The filmmaker, described by CNN as the highest grossing director of all time, was celebrated by his peers at the museum's 18th annual Film Benefit.
Steven Spielberg was honoured on Thursday night, 12 November, at the Museum of Modern Art's annual Film Benefit in New York City. The event raised money for the museum's film department, and Tom Cruise opened the tributes with a surprise speech.
CNN describes Spielberg, who is 79, as the highest grossing director of all time. His close friends Martin Short and Steve Martin came, as did industry peers Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese, and collaborators Drew Barrymore, Emily Blunt and Zoe Saldaña. Blunt, who stars in Spielberg's Disclosure Day, arrived holding hands with her husband, John Krasinski.
Cruise, who starred in Spielberg's Minority Report and War of the Worlds, said: "Wow, Steven Spielberg. The very name evokes wonder, adventure, suspense, excitement, the anticipation of going to a theater and knowing that you are going to experience something extraordinary." He also told Spielberg: "I'm grateful for what I've learned from you, for all the films that you've given us, for your love of the audience and for everything you've done to preserve cinema."
Scorsese teased his friend that "we've known each other since 1972, and how did we get to be in our 80s?" He called Spielberg "the epitome of the great picture maker", adding that "the films he has made have changed the world."
Spielberg returned the compliment, calling Scorsese "the G.O.A.T of our entire generation, and you're the filmmaker I most hope to be when I grow up someday." He also said making Disclosure Day was "one of the best times of my career".
On the red carpet, Spielberg told CNN about The Fablemans, his 2022 Oscar-nominated and semi-autobiographical film. He said the last scene, in which David Lynch plays the director John Ford, repeats word for word something that happened to him in high school. Ford, he said, taught him a lesson about the placement of the horizon in the frame, and he has never forgotten it.
In his speech, Spielberg told the audience that he could not have achieved all his success without the help of others. He asked them to imagine that he was "actually standing up here with every single person who ever helped me to reach this point in my career", starting with the writers, actors and producers.
Spielberg put his success down to the people he worked with.
"Filmmaking is collaborating, and when I get singled out on a night like this, it reminds me that I have never stood alone on any set, on any location, on any soundstage."
Riley Keough, a Chanel brand ambassador, said she appreciates "the way he world-builds and creates totally different universes." "He's an incredible filmmaker and we need incredible movies," she added.
Ariana DeBose, who starred in Spielberg's West Side Story and won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for the role, sang a stripped-down version of Somewhere (There's a Place for Us). Bruce Springsteen, a longtime friend of the director, closed the evening with Dancing in the Dark.
Chanel has been the lead sponsor of the event since 2011, and it teamed up with MoMA for the 18th annual Film Benefit, with the money raised going toward the museum's film holdings.
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