The Fabelmans

The Fabelmans
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Steven Spielberg
Written by	Steven Spielberg Tony Kushner
Produced by	Kristie Macosko Krieger Steven Spielberg Tony Kushner
Starring	Michelle Williams Paul Dano Seth Rogen Gabriel LaBelle Judd Hirsch
Cinematography	Janusz Kamiński
Edited by	Michael Kahn Sarah Broshar
Music by	John Williams
Production company	Amblin Entertainment Reliance Entertainment
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	September 10, 2022 (2022-09-10) (TIFF) November 11, 2022 (2022-11-11) (United States)
Running time	151 minutes
Language	English
Country	United States
Budget	$40 million
Box office	$12.9 million

The Fabelmans is a 2022 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Steven Spielberg and written and produced by Tony Kushner and Spielberg. It is a semi-autobiographical story loosely based on Spielberg's adolescence and first years as a filmmaker, told through an original story of the fictional 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. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Gabriel LaBelle as Sammy, with Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, and Judd Hirsch in supporting roles. The film is dedicated to the memories of Spielberg's real-life parents Leah Adler and Arnold Spielberg, who died in 2017 and 2020, respectively.

The film was produced by Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, in association with Reliance Entertainment. Spielberg had conceived the project with his sister Anne as early as 1999, writing a screenplay titled I'll Be Home. He had reservations about exploring his family's story because of concerns that his parents would be hurt, and the project was withheld. Spielberg revisited the project with screenwriter and frequent collaborator Tony Kushner in 2019 while they were making West Side Story, and completed the screenplay by the end of 2020. Development on the film officially 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 Fabelmans had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022, where it won the People's Choice Award. It began a limited theatrical release in the United States on November 11, 2022, and expanded on November 23, by Universal Pictures. The film received widespread critical acclaim for the performances of the cast, Spielberg's direction, the screenplay, cinematography, and John Williams' musical score. It was named one of the top ten films of 2022 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. However, the film was a box office disappointment, grossing $12.9 million on a $40 million budget.

The film received five nominations at the 80th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director for Spielberg, and 11 nominations at the 28th Critics' Choice Awards, including Best Picture.

Plot

On the night of January 10, 1952 in Haddon Township, New Jersey, Jewish couple Mitzi and Burt Fabelman take their young son Sammy to see his first film: Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth. Dazzled by a scene involving a train crash, Sammy asks for a model set for Hanukkah, which he crashes late one night. Mitzi, understanding Sammy's intentions, allows him to shoot another crash scene using Burt's 8mm camera. Sammy soon begins filming regularly, sometimes involving his younger sisters Reggie, Natalie, and Lisa in his shoots. After Burt receives a new job, he and the family, along with his best friend and business partner Bennie Loewy, move to Phoenix, Arizona, in early 1957.

Years later, a now-teenage Sammy continues making films with his friends in a Boy Scout troop, during which he begins utilizing post-production effects and subsequently earns a badge in photography. Later, the Fabelmans, including Bennie, take a camping trip with Sammy capturing footage of their vacation. Shortly afterward, Mitzi's mother dies, leaving her especially distraught. Providing him with enough film editing equipment, Burt recommends that Sammy should turn the camping trip footage into a film in an effort to cheer Mitzi up. Sammy objects over the scheduling of his next film, but Burt, who sees Sammy's passion for film as nothing more than a hobby, argues that the home movie is more important.

The next morning, the Fabelmans receive a surprise visit from Mitzi's uncle Boris, a former lion tamer and film worker. That night, he speaks with Sammy about compromising his family with his art, telling him that both aspects will continue to be at odds with one another. After Boris leaves, Sammy begins editing the camping trip film, during which he notices evidence of Mitzi and Bennie having feelings for each other, leaving him angry. After weeks of harsh treatment toward her and Bennie, Sammy and Mitzi have a heated argument, during which she slaps him across the back in a fit of rage, bruising him. Distraught, Sammy shows Mitzi the compiled footage, though he promises to keep it a secret between them.

Burt receives a promotion from work, requiring his family to move with him to Saratoga, California. In order to keep their marriage intact, Bennie stays in Phoenix, but not before gifting Sammy a new film camera, which he promises never to use. Soon after arriving in his new neighborhood and school, Sammy becomes targeted by students Logan and Chad, who levy anti-Semitic abuse toward him. Sammy also begins dating the devoutly-Christian Monica. While having dinner with the Fabelmans, Monica suggests that Sammy film their Ditch Day at the beach, something Sammy considers and eventually accepts to do after Monica tells him her father owns a 16mm Arriflex camera that he would let him use.

