Steven Spielberg opens up about how his parents pushed him to make a film about their life before they died.
Ahead of the debut of his semi-autobiographical film The Fabelmans, the Oscar-winning filmmaker – known for legendary blockbuster hits like Jaws, ET and Jurassic Park – joked to that his late parents “nagged” him about bringing the family project to life.
“They actually bugged me, ‘When are you going to tell this story about our family, Steve?’ And so they were very excited about it,” said the director.
In 2017, Spielberg’s mother Leah, a concert pianist and painter, died at the age of 97. His father Arnold, an accomplished engineer, died in 2020 at the age of 103.
He continued, “I started thinking seriously, if I had to do a film that I haven’t done before, something that I really want to do on a very personal, atomic level, what would it be? And there was only one story I really wanted to tell.”
Inspired by his childhood and the end of his parents’ marriage, the upcoming film directed and co-written by Spielberg follows a young man named Sammy Fabelman as he discovers a harrowing family secret and explores how the power of film can help him to know the truth, according to the film’s log line.
The film, which Spielberg told the outlet, is his “first coming-of-age story,” which stars Michelle Williams and Paul Dano as characters based on his parents.
“My life with my mom and dad taught me a lesson that I hope this film conveys a little,” he told the outlet. “When does a young person in a family begin to see their parents as people? In my case, because of what happened between the ages of 7 and 18, I started appreciating my mom and dad not as parents but as real people.”
Seth Rogen, who plays the family friend in the film, told People last month that filming was “a very emotional experience” and that Spielberg “cried a lot on set.”
“It’s based very directly on his life and pretty much everything that happens in the film is something that happened to him,” Rogen said.
“As we were shooting, I was like, ‘Did this happen in real life?’ and the answer was “yes” 100 percent of the time,” he added.
The Fabelmans hits select theaters on November 11 and will premiere nationally this Thanksgiving.