Hours after the film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival to largely positive reviews, Steven Spielberg has just revealed the first trailer for “The Fabelmans,” a film about his own childhood, his parents and learning to love the movies.
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday night, where Spielberg said that you shouldn’t believe the rumors that this movie marks his swan song or his retirement.
“The Fabelmans” stars Gabriel LaBelle (“The Predator,” “American Gigolo” series) as 16-year-old aspiring filmmaker by the name Sammy Fabelman alongside his mother played by Michelle Williams and his father played by Paul Dano. While the film takes some creative liberties, Spielberg based the film quite closely on his parents and his childhood, even co-writing the screenplay with playwright and “West Side Story” screenwriter Tony Kushner.
In this first trailer we see a young Spielberg seeing his first film, “The Greatest Show on Earth,” and being inspired to recreate the film’s infamous train crash sequence. Later on we see him filming his family in home movies and then discovering how to make amateur war films for his boy scout buddies. But the movie also shows how it grapples with family conflict and some antisemitism that Spielberg experienced early on.
Also starring in the film are Julia Butters, Robin Bartlett, Tina Schildkraut, Keeley Karsten, Seth Rogen and Judd Hirsch.
“The Fabelmans” opens in theaters on Nov. 11 and then expands wide from Universal Pictures on Thanksgiving.
Watch the first trailer above.
