Last night the Rakuten TV Empire Awards played host to numerous special guests — but only one was the Legend of Our Lifetime. Iconic director Steven Spielberg took to the stage at Camden’s Roundhouse to receive a special award from Empire in recognition of his unbeatable back-catalogue of pulse-pounding, heart-warming, eyeball-dazzling blockbusters. If it wasn’t enough that Ready Player One is just around the corner, Spielberg dropped in a tidbit in his acceptance speech about another upcoming film of his that we can’t wait to see: Indiana Jones 5.
On stage, Spielberg confirmed that he will be shooting the next Indy adventure in just over a year’s time right here in the UK. Speaking about his frequent collaborators from the British film industry, Spielberg said: “It’s always worth the trip when I get to work with this deep bench of talent coming out of the UK. The actors, and the crew, the chippies, the sparks, the drivers — everybody who has helped me make my movies here, and will continue helping me make my movies here when I come back in April 2019 to make the fifth Indiana Jones movie right here.”
The director also hailed the Time’s Up movement in his speech, saying: “Thank you Time’s Up. We were very much on board from the very beginning, my wife Kate and I. This is more important than any of us can ever really realise. I think in 10 years we’ll look back and realise what a watershed moment we are all experiencing together, 2017 to 2018. It’s extraordinary what’s happening right now. The fact that women who have had no representation and have not been able to find the support or the courage to step forward, now they will have representation and they will have the support. Time’s Up means it’s time up. This is it. This is the end of the way things were, it will never be that way again hopefully.”
Watch Steven Spielberg’s acceptance speech in full here.
For more from the Rakuten TV Empire Awards, head this way for the full winners list, and go here to see red carpet pics and all the winners speeches.
The Spielberg Takeover issue of Empire is on shelves now — with one of the five cover designs featuring cinema’s greatest archaeologist himself, Indiana Jones. Buy a copy online here{
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