Steven Spielberg will always be connected to science fiction, having directed some of the genre’s most memorable movies (E.T., Close Encounters, Disclosure Day). But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a Western in him.
In a new The Hollywood Reporter profile, Janusz Kamiński, Spielberg’s regular cinematographer since 1993, revealed that his next job is the director’s untitled Western, which the director hopes to shoot next year.
Kamiński told THR that he is already imagining the landscape, drawing, as always, from the world he grew up in:
“We used to go to this region in the Sudeten Mountains, where it was just beautiful, rolling hills, looked like parts of Montana. The lay of the land, the snow on the ground, the fog.”
All these elements exist in America too, he acknowledges, but “those who shoot American movies tend to come from somewhere else, and we see these same things differently. That’s why there’s room in this profession for men and women from different countries who bring different aesthetics to American movies.”
Steven Spielberg Is Making a Western
Spielberg’s desire to direct a Western was first revealed back in March during an interview with The Big Picture’s Sean Fennessy at the SXSW Film Festival.
“Can’t reveal anything right now, but I have a western in development… and it kicks ass […] There will be horses. There will be guns. There will be no tropes, I can tell you that. There’s going to be no stereotypes,” said Spielberg.
It seems somewhat fitting that Spielberg’s next feature after his long-awaited return to the sci-fi genre would be his first Western. The filmmaker had been developing a Bullitt reboot with Bradley Cooper attached to star, but, as of February 2026, it is reportedly no longer happening.
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