Steven Spielberg Spent His Life Idolizing Alfred Hitchcock – But Then He Got Savagely Shut Down

Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg are indisputable giants of cinema. But did you know about the hidden tension that ruined their chances of friendship? You might’ve presumed the pair were buddies while Hitchcock was alive. After all, his classics such as The Birds and Psycho influenced fan-favorites like Jaws. But while Spielberg completely idolized Hitchcock, the feeling most certainly wasn’t mutual. The younger talent even tried to meet his hero several times. But the British director always shot him down – and he was pretty brutal about it, too.

Hollywood icon

Any filmmaker probably would have appreciated a few tips from Hitchcock – even one as talented as Spielberg. The former’s wizardry changed the face of Hollywood cinema forever, and his movies are still revered to this very day. If a director wants to make a film full of suspense, then turning to Hitchcock’s back catalogue is probably the first thing to do.

He was aware of his impact

That’s exactly what happened when Spielberg was making his soon-to-be classic Jaws, which came out in 1975. It’s fair to say that hints of Hitchcock hits such as The Birds and Psycho can be seen in Spielberg’s masterpiece. Also, the director himself was apparently well aware of Hitchcock’s influence on his movie.

An meeting of minds

As we know now, Jaws turned out to be a huge success. So, buoyed by the widespread adoration for his film, Spielberg decided that he’d like to meet his idol Hitchcock. The pair would have plenty to talk about, surely? But as things turned out, an encounter between these two legends would never materialize. And according to the audiobook Tales of Hollywood by Stephen Schochet, it was all down to Hitchcock.

He was escorted away

Despite Spielberg’s clear admiration, Schochet writes that Hitchcock had no desire whatsoever to meet with his filmmaking fan. When the Jaws director visited the set of one of Hitchcock’s movies, the older director went so far as to have him escorted away from the area! Evidently, he wanted absolutely nothing to do with Spielberg.