After finally moving from a rental to their newly purchased home, Mitzi and Burt announce their divorce due to the discovery of Mitzi's affair by Sammy, leaving the family heartbroken. At prom, Sammy declares his love for Monica and asks her to come with him to Hollywood after high school. Unable to throw away her own life's plans to attend Texas A&M University, Monica breaks up with him. Meanwhile, the Ditch Day film is played in front of Sammy's peers, where it receives a rapturous response, seemingly praising Logan and vilifying Chad. Logan confronts Sammy, confused over his positive portrayal in the film, but the two reach an understanding when Chad attacks Sammy and Logan fights Chad off. The next morning, Mitzi and Sammy talk about their future together; just like Mitzi cannot give up her love for Bennie, she tells Sammy not to give up his love for filmmaking.

The following year, Sammy is living with Burt in Hollywood. Unable to find work in the field, Sammy considers dropping out of college, but Burt, begrudgingly accepting his son's passion after seeing a photograph of Mitzi and Bennie together, tells him to keep on his path if it makes him happy. Sammy finally receives a letter from CBS, who offer him work on the sitcom Hogan's Heroes. Knowing that Sammy is more interested in filmmaking, a network executive invites Sammy to meet film director John Ford, one of his greatest filmmaking influences, who offers Sammy some brief pointers about framing. Newly invigorated, Sammy walks through the studio backlot as the camera frames the horizon to the center, contrary to Ford's advice, before ending by taking the advice and re-framing the horizon at the far bottom.

Cast

• Michelle Williams as Mitzi Schildkraut-Fabelman, Sammy's encouraging mother and a skilled pianist. She is based on Spielberg's mother, Leah Adler.
• Paul Dano as Burt Fabelman, Sammy's father and a computer engineer. He is based on Spielberg's father, Arnold Spielberg.
• Seth Rogen as Bennie Loewy, Burt's co-worker and best friend who becomes a surrogate uncle to Sammy
• Gabriel LaBelle as Samuel "Sammy" Fabelman, the sixteen-year-old son of the family who aspires to become a filmmaker. He is based on Spielberg.
  • Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord as young Sammy
• Keeley Karsten as Natalie Fabelman, Sammy's second younger sister. She is based on Spielberg's sister, Nancy.
  • Alina Brace as young Natalie
• Julia Butters as Reggie Fabelman, the first younger sister of Sammy who has a bitter relationship with him. She is based on Spielberg's sister, Anne.
  • Birdie Borria as young Reggie
• Judd Hirsch as Boris Schildkraut, Sammy's granduncle and a former film worker and circus lion tamer
• Sophia Kopera as Lisa Fabelman, Sammy's third younger sister. She is based on Spielberg's sister, Sue.
• Jeannie Berlin as Hadassah Fabelman, Burt's mother
• Robin Bartlett as Tina Schildkraut, Mitzi's mother
• Sam Rechner as Logan Hall, a high school bully
• Oakes Fegley as Chad Thomas, another high school bully
• Chloe East as Monica Sherwood, a classmate and love interest of Sammy's
• Isabelle Kusman as Claudia Denning, a classmate and love interest of Logan's
• Chandler Lovelle as Renee
• Gustavo Escobar as Sal, a member of Sammy's Boy Scout troop who helps him make films
• Nicolas Cantu as Hark, another member of Sammy's Boy Scout troop who helps him make films
• Cooper Dodson as Turkey, a childhood friend and another member of Sammy's Boy Scout troop who helps him make films
• Gabriel Bateman as Roger, a childhood friend and another member of Sammy's Boy Scout troop who appear alongside his family in his first films
• Stephen Smith as Angelo, another member of Sammy's Boy Scout troop who helps him make films
• James Urbaniak as Grand View High School Principal
• Connor Trinneer as Phil Newhart
• Lane Factor as Dean, another member of Sammy's Boy Scout troop who helps him make films
• Greg Grunberg as Bernie Fein, the co-creator of Hogan's Heroes, who offers Sammy a chance to work on the show at CBS
• David Lynch as John Ford, the famous film director whose work influences Sammy's filmmaking
• Jan Hoag as Nona, a secretary who works at CBS
• Crystal as Bennie the Monkey, the Fabelmans' pet monkey

Production

Development

In 1999, Steven Spielberg said he had been thinking of directing a film about his childhood for some time. Titled I'll Be Home, the project was originally written by his sister Anne Spielberg. He explained, "My big fear is that my mom and dad won't like it and will think it's an insult and won't share my loving yet critical point of view about what it was like to grow up with them." In 2002, Spielberg said he was nervous about making I'll Be Home: "It's so close to my life and so close to my family – I prefer to make films that are more analogous. But a literal story about my family will take a lot of courage. I still think I make personal movies even if they do look like big commercial popcorn films." Spielberg later revealed in November 2022 that his parents had also been "nagging" him to make a film about their lives prior to their deaths.

