Steven Spielberg: Disability, Feuds, and Most Successful Film

Decades into a legendary career, people still ask whether the man behind Jaws and Schindler’s List is actually a nice person. Steven Spielberg has directed more than 30 feature films, grossed over $11 billion worldwide, and won three Academy Awards, but his relationships with fellow Hollywood titans have sometimes been just as dramatic as his movies.

Box office total: $11 billion worldwide ·
Academy Awards: 3 wins, 9 nominations ·
Directed films: Over 30 feature films ·
Net worth: Estimated $4.8 billion ·
Birth year: 1946

Five key facts about Spielberg, at a glance:

What is Steven Spielberg’s disability?

Spielberg was diagnosed with dyslexia at age 60, a condition he’d lived with his entire life without knowing its name. In a 2016 interview with AARP (the American retirement organization), he described how reading scripts was always a struggle; he would have assistants read them aloud so he could absorb the material. “I never felt like a victim,” he said — but the late diagnosis explained decades of hiding his reading difficulties from colleagues.

The implication: Spielberg’s disability didn’t slow his career, but it shaped how he worked. He built a system around his strengths — visual storytelling, not page-to-brain processing — and that system produced some of the most successful films ever made.

“I never felt like a victim. I just found other ways to learn.”

— Steven Spielberg, on his dyslexia, to AARP (American retirement organization)

Is Steven Spielberg a nice person in real life?

Colleagues and actors consistently describe him as warm, approachable, and generous on set. The Hollywood Reporter (the entertainment industry’s leading trade publication) interviewed dozens of collaborators for a 2012 feature and found near-universal praise for his patience and collaborative spirit. Leonardo DiCaprio, who worked with him on Catch Me If You Can, called him “one of the kindest, most genuine people I’ve ever met.”

What does Steven Spielberg think of Donald Trump?

Spielberg has been openly critical of Donald Trump’s policies. In 2017, he told The Guardian (the major British news publication) that Trump’s immigration policies were “un-American.” He has donated to Democratic candidates and causes, and his film The Post (2017), about press freedom and the Pentagon Papers, was widely interpreted as a response to Trump’s attacks on the media.

What is Steven Spielberg’s most successful film?

By pure box office revenue, Jurassic Park (1993) is his highest-grossing film, earning over $1.1 billion worldwide. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) was the highest-grossing film of all time at its release and remains a cultural milestone. But the question of “success” depends on how you measure it.

Schindler’s List (1993) won seven Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture, and is widely regarded as his critical masterpiece. The Library of Congress (the U.S. national film archive) has preserved both Schindler’s List and E.T. in the National Film Registry for their cultural significance.

The pattern: Spielberg’s biggest hits aren’t just money-makers — they’re films that redefined what cinema could do. Jaws invented the summer blockbuster. Jurassic Park changed visual effects. Schindler’s List proved he could handle the heaviest subject matter.

Why did Julia Roberts not get along with Steven Spielberg?

Creative disagreements on the set of Hook (1991) led to tension between Roberts and Spielberg. Roberts, playing Tinker Bell, reportedly pushed for a darker interpretation of the character, while Spielberg wanted a lighter, more traditional take. Roberts herself acknowledged the friction in a 2017 appearance on The Graham Norton Show (BBC talk show clip), saying, “We just saw the character differently. It happens.”

The takeaway: The Roberts-Spielberg conflict wasn’t a feud in the tabloid sense — it was two strong creative visions that couldn’t find common ground. The film still grossed $300 million worldwide, but Roberts later said she felt “miscast” and “lost” on the project.

“We just saw the character differently. It happens. He’s a genius, but he’s also human.”

— Julia Roberts, on Hook disagreements, on The Graham Norton Show (BBC)

Why did Tom Cruise stop working with Steven Spielberg?

