Steven Spielberg Says He's 'No Longer Interested' In Action Pics

Jaws, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park - Steven Spielberg has set the bar for the worldwide blockbuster. Sure, he's taken praise for other genre as well, including his Best Director win for Schindler's List (and another for Saving Private Ryan five years later). On the cusp of his Lincoln premiere for the closing night of the AFI Fest next month, the wildly successful director-producer-writer said he is "no longer attracted" to action films, even as some are on his plate.

CBS' 60 Minutes spotlighted the director and his latest Oscar-buzzed film, which had a sneak "work-in-progress" screening at the recent New York Film Festival. The filmmaker reiterated what many of those first crowds said about the film, describing it as less action-packed than many of his previous titles.

"I knew I could do the action in my sleep at this point in my career," he said. "In my life, the action doesn't hold any … it doesn't attract me any more."

Was that a possible moment of exuberation considering the feature is widely tipped to be a mass contender this awards season? Spielberg, however, is set to direct Sci-Fi thriller Robopocalypse, which is set in the aftermath of a robot uprising and a quick check of his IMDb page has him set to direct a possible Indiana Jones 5.

Also during the segments on the popular long-running Sunday night news program that his latest, about the 16th President of the United States, focusing on the last months of his Administration when he and abolitionists labored to pass the 13th Amendment soon after his re-election on the waning days of the Civil War, was partly inspired by a reconciliation with his father.

"[President Lincoln] was the father of the nation in need of repair," said Spielberg. "And in a sense, the movies I've made recently have reflected the positive relationships that my dad and I have enjoyed for 20 [to] 25 years."

"I was an outsider. The kid that played clarinet at band, which I did," said Spielberg, who shared that he was bullied at school. He dealt with severe anti-Semitic attacks at school and said he denied his Jewishness for "a long time."

While his mother noted during the interview that he and his father were not close, it was in fact his dad who gave him something that would change his life - a camera.

Though his parents later divorced when his mother left after falling for her husband's friend, Spielberg didn't know for years the circumstances of their break-up. He idolized his mother and used his sentiment, channeling it to the maternal character Dee Wallace in E.T.

In Schindler's List, Spielberg said, "I did everything I needed to do to tell the story the way I thought the story should be told, to give it as much integrity as I could, never expecting it to make a dollar. The film went on to deliver a worldwide box office haul of $321million and win best picture and director Oscars at the 1994 Academy Awards." It was his turn at facing down the anti-Semitism he felt growing up.

In his latest, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Spielberg researched for the topic for 12 years. "I think the film is very relevant to today. It's about leadership. And it's about telling the truth. I think there was a sense of darkness for him…He had to end slavery and abolish the war. And there was darkness in his personal life."

[Sources: The Guardian, CBS 60 Minutes]