Writing

Steven Spielberg (left) directed and co-produced the film, and co-wrote the screenplay with Tony Kushner (right).

In 2004, while working on Munich, Spielberg told screenwriter Tony Kushner his life story, with Kushner telling him in response: "Someday you're going to have to make a film about this." Coincidentally, a line referencing Spielberg appears in Kushner's play Angels in America.^{[citation needed]}

The 80–90 page plot outline for The Fabelmans was worked on in 2019 during filming of Spielberg's 2021 film version of West Side Story. Work on the screenplay for The Fabelmans began on October 2, 2020, during the lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and lasted for two months, ending in December 2020. Kushner reflected on the experience, saying, "We wrote three days a week, four hours a day, and we finished the script in two months: by leagues the fastest I've finished anything. It was a blast. I loved it." Spielberg, at that time, felt that the climate caused by the pandemic convinced him that the time was now right to make the film, saying, "I started seriously thinking, if I had to make one movie I haven't made yet, something that I really want to do on a very personally atomic level, what would that be? And there was only one story I really wanted to tell ... My life with my mom and dad taught me a lesson, which I hope this film in a small way imparts ... Which is, when does a young person in a family start to see his parents as human beings? In my case, because of what happened between the ages of 7 and 18, I started to appreciate my mom and dad not as parents but as real people." He gave drafts of the script to his sisters, Sue and Nancy, to ensure that their memories be included in the story and that the details in the film were portrayed as accurately as possible.

On the meaning behind the family name "Fabelman", Kushner (who came up with that name) said, "Spielberg means play-mountain; 'spieler' is an actor in Yiddish, and a 'spiel' can be speech or can be a play ... I wanted to have some of that meaning, and I've always liked the German word 'fabel,' which means fable. And because the movie is autobiographical for Steven but it isn't an autobiography, it's not a documentary, so there's a fictional element as well. So I thought that 'Fabelman' was a nod to that."

Pre-production

In March 2021, Spielberg was announced to direct the film, with his involvement as co-screenwriter marking his first writing venture on a film since A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001); it was also reported that Kristie Macosko Krieger would produce the film with Kushner and Spielberg. In March 2022, cinematographer Janusz Kamiński said the film would chronicle Spielberg's life from age seven to eighteen and deal with "his family, with his parents, conundrums with his sisters, but primarily deals with his passion for movie-making," while adding that it will touch on the themes of "young love, parental divorce, and early formative relationships ... It's a very beautiful, beautiful personal movie. It's very revealing about Steven's life and who he is as a filmmaker." In September 2022, Spielberg expressed how personal the film was to him, saying that "This film is, for me, a way of bringing my mom and dad back. And it also brought my sisters, Annie, Susie, and Nancy, closer to me than I ever thought possible. And that was worth making the film."

Casting

Gabriel LaBelle stars as Sammy Fabelman and Michelle Williams stars as Mitzi Fabelman.

In casting the film, Spielberg explained that "Part of it had to be organic, and it had to be authentic to me. It wasn't really about anything beyond who can I have the most profound connection with and that reminds me the most of the people that brought me into the world and raised me and gave me good values." In March 2021, Michelle Williams was in negotiations to star as Mitzi Fabelman, the role inspired by Spielberg's mother Leah Adler, but with "an original voice." Spielberg himself had her in mind for the role after watching her performance in Blue Valentine (2010). That same month, it was reported that Seth Rogen joined the cast to play Bennie Loewy, the role inspired by Bernie Adler, "the favorite uncle of young Spielberg", while Williams was confirmed to have been cast. On April 8, 2021, Paul Dano joined the cast as Burt Fabelman, the role inspired by Spielberg's father Arnold. Dano admitted that he felt intimidated by playing the role because "the stakes felt really high ... You're embodying one of the most important, influential, complicated figures in [Spielberg's] life. It was incredible to see how much of this was in his work the whole time. He's sharing a piece of himself that I find very moving. There's a real gift in it, when somebody of that stature and at that level of artistry is willing to do that."

