'I could do the action in my sleep at this point in my career,' says director, explaining that Lincoln was partly inspired by a reconciliation with his father

He is the director who arguably invented the modern-day blockbuster in 1975 with Jaws, then developed the template with the high-octane Indiana Jones films and Jurassic Park, but Steven Spielberg has suggested he is no longer interested in action movies.

During an interview on the US TV show 60 Minutes, Spielberg said his new film, Lincoln – about the 16th president of the United States – was far from an action-packed affair. "I knew I could do the action in my sleep at this point in my career," he said. "In my life, the action doesn't hold any … it doesn't attract me any more."

The Oscar-winning film-maker also revealed that the movie, which stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln and is being tipped for an Oscars run, was partly inspired by a reconciliation with his father. "[President Lincoln] was the father of the nation in need of repair," Spielberg said. "And in a sense, the movies I've made recently have reflected the positive relationships that my dad and I have enjoyed for 20, 25 years."

Spielberg's comments should perhaps be taken with a pinch of salt, since he is planning to bring at least one more movie to the big screen that appears to contain action as part of its genetic makeup. Robopocalypse is based on the bestselling Daniel H Wilson science fiction novel about the aftermath of a robot uprising, which has been compared to the work of Jurassic Park writer Michael Crichton. It is due in cinemas in 2014.

Elsewhere in the interview Spielberg, 65, said he was bullied as a child and as a result denied his Judaism. He also revealed that he idolised his mother and used her as the basis for the angelic parent played by Dee Wallace in ET. The director said he did not expect audiences to flock to his second world war film Schindler's List. "I did everything I needed to do to tell the story the way I thought the story should be told, to give it as much integrity as I could, never expecting it to make a dollar," he said. The film went on to deliver a worldwide box office haul of $321m and win best picture and director Oscars at the 1994 Academy Awards.