Is ‘The Fabelmans’ about Steven Spielberg?

If you’ve watched the HBO documentary Spielberg (2017), then you’ll know just how close The Fabelmans (2022) is to reality. The director purposely did not label the film as an autobiography, or as a film that’s “based on a true story,” given how personal its story is to him. He wanted the privilege of not revealing which parts of the film he let his creative liberties take full control, and which parts were directly drawn from his past experiences in his youth.

‘The Fabelmans’ is a semi-autobiographical film

Although not formally labeled as a biopic, director Steven Spielberg heavily drew inspiration from his life experiences during his childhood and teenage years to create The Fabelmans. The protagonist, Sammy Fabelman, portrays a young Spielberg, as his experiences are largely similar with the famed director’s.

‘The Fabelmans’ depicts Spielberg’s early family life

There are several similarities between the protagonist Sammy Fabelman and the film director and co-writer himself, Steven Spielberg. To begin with, they both have three younger sisters. The characterization of Sammy’s family and the experiences with them as shown in the film are also all based in real life:

• Spielberg cast his younger sisters in his early 8mm films shot around their house and the neighborhood, dressing them up as their assigned roles.
• His mother was also a pianist.
• His father was also a dedicated and busy electrical engineer.
• From New Jersey, Spielberg also relocated with his family to Phoenix, Arizona, where most events in The Fabelmans take place.
• Spielberg also moved again to Saratoga, California with his family in his senior year of high school, like Sammy.
• His mother also brought home a monkey as their household pet.

Were Steven Spielberg’s parents divorced?

Roughly after he graduated from Saratoga High School, Steven Spielberg’s parents got divorced. For years, he has put the blame on his father, only to figure out later on that it was his mother who left his father. Through The Fabelmans, Spielberg showed his eventual understanding behind the failed relationship of his parents, realizing that the split was for the best as the marriage wasn’t healthy.

With the stark contrast of personalities between his parents, it made more sense to Spielberg that the divorce was inevitable. However, maintaining the union until he grew up proved useful to him in his career as a filmmaker, as he was able to adapt his mother’s creative free spirit and his father’s methodical approach to life.

In The Fabelmans, the protagonist Sammy’s hobby of filmmaking wasn’t really approved nor ed by his father. There was also a scene where his mother, Mitzi (Michelle Williams), tells him to do what his heart desires so he doesn’t have to owe anyone his life. In real life, Spielberg lived with his father in Los Angeles after the split of his parents, while his three younger sisters remained with their mother in Saratoga.

Why is ‘The Fabelmans’ not labeled as ‘based on a true story’?

There’s a lot of parallels between Sammy Fabelman’s story and Spielberg’s life, albeit the film not being labeled as a formal autobiographical film or as “based on a true story”. The highly-acclaimed director later shares that he intended not to do so to avoid promoting The Fabelmans as just a movie solely about him and his life. Because of this, he also has the say on which parts of the film he wishes to reveal that were actually true, or just born out of his pure creativity and interpretation of his life. This is especially important for the director, given how personal this particular film was for him.

The Fabelmans is a great film for cinephiles and general viewers alike. While it is masterfully written to be a moving coming-of-age film, fans are also able to see Spielberg’s works in a new light, now having a better knowledge of what informed his art.

---