In May 2021, after a three-month search and over 2,000 contenders, Gabriel LaBelle entered final negotiations to portray the lead role, Sammy Fabelman, a young aspiring filmmaker based on Spielberg himself. He would be confirmed the next month in addition to the casting of Julia Butters as Reggie Fabelman, the role inspired by Spielberg's sister Anne. Later that June, Sam Rechner was cast as well. In July, Chloe East, Oakes Fegley, Isabelle Kusman, Jeannie Berlin, Judd Hirsch, Robin Bartlett and Jonathan Hadary were added to the cast, the latter of whom ultimately having his scenes cut from the final film. In August, Gabriel Bateman, Nicolas Cantu, Gustavo Escobar, Lane Factor, Cooper Dodson and Stephen Matthew Smith were cast. They were later followed by newcomers Keeley Karsten, Birdie Borria, Alina Brace, Sophia Kopera, and Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord. In February 2022, it was announced David Lynch would also star in a then-undisclosed role, later revealed to be that of film director John Ford. During the Q&A at an Academy Award-qualifying screening for the film on November 7, 2022, Spielberg revealed that it took three weeks to convince Lynch to be a part of the film, with Tony Kushner's husband Mark Harris taking credit for suggesting Lynch to Spielberg, and Laura Dern calling Lynch numerous times to get him to commit. In response, Lynch said he would take it as long as there were bags of Cheetos on set as refreshments. He also requested that he be given his costume as Ford a week before filming his scene to break it in.

Paul Dano stars as Burt Fabelman and Seth Rogen stars as Bennie Loewy.

In September 2022, during the film's world premiere, LaBelle revealed that he initially did not win the part of Sammy following his first audition but did upon receiving a callback three months afterward. On finally reading the script and learning the details about his character being a fictionalized version of Spielberg himself as a teenager for mostly the entire film, he recalled "When I was auditioning, the character's name was Teenage Sammy – I thought as opposed to Adult Sammy ... I get the script and you're reading it for 30 pages and he's 6 and 8 years old. Page 35 or so Teenage Sammy comes along. OK, good! Now this is my part. It's going to be a three-act movie, it's going to be a Moonlight or something. I kept waiting for my exit but it never came." Spielberg himself revealed that the role of Sammy was the hardest to cast, saying "As a kid growing up, I always had a lot of reasons why I was always in the corner, why I was always not the center of conversation ... I needed someone who wasn't going to bring too much self-awareness to Sammy." Upon casting LaBelle, casting director Cindy Tolan said "With Gabe, there was a poignancy. He could convey the pathos that was needed and also the humor," while Spielberg added, "I wasn't looking for what I see in the mirror, I was looking for a young actor who could carry a lot of story by being curious and honest and engaging and unpredictable."

Filming

Principal photography began in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles on July 17, 2021, lasting for 59 days until ending on September 27, 2021.

During the shoot, the cast gained access to home movies, photographs and recollections from Spielberg's family's past to learn what they were like and how to portray the fictionalized versions of them (the Fabelman family) on screen, while making them feel fresh and original. Paul Dano reflected "It was overwhelming and it was sort of a heavy cloak to bear because we were with someone who was having a big experience everyday, revisiting and reworking through a part of their life ... For somebody like Steven to share that much of himself with us – with the audience too – it was really a profound experience." In addition, Dano ordered and built a crystal radio set to get the feeling of how Arnold Spielberg had around electronics. Seth Rogen described the experience as "emotional" and recalled that Spielberg was "...crying a lot on set ... As we were shooting, I'd be like, 'Did this happen in real life?' and the answer was 'yes' a hundred percent of the time." Gabriel LaBelle also rewatched some of Spielberg's films, such as Empire of the Sun (1987) and constantly had conversations with Spielberg to learn more about his life in order to prepare for playing Sammy. The jewelry that Michelle Williams wore as part of the costumes for Mitzi Fabelman were in fact some of Leah Adler's, including a charm bracelet that had pictures of all four of her children. According to an interview she did for the Hollywood Insider at the TIFF premiere, Julia Butters was gifted with Anne Spielberg's high school ring to wear while she played Reggie Fabelman.

