group. [...] And then they would pan up to the roof and you’d see the communicator and it’s still working — in other wor...

PHOTO OF THE DAY: STEVEN SPIELBERG IN FRONT OF DEVIL'S TOWER - Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Fun Fact about Devil's Tower - Even today, Devil's Tower is frequentely used for ceremonial rituals.  including sun dances, sweat lodges, and prayer and artifact offerings. (While visiting the park, make sure not to touch or move any religious artifacts.)  Find out more here. The Bearded Trio - The Site For Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, John Williams and a whole lot more.

Rare video showing Spielberg on set directing the visitor centre sequence and the Brachiosaur sequence. We also get a very rare glimpse at a deleted scene, and some unused footage.

Real air-traffic controllers were used in the opening sequence. The synthesizer technician/performer was the actual engineer sent by ARP Instruments to install the synthesizer equipment (ARP 2500) on the set. Steven Spielberg watched his expert playing of the equipment and immediately cast him for the role. The name of the ARP engineer is Philip Dodds and he is actually mentioned in the credits.

Welcome To Animaniacs! They may have been away since 1998 but the love for Animaniacs hasn't dwindled.  Thanks to Hulu, we are getting an all new series and in this first-look trailer we get to see an animated Steven Spielberg introducing Yakko, Wakko and Dot.   The whole teaser trailer is a parody of Jurassic Park with lines such as "Alan, this species of cartoon has been extinct since 1998. I mean, these haven’t been seen on TV since the golden era of animation!" and Steven Spielberg proudly announcing "Welcome to Animaniacs" Steven Spielberg is the executive producer for the new series and Animaniacs is set to premiere with 13 episodes in the first season on Hulu on November 20. The Bearded Trio - The Site For Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, John Williams and a whole lot more.

Gremlins 2: The New Batch – 7” Scale Action Figure – Ultimate Greta Ahh, Gremlins 2!  The Joe Dante directed, Steven Spielberg executive produced 1990 over-the-top sequel to Gremlins has, over the years become a bit of a classic thanks to the repeats on TV.  Seeing Zach Galligan take on those pesky green trouble-makers once more and seeing the doctor from Star Trek Voyager, Robert Picardo fall for a Gremlin, Greta is bound to bring a smile to your face.  And it's this Gremlin which has received the Neca treatment.  This 6" figure comes with all the looks, interchangeable hands and plenty of accessories.  Just don't stare too long or you could fall under her spell too.   Here's the full press release: Any fans of the Gremlins movies knows the rules: keep them out of sunlight, don’t get them wet, and never feed them after midnight. Break them, and your fuzzy, friendly little Mogwai will turn into a scaly, savage Gremlin. After years of waiting, the highl...