Asperger's Movie Directors/Writers?

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Steven Spielberg doesn't seem very Autistic to me (only my opinion).

I hadn't thought of him. Yeah, that would make sense. I've never seen him in interviews...



Well, his IMdB profile says he's diagnosed. Ed Burns says that he will literally lecture for hours on set if you ask him a question about filmmaking. He fixated on filmmaking very young and did pratically nothing else from then on out. He is obviously very intelligent, but his grades were so bad that he couldn't get into USC or UCLA film school (to their never-ending chagrin...). He's supposed to be very shy about anything but moviemaking, and he learned to talk late, if I'm not mistaken...

Maybe what you're seeing is the Spielberg who is in his element. We only see him on TV or on DVDs when he's talking about the one thing he knows better than almost anybody on the planet: movies. So he comes across as very confident and glib.

He lives about two miles away. If I ever chance to see the man strolling down the street, I'll ask him: "Hey, Stevie! Aspie, yes or no?"

I thought I had read an interview with Keanu Reeves, but it guess it was just someone's speculation. I'm pretty positive about Ackroyd and Speilberg.

Yeah, Alex posted a note above that said he heard Ackroyd say he has AS on the radio. That's about as definitive as you can get.

Spielberg looks it, and a whole bunch of websites report it as fact--including some news articles--so there must be a source for the information.

I shall persevere.... Can't rest until I have labelled Spielberg....

By the way: have you noticed how much Keanu Reeves resembles that guy Bram Cohen, the AS creator of BitTorrent?

Ackroyd is a definite, I read it in a bio on him.

I also read Spielberg: Young Filmmaker, they hint at it, but never confirm it at any point. It's a good book that, as it goes into his days when he was making Firelight.

I haven't seen this one. Is it any good?

Here is what I found on Dan Akroyd in Wilkpedia... I don't know how accurate it is but here it is nonetheless:
He was born with syndactyly (webbed toes) and heterochromia - the condition of having two-different colored eyes. In an interview with Terry Gross, he described himself as having Tourette syndrome that was successfully treated with therapy when he was a preteen, as well as Asperger's syndrome. The latter manifests itself in a fascination with police work, and Aykroyd carries a police badge at all times.

Here is the info on Spielberg : As an adult, Spielberg was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, explaining in part some of his social tendencies and childhood obsessive about filmmaking.


While looking I found this link for a movie about a couple with aspergers that was supposed to start filming this past March, starring Keanu http://joshhartnett.fanhost.com/films/a ... ticle1.htm
But I agree with those who stated that they couldn't find much on Keanu.. I only found mention of it..

Yes it's a good book, I can't remember who did the bio but it was very in-depth and was done in order of the projects. I appreciated it as it tore down some of the myths about his early days.

Interesting. I'll have to check it out.

Still haven't found any more info on Keanu or the others we've discussed. I wish we could get some fresh facts in here. Maybe I'm weird--well, maybe that's a given--but I like finding out about this stuff!

I forgot to mention one director who very likely had AS at the beginning of this thread:

HOWARD HUGHES

He directed movies early in his life.

It wouldn't surprise me if Scorsese came out with it, too. No doubt in my mind that guy is on the Wrong Planet.

The radio interview is available at NPR. He mentioned that he has mild AS about 30 minutes (of almost 45) into the interview.

This is good. Did you find this in an article or something? I haven't been able to locate any reliable source on this...



You must be talking about MOZART AND THE WHALE. I didn't know Keanu Reeves was in that... Cool.

keanu isnt in it, it just sais that he was in "Constantine" with Rachel Weisz, (the main character)

i have wanted to be a director for a really long time. i would never want to be an actress, cause i would rather decide stuff than being directed by people...

wow, that would be so great if they could just be a little bit more open about it, so that we could have someone to identify with. it would make "coming out" so much easier. just say: "I've got what Speilberg has" then people will think of AS as something positive. coz everyone loves spielberg, keanu and tarantino. i've seen an interview with tarantino too, and i just kept thinking how extremely hyper he seemed, and he is like; obsessed so.

whats grooming got to do with any of this?

Gotcha.

Yeah, Rachel Weisz actually decided at the last minute not to do MOZART. Rhada Mitchell plays the female lead opposite Hartnett in the film now.




Well, a percentage of Aspies don't like doing much grooming because of sensitivity to combs, soaps, scrubbing, or getting their hair cut, shaving, etc. (I have a hard time with shaving). It can be an indicator that someone has autistic traits. That's all.

No of course thats not it. the guy is just a slob. all AS girls obviously are like NT girls, and spend just as much time in the bathroom putting on makeup. The whole grooming issue is just something the doctors decided to put in to the diagnostic criteria with all of the other secondary symptoms. and i mean what would it matter anyway?

Hm. Your gernalization here is rather ... general. I beg to differ. I have read many posts by aspie girls who detest makeup because of their sensitive skin, won't shave their armpits, and won't shower but once or twice a week, nor will they wash their hair at all, because their scalp is sensitive.



I'm assuming you mean, what would it matter if Peter Jackson were AS? Well, in the big scheme of things, nothing, really. (As opposed to most of the other topics on this website, which are of earth-shaking significance.)

But it would mean something to me personally. I have been blocked from many of my attempted vocations in my short life by my AS. There are many, many things that I wouldn't have even tried had I known at the time I was AS. The failures have been sharp and painful.

Now, I've been making movies for several years, and things are starting to go well. It is very comforting for me to know that there are more than just one or two directors who have done well in spite of--or maybe because of--their unique neruology.