Director Steven Spielberg, a master of dramatic Normandy beach scenes, helped prepare President Joe Biden for his speech at Pointe du Hoc.
Spielberg was in the room at the Intercontinental Hotel in Paris on Friday morning as Biden was doing his final review and preparation for what the White House announced as a major speech on democracy, according to a source with knowledge of the preparations.
The White House did not respond to questions from DailyMail.com about why Spielberg was in the room and whether or not he received compensation for his advice. A representative for Spielberg referred DailyMail.com to the White House for comment.
Spielberg is also working with the Democratic National Committee on strategy for the national convention in August, where Biden will formally accept the party’s presidential nomination.
He has already been in meetings with party officials where he has offered advice on how best to tell Biden’s story and outline his vision for his second term.
Steven Spielberg was in Normandy on Thursday for the 80th anniversary of D-Day and helped Joe Biden on Friday prepare for his speech at Pointe du Hoc.
Spielberg is a longtime supporter of the president and appeared with him at a fundraiser in Los Angeles in December. Spielberg’s friend and former DreamWorks partner Jeffrey Katzenberg is co-chairman of Biden’s re-election campaign.
The director was in France for the D-Day 80th anniversary event Thursday at the Normandy American Cemetery. Actor Tom Hanks was also present.
The two men also met with several D-Day veterans who were there for the celebration and then went out to dinner with their wives in Paris on Thursday night.
Neither attended Biden’s speech on democracy on Friday, which the president gave in the same location where Ronald Reagan gave his famous ‘The Boys from Pointe Du Hoc’ speech on June 6, 1984.
Spielberg is a talented storyteller with a great eye and has made several pieces about World War II and the D-Day invasion, including ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘Band of Brothers.’
He has won two Academy Awards for Best Director for ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘Schindler’s List.’
Biden’s speech, which lasted about 11 minutes, was picturesque. The president spoke from the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc, atop the same German bunker from which Reagan spoke.
Behind him was the English Channel and the Rangers Memorial, with three wreaths at its base. Before speaking, Biden paid his respects at the monument, standing before it and bowing his head.
On either side of Biden were the rocky beaches of Normandy, preceding the 100-foot-high cliffs that Army Rangers scaled 80 years ago while under intense fire from German cannons.
The grounds around the monument are dotted with 50-foot craters, the remains of bombs that British and American forces dropped before the Allied invasion.
Biden arrived like a movie star to speak to the crowd of 150 guests.
The president flew over the site in Marine One before his arrival, zooming over the water and around the cliffs below.
President Biden delivered his speech at the picturesque cliffside location of Pointe du Hoc.
In his remarks, Biden paid tribute to the American rangers who scaled the cliffs and noted the sad fact that all of them have passed away.
But he noted: “Thanks to them the war changed. They opposed Hitler’s aggression. Does anyone doubt that they would want the United States to confront Putin’s aggression here in Europe today?
“American democracy demands the hardest thing: believing that we are part of something bigger than ourselves… That’s what the Pointe du Hoc rangers did, that’s what they decided, that’s what every soldier and every infantryman of the navy that stormed these beaches determinedly,” he added.
