I create problems for myself just so I can get creatively turned on.
Because there's more than one kind of whipped
Premiere: Do you work well in crisis situations?
Spielberg: Absolutely. I create problems for myself just so I can get creatively turned on. I don’t create serious problems for myself, but I worry a lot. I try to sweat the small stuff. I figure that if I anticipate the small things as being disasters, I’ll be prepared for the larger, more obvious crises. I just find that I think better…, I’ll give you an example. One scene in Raiders called for Harrison to fight the swordsman in a duel lasting three minutes. I had two days to shoot it in, but Harrison couldn’t stand up because he had a bad case of the Tunisian Touristas. I suggested that he take his gun out and just shoot the swordsman. The solution was quite possibly an inspired compromise. So I think I work better when I’m pinned down, more than when I have all the money in the world and all the time and all eyes watching my next move. I work much better when I’m not being focused upon.
by Steven Spielberg
American Premiere interview, 1982
from Steven Spielberg: Interviews
June 16th, 2009 at 9:18 am
What is Tunisian Touristas?
June 16th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Robin, Tunisian Touristas is a version of that malady known as Montezuma’s revenge, the Aztec two-step, or Pharaoh’s Revenge, depending on the where you get it – or, you could simply say “traveler’s diarrhea.”
June 16th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Thank you