Until 1993, the lion’s share of Spielberg’s work was confined to the world of make-believe. He dealt with sharks and aliens but had yet to conquer the difficult genre of serious real-world drama. He wasn’t sure what the results would be, and many doubted his potential to crossover, but he was determined to try nonetheless.

In 1985, Spielberg shocked the industry when he released The Color Purple, a film based on the book by African American Alice Walker. Far from the adventure and science fiction themes Spielberg was accustomed to, this film tackled issues of sexual abuse in the Deep South. There would be no special effects and no outrageous costumes to distract from the characters. This was to be Spielberg’s first test of being a serious filmmaker.

He loved the world of fantasy, but Spielberg wanted to see how far his talents would go. He wanted to know if he could do a different genre and do it well. In that, he succeeded. The movie was nominated for numerous Academy Awards, including Best Film, and was critically acclaimed. Spielberg had sealed his position in Hollywood as a serious and respected director.

“Human beings have a need to get close to the edge, and when filmmakers or writers can take them to the edge, it feels like a dream where you're falling, but you wake up just before you hit the ground,” says Spielberg. By pushing his own limits of filmmaking, Spielberg was testing
himself on that very edge. The first time he went there, it proved to be a success. Could he do it again?

That was a question Spielberg set out to answer in 1993 when he directed Schindler’s List, a film that tackled the difficult issues of Jewish concentration camps in Nazi Germany during WWII. Again, Spielberg was in relatively new territory. There would be no dinosaurs and no knife-yielding villains. This would be a black and white tale of horror and suffering and kindness in its midst. Yet again, Spielberg proved his worth. Schindler’s List became acclaimed as one of the greatest films in motion picture history and earned Spielberg his first Academy Award for Best Director.

“Schindler’s List changed my life completely,” said Spielberg. After wrapping up production, Spielberg took three years off from making any other movies just to recover from the experience. He had not only tested his filmmaking skills, but he had become emotionally involved in the project since it hit so close to home, having relatives who were killed in concentration camps. Both professionally and personally, Spielberg tested himself, pushed himself to the limit and saw how far he could go.

From that point on, Spielberg would often switch between making films of various genres, making an easy transformation from fantasy to serious and back. He recalls that as a child he used to enjoy pushing himself “to the brink of terror and then pulling back.” It seems that was a phenomenon he would never outgrow.