For the scenes of Sammy filming his own 8mm films, Spielberg decided to have the character recreate the exact ones he made during his childhood, and worked with Kamiński to ensure that they were portrayed as accurately as possible, but with improvements in the camera angles. Spielberg remarked "It was joyful being able to recreate those films ... I shot a lot of films when I was a kid on 8mm. It was unique in those days. Not a lot of people were going out and shooting in 8mm. It was physical; it was a craft. You had to sit there with a…splicer, and then you had to scrape the emulsion off the film in order to get a seal so when you put glue on it, you literally glued the film together. And I must say, I miss it." Gabriel LaBelle's first two days on set involved a scene where Sammy and his friends film a recreation of Spielberg's World War II short film Escape to Nowhere (1961). On the experience, LaBelle remarked "It was a cool way to see how Steven walked and moved around back then ... I asked so many questions about Saving Private Ryan, because we were doing a war film. For the first two days, it was me, Steven, Tony, and Janusz, just hanging out. Mitch Dubin, the A-camera operator, stormed the beaches of Normandy with a handheld camera for Saving Private Ryan – and now he's making this movie!" The 8mm and 16mm camera props used in the film had real film inside them, with LaBelle being taught how to use the cameras so that what was shot with them on set can be developed for usage in the film, as well as how to cut and splice film stock using the editing machines and film projectors of the time period. LaBelle also got to keep the 8mm camera Sammy used to film the family camping trip and Escape to Nowhere short film as a souvenir after the completion of principal photography. To look the part of Sammy and make the character look almost similar to Spielberg's teenage appearance, LaBelle had his hair straightened and changed the way he stood and walked, as well as retrained his muscles to mimic Spielberg's smile.

To look the part of Sammy Fabelman, Gabriel LaBelle straightened his hair and changed the way he stood, walked and smiled to make the character look almost similar to Steven Spielberg as a teenager.

LaBelle was unaware of the casting of David Lynch as John Ford until the day the scene he had to do with him was filmed. He recalled that once Lynch came onto the set, it enabled him to embody Sammy and how he was feeling, recalling "[Lynch is] a great guy. But leading up to it, Sammy's nervous, so I'm getting nervous." The scene itself was written to historically match how the actual real-life encounter between Spielberg and Ford went down, with the latter's dialogue written exactly word-for-word, most notably Ford's advice to Sammy about framing: "When the horizon is at the top, it's interesting. When it's on the bottom, it's interesting. When it's in the middle, it's boring as shit!" The scene itself was received positively by critics and audiences and won the award for Best Scene at the 2022 St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards. The last shot of the film, where the camera breaks the fourth wall and re-frames the horizon on the image of Sammy walking on the studio lot, was already in the script prior to filming. Drew Taylor of TheWrap named it the best final shot of the year, saying that it leaves the movie on "such a happy, hopeful note" and it metaphorically represents Spielberg's "admission that he might be the most revered filmmaker in the history of the medium, but he still screws up and he’s still got plenty to learn. The master is still a student. It’s easy to forget what John Ford yelled at you all those years ago." Matthew Jacobs of The Hollywood Reporter also called the moment one of the best closing shots of Spielberg's career.

Judd Hirsch's couple of days on set involved filming a major monologue that his character Uncle Boris, inspired by Spielberg's real great uncle of the same name, gives to Sammy to inspire him to continue pursuing his ambitions, while also warning him of the consequences that come with it. Hirsch compared his character to "a seer from Greek mythology, a soothsayer used by the gods to communicate with mortals." On acting alongside Gabriel LaBelle for the scene, he told Vanity Fair in November 2022 that on set "When I looked at it [the script] and I met Gabriel, I said, I'm gonna destroy this boy ... My part is to tell him that horrible things are gonna happen to him—even though it has to happen. So I walked out of there and I said, Who the hell am I...some oracle? You know, an oracle comes and stands in his room and takes him apart and tells him he has to be a director." Hirsch's performance and the monologue itself were met with acclaim from critics and viewers, which resulted in a huge round of applause from the audience during the TIFF world premiere.

To recreate the three houses that Spielberg lived in during his childhood in Haddon Township, New Jersey, Phoenix, Arizona, and Saratoga, California, production designer Rick Carter worked off floor plans that the director sketched from memory and then took artistic license with the spaces to fit the emotional mindset of Sammy. More attention was paid to the set in Phoenix, "...because, as a filmmaker, he became more himself. So not only the equipment that was there is accurate, but all the storyboards that Sammy used to make his movies. And Steven drew all the storyboards, and he still draws his storyboards the way he did as a teenager." Carter and set decorator Karen O'Hara also worked off photos and memories that Spielberg and his three sisters provided. All of the houses were built on soundstages.

