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The Fabelmans (2022)
The Fabelmans is a 2022 American coming-of-age drama film directed and co-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…
Directed by Steven Spielberg · Shot by Janusz Kamiński · Cut by Sarah Broshar · Music by John Williams · Ratio 1.85:1 · 151 min
How it was made
- Spielberg and co-writer Tony Kushner wrote the screenplay working three days a week, four hours a day, finishing the full script in two months during the COVID-19 lockdown of late 2020.
- Gabriel LaBelle was cast as Sammy after a three-month search that considered more than 2,000 contenders for the role.
- David Lynch took three weeks to convince to play director John Ford; he agreed on condition there were bags of Cheetos on set, and asked to be given his Ford costume to wear for two weeks before shooting his scene.
- Paul Dano built and wired a working crystal radio set himself during preparation, to get a feel for how electronics engineer Arnold Spielberg would have handled such equipment.
- A scene showing the spirit of Sammy's grandfather was cut in the edit because writer Tony Kushner judged it unnecessary to keep the film's runtime under two and a half hours.
- Principal photography ran 59 days from July to September 2021, with the Ditch Day sequences shot at Zuma Beach in Malibu and other scenes built on soundstages in Santa Clarita.
Behind the scenes
Elsewhere
More by Steven Spielberg
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