Steven Spielberg said he found it a “very daunting experience” to mine personal details for his semi-autobiographical movie, The Fabelmans. He added that it was “very, very hard to get through” at times. 

His latest film, about a boy who falls in love with cinema and moviemaking, had its world premiere at the 47th Toronto International Film Festival and was well received by those in attendance. A press conference followed, where the Jaws director shared how he thought making the movie “would be a lot easier than it turned out to be because I know the material and I’ve known the characters for my entire life”, Variety reported. 

Spielberg continued, “And yet I found this for me a very daunting experience because I was attempting in a semi-autobiographical way to recreate huge recollections not only in my life but in the lives of my three sisters, my mother and father who are no longer with us”, adding, “The responsibility of that began to build.”

The director’s latest, being touted as a favourite for Oscars, is based on his early days in Arizona. The protagonist in The Fabelmans is a seemingly quirky boy with a love for movies, and someone who has to struggle to keep his dream alive as troubles on the family front continue to mount. 

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Speilberg’s mother, Leah Adler, had once said about him, “When he was growing up, I didn’t know he was a genius. Frankly, I didn’t know what the hell he was. I’m really ashamed, but I didn’t recognize the symptoms of talent. I did him an injustice. I had no idea back then that my son would be Steven Spielberg”, adding, “You see, Steven wasn’t exactly cuddly. What he was was scary. When Steven woke up from a nap, I shook.”

She continued, “Long before Gremlins, Steven was a master at creating terror. He practised on his three kid sisters. He used to stand outside their windows at night, howling, “I am the moon. I am the moon. They’re still scared of the moon. And he cut off the head of one of Nancy’s dolls and served it to her on a bed of lettuce…Once, I took Steven to the Grand Canyon. He said, ‘This is nice,’ and then he threw up. With Steven, you held on for dear life…” 

Adler concluded, “If I had known better, I would have taken him to a psychiatrist, and there would never have been an E.T.”, as published in The Jewish Mothers’ Hall of Fame. 

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It remains to be seen how much of Spielberg’s childhood appears in The Fabelmans, but for now, the director is thankful to co-screenwriter Tony Kushner for being his “therapeutic counsellor in getting this out of me.”

The Fabelmans releases in select theatres on November 11, and in all theatres on Thanksgiving.