Music

Main article: The Fabelmans (soundtrack)

The score was composed and conducted by John Williams, marking his 29th film collaboration with Spielberg and the 50th anniversary of their first film. On June 23, 2022, Williams revealed that this and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny may be the last two films he will score before retirement. Recording of the score began in March 2022, following Williams's concert performance with the Vienna Philharmonic at Vienna's Musikverein. In July, stills from the recording sessions were revealed by one of the film's crew members, revealing that scoring of the film is underway. Along with his usual orchestral style, Williams opted for a score mostly relying on piano, with Joanne Pearce Martin, principal pianist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, providing the piano solos. The film also features source classical music selected by Spielberg himself, some of which are performed on piano in the film by the character of Mitzi Fabelman, from composers such as Friedrich Kuhlau, Muzio Clementi, Johann Sebastian Bach and Joseph Haydn. The film's soundtrack was released digitally by Sony Classical on November 11, 2022, and was released on physical CD on December 9, 2022. The film also features pop songs of the film's time period which are not featured on the soundtrack album, such as "Walk On By" by Dionne Warwick and "Goodbye Cruel World" by James Darren, the latter of which being used to accompany the montage sequence of Sammy Fabelman documenting his high school's Ditch Day on film.

Release

The Fabelmans was sneak previewed on July 26, 2022, in Nanuet, New York. It had its world premiere at the Princess of Wales Theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022, where it received two standing ovations from the audience, one before the film when Spielberg took the stage to introduce it, and a longer one preceding the post-film Q&A. The crowd was also reported to have been loudly chanting Spielberg's name while outside waiting to get into the theater during the red carpet arrivals. On the announcement of the premiere, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey remarked: "It's different from a typical Spielberg blockbuster, but it is just as easily impactful in terms of the emotional effect it's going to have on people. If you love movies, this is going to be a very powerful film for you to watch. I'm excited that it's launching in an environment that celebrates cinema." Upon winning the festival's People's Choice Award, Spielberg remarked "I'm glad I brought this film to Toronto! This is the most personal film I've ever made, and the warm reception from everyone in Toronto made my first visit to TIFF so intimate and personal for me and my entire Fabelman family ... a very special thank you to all the movie fans in Toronto who have made this past weekend one I'll never forget." For his performance, Gabriel LaBelle was also named a 2022 TIFF Rising Star.

It held its European premiere at the Rome Film Festival on October 19, 2022, which was followed by its United States premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on November 6, 2022, as the closing night film of the 2022 AFI Fest. It also closed the Miami International Film Festival on November 10, 2022, with Paul Dano virtually receiving the festival's Precious Gem Award. The French premiere took place at the Lumière Film Festival on October 18, 2022. It also screened as the opening night film of the 20th Morelia International Film Festival on October 23, 2022, the 63rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival on November 3, 2022, and the 44th Cairo International Film Festival on November 13, 2022. It also opened the 15th edition of "The Contenders" film series at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City on November 10, 2022, followed by a conversation with the cast.

It is set to screen at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2023 as part of the awards ceremony, where Spielberg will receive an honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement. On the announcement, festival directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian remarked: "With an incredible career, Steven Spielberg has not only enchanted generations of viewers all over the world, but has also given a new meaning to the 'cinema' as the factory of dreams ... Be it in the everlasting magic world of teenagers or in the reality that history has carved forever, his movies take us to a different level, where the big screen becomes the adequate surface for our emotions to be fulfilled. If Berlinale 2023 represents a new beginning we couldn't find a better start than the one offered by Spielberg's great work."

Theatrical

The Fabelmans was released by Universal Pictures in select theaters in Los Angeles and New York City on November 11, 2022, with a nationwide release on November 23 in the United States. It became Spielberg's first film to be distributed by Universal, since Munich (2005). Universal Pictures is also distributing the film internationally, with some exceptions: Entertainment One is distributing the film in the United Kingdom, StudioCanal Australia is distributing the film in Australia, Leone Film Group and 01 Distribution are co-distributing the film in Italy, and Nordisk Film is distributing the film in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland.

Home media

The Fabelmans was released on VOD on December 13, 2022, and is expected to be released on Blu-ray, DVD and 4K UHD on February 7, 2023, by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. On its first day on VOD in the United States, the film debuted at #2 on iTunes, while also ranking #4 on Vudu at the end of its first week.

Marketing

The poster to promote the film's world premiere at TIFF was released on September 7, 2022, with the official theatrical release version of it being released on September 29, 2022. The trailer premiered online on September 11, 2022. The music for the trailer was composed by Felix Erskine of Cavalry Music. Universal spent approximately $8.5 million on the film's advertising campaign. Another trailer, set to Ben Folds' cover of The Beatles song "Golden Slumbers," was released on December 13, 2022.

Reception

Box office

The Fabelmans has grossed $12.4 million in the United States and $564.9 thousand in international territories, for a worldwide gross of $12.9 million.

