Steven Spielberg has become the latest movie industry figure to back a campaign protesting the abolition of the United Kingdom Film Council.
A senior executive at Dreamworks has written to Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, and described the move as "confusing". The exec, Steven Molen, also praised the UKFC for the help it received with Steven Spielberg's new film War Horse, which is shooting in England as we speak.
Spielberg, of course, has a long association with the UK film industry, having shot parts of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, Last Crusade, Empire of the Sun and Saving Private Ryan there.
A Treasury spokeswoman told The Guardian the chancellor had received the DreamWorks letter, but declined to discuss its contents. However, Ed Vaizey, the minister for communication, culture and the creative industries, defended the decision to scrap the council as part of a raft of cost-cutting measures.
"We've got a plethora of quangos, and I would question whether the Film Council is solely behind the success of film in this country," he told Sky News.
Criticising what he called "hysteria" surrounding the decision, Vaizey said film tax credits, lottery funding and a infrastructure for film production would continue to entice big film studios to the UK. He invited Hollywood figures to call him personally with their concerns rather than speaking through the media.
Steven Spielberg is not the first Hollywood figure to step into the UKFC controversy. Clint Eastwood, who just finished shooting his next film, The Hereafter, in London, wrote a letter to Osborne and spoke of his "great concern" that the UKFC was biting the dust. He also said that he would be less likely to choose the UK for a location now that the UKFC has been abolished.
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