The world premiere of The Fabelmans – Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical drama – was a family affair, with his three sisters sitting in the audience alongside Paul Dano, Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen and other actors playing the fictional versions of relatives of the legendary director.   

“This movie is a way to bring my mom and dad back,” the director said after the screening at the Toronto Film Festival.  “And it also brought my sisters closer to me than I ever thought possible.  That’s why the film was worth making.”  (Spielberg’s mom, Leah, died in 2017 at age 97. His father, Arnold, died in 2020 at age 103.)

The film’s logline reads: “Growing up in post-World War II Arizona, a young man named Sammy Fabelman discovers a devastating family secret and explores how the power of movies can help him see the truth.”

During the screening, the performances that drew the biggest reaction from the crowd were Judd Hirsch as the eccentric and artsy Uncle Boris, Gabriel LaBelle as the young Sammy Fabelman – a stand-in for Spielberg himself – and David Lynch in a surprise.  .  After the screening, the audience inside the Princess of Wales Theater gave the film a standing ovation to the point that TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey had to ask everyone to sit down to start the Q&A.  

Fabelmans marks the first time the Oscar winner has debuted a film at the film festival.  “I want to say that I’m very happy that we came to Toronto.  You have to watch it without all the subtitles,” Spielberg said.

After the premiere, the director talked about starting The Fabelmans, with writer-producer Tony Kushner playing the role of therapist.  In detail, “When COVID hit, we had a lot of time and a lot of fear.  I don’t think anyone knew in March or April 2020 what the state of art or the state of life would be even a year from now.  As things got worse and worse, I felt like if I was going to leave something behind, what was it that I needed to untie and unfasten for my mom and dad and my sisters?’   

Spielberg added: “This is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time.  I didn’t really know when I was going to get to it.  This is not because I’m going to retire and this is my swan song, I promise.”

The Fabelmans will be released on November 11th via Universal.