Read the text. Be ready to tell about the actor. Learn new words you meet in the text.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Steven Spielberg’s film Back to the Future was released in 1985. The action took place in the 1980s and 1950s. In the film, teenager Marty McFly traveled in time to 1955. He had to make sure that his mother and father met. Two sequels to the film appeared in 1989 and 1990.

2. Read the text and be ready to tell about the producer of the film. What else do you know about him?

STEVEN SPIELBERG: MOVIE WIZARD

He seems to be the all-power wizard and a cinematic magician for us. His films make us scream with laughter or shiver with horror.

The son of a computer scientist and a gifted pianist, Spielberg spent his early childhood in New Jersey and, later, Arizona. He was 11 when he first got his dad’s camera and began shooting short films about flying saucers and World War Two battles.

At the age of 13 he won a contest with his 40-mmute film Escape to Nowhere. At the age of 16 he produced the movie Firelight and it was shown at the local cinema.

But a real success came in 1975, when Spielberg created Jaws. That little fish tale became the biggest hit of its time. This movie opened up the doors for Spielberg to work on many more great projects. And he went on to shake Hollywood with Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark, ET, and Jurassic Park.

Today, Spielberg is one of the most financially successful filmmakers ever. But his talents aren’t limited to the movie set. Spielberg has also proved to be one of Hollywood’s most nimble entrepreneurs. His business empire includes video games, toys and even restaurants.

But what is his source of inspiration? He draws it from his 7 children (two of them are adopted). Spielberg likes to spend time with his children. His house resembles a large playground — he keeps there 2 parrots, several snakes, and a fish tank.

Ask him where he gets his ideas and he shrugs. “The process for me is mostly intuitive,” he says. “There are movies I feel that I need to make, for a variety of reasons, for personal reasons, for reasons that I want to have fun, that the subject matter is cool, that I think my kids will like it.”

Does he ever worry that he will run out of ideas? “I don’t have enough time in a lifetime to tell all the stories I want to tell,” says Spielberg. It sounds like the story master is going to be busy for a long, long time...

(from Speak Out, abridged)

3. Read the text and be ready to tell about the director of the film. What other films of this director have you seen? How did you like them? Tell about those films and your impressions of them.

ROBERT ZEMECKIS

Robert Zemeckis (1952– ) is an American motion-picture director, producer, and screenwriter, whose film Forrest Gump (1994) won an Academy Award in 1995 for best picture. Zemeckis has used advances in computer technology to deliberately confuse fiction and historical fact. For example, in Forrest Gump, the lead character of Gump (played by American actor Tom Hanks) appears to meet with president John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Zemeckis also directed the science-fiction comedy Back to the Future (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988), and Contact (1997).

4. Read the text. Be ready to tell about the actor. Learn new words you meet in the text. How is the actor now?

MICHAEL FOX

Michael J. Fox (1961- ) is an American television actor who became known for playing brash but likable characters on popular situation comedies. He has also starred in a variety of motion pictures.

Michael Andrew Fox was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He later adopted the initial “J” in his show business name out of respect for American actor Michael J. Pollard. Throughout his career, Fox’s small stature and youthful looks have enabled him to play characters younger than his actual age. He made his TV debut in 1976 as an orphaned youngster being raised by his uncle in the Canadian sitcom Leo and Me.

Fox dropped out of high school and moved to Los Angeles in 1979. After landing a number of small television parts he won the role of Alex P. Keaton, the politically conservative son of former hippies, in Family Ties. The series was one of the most popular sitcoms of the 1980s, and Fox earned three consecutive Emmy Awards (1985-1986, 1986-1987, 1987-1988) and one Golden Globe Award (1989) as lead actor on a comedy series.

Fox’s natural charm and comic timing translated to the big screen as well. He starred in the hit movie Back to the Future (1985) as a time-traveling high school student who meets his own parents and orchestrates their courtship. He reprised the role in two sequels. He also played the title role in the romantic comedy Doc Hollywood (1991) and in the dramas Light of Day (1987), Bright Lights, Big City (1988), and Casualties of War (1989).

In 1996 Fox returned to television in Spin City, a series that he starred in and produced. Two years later he disclosed that he was suffering from early-onset Parkinson disease, an incurable degenerative neurological disorder. Fox continued to act, winning three Golden Globe Awards (1998, 1999, 2000) and an Emmy Award (1999-2000) for his role on Spin City. He also continued to work in motion pictures, particularly in voice roles in such films as Stuart Little (1999; sequel, 2002) and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001).

Fox retired from Spin City in 2000 and created a medical research foundation to help find a cure for Parkinson disease. In 2002 Fox released his memoir, Lucky Man, which chronicles his experience with his illness as well as his acting career.

Read the text. Be ready to tell about the actor. Learn new words you meet in the text.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 961