At the Cannes film festival in 1982, Steven Spielberg was premiering his soon-to-be blockbuster "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial."
What hasn't been widely known is that Spielberg also took part in the filming of a documentary on the state of Hollywood and film.
What German filmmaker Wim Wender did was to set up a camera in a hotel room in Cannes and let it run while several important filmmakers spoke; Spielberg was among them. It was not an interview, just straight talking by all those involved.
The end result is the documentary called "Chambre 666." The 666 was simply the room number at the hotel; there was no other reason for that specific number.
For between 4 and 5 minutes, Spielberg spoke. He talked about what he called the "unreasonable obsession by many studio executives" to have every film come out be a blockbuster. He also believed that he was one of the last optimistic people concerning the past and future of the American film industry.
He also talks about the financial side of filmmaking and the inflation of that time and its affect upon the industry.
What's important about this is that it's now available to American audiences as its being released as part of the wider "Wim Wenders" set, called here "Chamber 666." the problem is that it can't be bought separately, and to get it, the overall set costs $89.98. Something that will problem hold back its wider acceptance by some.
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