In the United States, the film made $161,579 from four theaters in its opening weekend for an average of $40,395 per-screen, the third highest average for a Fall 2022 platform release, behind Till and The Banshees of Inisherin. The film expanded alongside Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Strange World, Devotion, and the wide expansion of Bones and All, and was projected to gross around $3–5 million from 638 theaters over the five-day weekend. Variety called the projections "a disappointing result for a $40 million movie, especially one that hails from the most successful director of his time" and compared the situation to the poor $38 million domestic box office returns of Spielberg's West Side Story the year before.

It made $400,000 on its first day of wide release, with an additional $480,000 on Thanksgiving Day and $880,000 on Black Friday, resulting in a 5-day weekend total of $3.4 million. After four weeks in theaters, Spielberg's film grossed $6 million domestic, making it the worst financial performance ever for a Spielberg film, with the general public's trending lack of interest in prestige films, a muted reception from older audience demographics and the large decline in popularity of and indifferent arguments to Spielberg and his filmography cited as the reasons. The film crossed the $10 million mark worldwide during Christmas weekend. It then saw a 25% increase domestically on New Year's weekend.

Critical response

Based on 91 professional critic reviews, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 8.1% of those reviews were positive, with an average rating of 278/10. On the website, the critics' consensus reads, "Part memoir, part ode to the power of the movies, The Fabelmans finds Steven Spielberg digging at the family roots that helped make him a beloved filmmaker -- and proves he hasn't lost his magic touch." Using a weighted average calculator, Metacritic assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100, based on 54 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Critics singled out the image of Sammy Fabelman using "his hands as a makeshift screen, aiming the projector at his open palms" as the film's iconic shot.

Chris Evangelista of /Film called it "...one of Spielberg's warmest, funniest films" and highlighted Kamiński's cinematography. Steve Pond of TheWrap wrote "The film shows a light touch that doesn't detract from the very real depths that are being explored. That The Fabelmans is one of Steven Spielberg's most personal movies was never in doubt; that it's also one of his most original and most satisfying in years is a welcome bonus." Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood praised the performances of Williams, Dano, LaBelle and Butters, calling the former "gut-wrenchingly great," while saying that Dano was "terrific as the genuinely nice and loving father torn between following his own career and caring for his wife and family under increasingly difficult circumstances." He described LaBelle's performance as "sensational throughout, a young man with a love for movies, but tortured by growing pains and a family drifting apart." He also referred to David Lynch's cameo as being "worth the price of admission alone."

Ross Bonaime of Collider wrote "For decades, Spielberg has shown us ourselves through the magic of his movies, and with The Fabelmans, he finally shows us who he is, the good and the bad, and pain and the joys, the magic and the mayhem." Peter Debruge of Variety named it the frontrunner for the Academy Award for Best Picture, while writing "...this endearing, broadly appealing account of how Spielberg was smitten by the medium – and why the prodigy nearly abandoned picture-making before his career even started – holds the keys to so much of the master's filmography. More similar to Woody Allen's autobiographical Radio Days than it is to European art films such as The 400 Blows and Amarcord (the more highbrow models other directors typically point to when re-creating their childhoods), The Fabelmans invites audiences into the home and headspace of the world's most beloved living director, an oddly sanitized zone where even the trauma – which includes anti-Semitism, financial disadvantage and divorce – seems to go better with fresh-buttered popcorn."

David Ehrlich of IndieWire was mixed about the film and gave it a B+, writing that Spielberg "...may not have been able to fix his parents' marriage, but for more than half a century his films have been reconciling the family that Arthur and Leah Spielberg made possible. 'The Fabelmans' doesn't do that as well as the director's best work, but it dramatizes his process of making peace with his dreams so beautifully that it almost doesn't matter. To me, this is a far cry from a magnum opus. For Spielberg, it feels like the greatest show on Earth." Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com praised the screenplay, calling it "...a graceful gem, moving through different chapters of the life of this relatively average family that would just happen to produce an unaverage filmmaker." Benjamin Lee of The Guardian was mixed, saying that "There remains a remove though still, Spielberg giving us a slightly too stage-managed version of himself and his family, some gristle missing from the darkest moments." Tomris Laffly of The Playlist wrote "It's Spielberg's most personal film, one that gorgeously revives the memories of his childhood and youth with a lavish sense of wistfulness and an aptly Hollywood-ized, fable-like touch."

Michelle Williams garnered critical acclaim for her performance as Mitzi Fabelman, Sammy's mother.

