The director, whose credits include some of the biggest-grossing and best-loved works in cinema history, including “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” and “Jaws”, has just finished two films back to back: the semi-autobiographical “The Fabelmans” and “West Side Story”, a film of the classic Broadway musical.

“Whatever seized me as a little kid is the same feeling I retained all those decades later,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “When I find a book or a script or come up with an original idea that I think would make a good movie: that excitement … supersedes everything.”

Spielberg, professing he “loves to work and needs to work”, is finalising a script left unfinished by his friend Stanley Kubrick at the time of his death in 1999.

“We’re mounting a large production for HBO based on Stanley’s original script ‘Napoleon’,” he said. “A seven-part limited series.”

Reflecting on the past two years of frenetic film-making, Spielberg said the pandemic prompted him to revisit his childhood in “The Fabelmans”.

“My mom used to say: ‘I’ve given you so much good material. When are you going to use that material?'” he said. “The fear I felt about the pandemic gave me the courage to tell my personal story.”

Spielberg, known for his accessible, compelling movies, advised would-be filmmakers to start with the story.

“If you want to be a movie director, first of all write,” he said. “Because it’s the stories that are going to get an audience to pay attention to you, not the shots.”