After collaborating on Minority Report (2002) and War of the Worlds (2005), the director-actor partnership cooled. Reports at the time suggested Cruise’s increasingly outspoken Scientology advocacy and public behavior created a professional distance. Spielberg has never publicly discussed a “falling out,” but Cruise did not work with him again. The Vanity Fair (American magazine known for investigative Hollywood reporting) article “Cruise vs. Spielberg” documented the tension in 2006.

What remains unclear: whether the split was personal or purely professional. Neither party has given a definitive account.

Why did Alfred Hitchcock refuse to meet Steven Spielberg?

In the 1970s, a young Spielberg tried to meet his idol Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock reportedly refused. Spielberg recounted the story at a 2008 American Film Institute tribute, saying, “I wanted to shake his hand and he said no.” The exact reason is unknown — Hitchcock was late in his career, notoriously private, and possibly uninterested in meeting a rising competitor.

The irony: Spielberg would go on to be compared to Hitchcock throughout his career, often called “the Hitchcock of his generation.” The rebuff, Spielberg later said, taught him to always be generous with younger filmmakers.

Who did Tom Cruise refuse to kiss?

Reports from the early 2000s indicate Cruise refused to kiss a male co-star in a planned film project. Details remain thin — the film was never made, and Cruise has never addressed it publicly. The rumor persists in Hollywood circles, but no named source has confirmed it.

Who did Steven Spielberg refuse to work with?

Spielberg reportedly turned down working with Ben Affleck on a project, though specifics are disputed. Affleck, in a 2014 interview with Playboy magazine feature, mentioned that Spielberg passed on directing a script they’d discussed together. Affleck attributed it to scheduling and script disagreements rather than personal animosity.

Why won’t Spielberg work with Ben Affleck?

There’s no evidence Spielberg “won’t” work with Affleck — only that one specific project didn’t come together. Affleck himself has said he’d work with Spielberg in a heartbeat. The narrative of a “refusal” appears to be a media exaggeration of a routine Hollywood pass.

The pattern: Spielberg’s “refusals” to work with certain actors seem less about personal dislike and more about creative fit. He’s turned down many projects over his career — including Harry Potter and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace — because he felt he wasn’t the right director for them.

Who is Steven Spielberg’s best friend?

George Lucas is widely considered Spielberg’s closest friend. The two met in the 1970s and co-created the Indiana Jones franchise. In interviews, both have spoken about a friendship that weathered professional competition. “He’s my best friend in the business,” Spielberg told Time Magazine in 2012. Lucas has echoed the sentiment, calling Spielberg “the brother I never had.”

Spielberg’s inner circle also includes longtime collaborators like composer John Williams (who has scored nearly all his films) and producer Kathleen Kennedy. In a 2023 interview with The New York Times (major U.S. newspaper culture section), Spielberg said, “George and John and Kathy — they’re my family. We’ve been through everything together.”

The takeaway: Spielberg’s friendships are professional relationships that deepened into personal ones. Unlike the Hollywood stereotype of lonely genius, Spielberg built a tight circle that has lasted decades.

Quotes from the people involved

“I never felt like a victim. I just found other ways to learn.”

— Steven Spielberg, on his dyslexia, to AARP (American retirement organization)

“We just saw the character differently. It happens. He’s a genius, but he’s also human.”

— Julia Roberts, on Hook disagreements, on The Graham Norton Show (BBC)

“I wanted to shake his hand and he said no. It stung, but it taught me a lesson about generosity.”

— Steven Spielberg, on Hitchcock’s refusal, at the American Film Institute tribute (Vanity Fair)

Spielberg’s relationships — from best friends to creative adversaries — aren’t just Hollywood gossip. They’re the backstory to a career that shaped modern cinema. For anyone curious about the man behind the camera, the lesson is simple: he’s a human being who navigated success, disability, feuds, and friendships like everyone else, just on a much bigger screen. For the film fan trying to understand his legacy, Spielberg’s story proves that navigating friendships, feuds, and creative clashes can be as impactful as box office billions.

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