John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter called it "...a vivid capturing of the auteur's earliest flashes of filmmaking insight and a portrait, full of love yet unclouded by nostalgia, of the family that made him." Justin Chang of Los Angeles Times called it "A uniquely confessional work, in which a great artist freely and happily acknowledges the manipulation inherent in the art form he was born to master." Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly wrote that "If it all feels a little sanitized and idealized, it's also consistently lovely – and after 75 years and 34 films, who more than Spielberg has earned the right to revisit his stardust memories?" Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair wrote that "Not all memoir is generous. It can be intriguingly solipsistic, or maddeningly vain. But because there's always been a curious blankness to Spielberg's public persona – cheerful and engaged but never quite known – The Fabelmans does feel like something of a gift."

David Fear of Rolling Stone wrote that "If the movie does adhere to [Steven Spielberg's] signature beats, and feature so many recognizable Spielbergisms, occasionally to its detriment, it's still one of the most impressive, enlightening, vital things he's ever done." Peter Travers of ABC News was positively overwhelmed by the film, saying "Bring out the Oscars for 'The Fabelmans,' a personal best from Steven Spielberg in no small part because it's a family picture about Spielberg's own family. Sentimental? Sure. Sappy? Never. No movie this year cuts a clearer path to the heart and the power of imagination." Anthony Lane of The New Yorker praised the film, saying "'The Fabelmans' may look nice 'n' easy as it swings along, with a pile of laughs to cushion the ride, and a nifty visual gag in the closing seconds, but take care. Here is a film that is touched with the madness of love."

Anna Swanson of Film School Rejects praised the film, saying "By laying bare indiscretions and frustrations, Spielberg is ostensibly airing out the dirty laundry and then treating it with the empathy that can only come from an adult perspective on childhood memories. As they're depicted in the film, Burt and Mitzi are far more nuanced and complicated than any kid believes their parents to be when they're young. It's a touching, mature gesture that ultimately flatters all involved." Kyle Buchanan of The New York Times praised Michelle Williams' performance, writing that she "...really goes for it, attacking this part like someone who knows she's been handed her signature role." In a later review for the paper, Manohla Dargis named it a New York Times Critic's Pick, calling the film "...somewhat of a fable and wonderful in both large and small ways, even if Spielberg can't help but soften the rougher, potentially lacerating edges."

Alison Willmore of Vulture wrote that "Spielberg, an incredibly precise filmmaker, never seems certain as to what a movie about his life, or about that of a slightly outsize proxy, should look like, and that uncertainty is actually the warmest and most vulnerable quality The Fabelmans has." Johnny Oleksinski of New York Post praised the film, calling it "...gripping, visually mesmeric, boasts an exceptional, grounded script by Tony Kushner and is acted to the hilt. A no-holds-barred Michelle Williams skyrockets to the front of the Oscar race with an unforgettable performance." Todd Gilchrist of The A.V. Club praised the film, calling it "A measured and incredibly intimate look at Spielberg's upbringing as he developed his aptitude for storytelling through a medium that mesmerized him... as an extraordinary device that not only unveils powerful truths, but often shapes them as well." David Sims of The Atlantic singled out LaBelle, Williams and Dano's performances and praised Spielberg's use of storytelling, saying that "Viewers expecting a stirring childhood memoir about the power of cinema may be surprised at how bittersweet and raw the story actually is. But that vulnerability is what makes the film a triumph."

Stephanie Zacharek of Time ranked the film as the best movie of 2022. Zacharek would furthermore praise Williams and Dano's performances as part of Time's Top 10 movie performances of 2022, describing Williams as "a portrait of a woman so full of life she doesn't know where to put it all…Williams captures Mitzi's all-encompassing incandescence and her isolation," and Dano "In him we see the sum of all the things that so many men of that generation just didn't know how to be; we also see a deep well of love, no less real for being left unexpressed."

Adam Nayman of The Ringer named the frame of younger Sammy Fabelman (Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord) "projecting his own painstakingly captured Super 8 footage onto his outstretched palms" in the dark as one of the best shots of 2022, calling it "...a holy trinity that, as visualized by Steven Spielberg at his late-career image-making peak, signifies something deeply metaphysical about filmgoing and filmmaking — that the artist must imagine himself amidst the audience."

End of the Year lists

The film appeared on a number of critics' top film lists of the best films of 2022: Template:Column list

Accolades

Main article: List of accolades received by The Fabelmans

The Fabelmans received five nominations at the 80th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director for Spielberg, and 11 nominations at the 28th Critics' Choice Awards, including Best Picture.

External links

• The Fabelmans at Universal Pictures
• The Fabelmans at Amblin website
• The Fabelmans at IMDb

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