The Fabelmans
2022 film directed by Steven Spielberg

The Fabelmans is a 2022 American coming-of-age drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, who co-wrote the screenplay with Tony Kushner. Loosely based on Spielberg's early life and beginnings as a filmmaker, the semi-autobiographical film follows Sammy Fabelman, a young aspiring filmmaker who explores how the power of films can help him see the truth about his dysfunctional family and those around him. It stars Gabriel LaBelle as Sammy, alongside Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Judd Hirsch, and David Lynch (in his final acting role before his death in 2025) in supporting roles.
Spielberg had conceived the project as early as 1999, with his sister Anne writing a screenplay titled I'll Be Home. Spielberg postponed the project for 20 years due to concerns about how it might affect his parents. He revisited it in 2019 with screenwriter and frequent collaborator Kushner while they were making West Side Story, and the screenplay was completed in late 2020. Development of the film began soon after, with casting taking place between March and May 2021. Principal photography began that July in Los Angeles and wrapped in September. The film is dedicated to the memories of Spielberg's parents, Leah Adler and Arnold Spielberg, who died in 2017 and 2020, respectively.
The Fabelmans premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022, where it won the People's Choice Award.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q107710009. The Library of Congress control number is no2026057890. 7 of 9 selected statements include explicit references; 9 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2022, 2025, 1999 and 2019.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Fabelmans” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.