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There's simply no denying the impact Steven Spielberg has had on cinema. Few filmmakers have found the type of success he's achieved with both Oscar winners (such as Schindler's List, Lincoln, or Saving Private Ryan) and blockbuster hits (including Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Jurassic Park). While some of his films have been underrated and others have been downright loathed, most have gone down as some of the best ever made. His most, Meet The Fabelmans, may find its place among the latter.
The early response to Meet The Fabelmans has been hugely positive, Many of the reviews have praised the tremendous cast which includes newcomer Gabriel LaBelle who plays a young version of the famed filmmaker. But while much of Spielberg's youth serves as an inspiration for the film, it was his father's death that really got the ball rolling.
What Was Steven Spielberg Inspired By?
There's no shortage of film scholars out there who will point to this filmmaker, that editor, or some unknown writer as the true inspiration for Steven Spielberg's work. Certainly, David Lean's Lawrence Of Arabia and Manchurian Candidate director John Frankenheimer had a tremendous impact on his work. But one could argue that Spielberg's family was far more inspirational.
While Meet The Fabelmans (due out November 11th, 2022) is a prime example of this, the theme of family has been consistent in almost all of Spielberg's best and worst movies.
Specifically, two aspects of Spielberg's family life have influenced the story and direction of films like E.T., Close Encounters, A.I., Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Catch Me If You Can, and Hook. They would be his parent's separation and his relationship with his father, Arnold.
Remarkably, Spielberg's parents, Leah and Arnold, remained close after she left him for one of his best friends in 1966. Their separation was the direct inspiration for E.T. but also found its way into many of his other films, such as Jurassic Park which is an allegory for family and parenthood.
Steven Spielberg's Relationship With His Father, Arnold
According to his interview with CNN, Steven Spielberg cites his complicated relationship with his "workaholic" father as an inspiration for Hook, Catch Me If You Can, and a number of unconscious threads in his work.
Arnold Speilberg's absence in the filmmaker's life as a child was hugely detrimental to their relationship. According to Insider. It's one of the things that led to the two of them having a huge falling out that last for years.
During an interview with 60 Minutes, Spielberg explained that the drama between them is one of his biggest regrets. Fortunately, he managed to repair their fractured relationship long before Arnold's passing in 2020.
"One of the worst things that happened to me was my voluntary fallout with my father and then the greatest thing that ever happened to me was when I finally saw the light and realized I needed to love him in a way that he could love me back," Steven Spielberg said in his interview with 60 Minutes.
If you look at the father/son relationships in The Sugarland Express, Catch Me If You Can, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, The Terminal, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and even the father/daughter relationship in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, one can see the real-life conflict and redemption in Spielberg's relationship with his dad.
But while Spielberg's relationship with his father went through notable hardships, the acclaimed writer/director/producer credits Arnold for giving him the greatest gift of all... his very first camera.
How Arnold Spielberg's Death Inspired Meet The Fabelmans
Given that 2022's Meet The Fabelmans is so obviously based on Steven Spielberg's childhood, it's no surprise that the filmmaker was partially inspired by his past conflict with his dad. At the time of this writing, the film has not yet been released. But it appears as though his father (who is portrayed by The Batman star Paul Dano) will be depicted as a workaholic. His parents' separation also seems to be part of it.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Steven Spielberg revealed that his parents' were "nagging" him to make a movie about their lives before they passed. Unfortunately, neither Leah nor Arnold lived to see Meet The Fabelmans.
- Steven Spielberg's mother, Leah Adler, passed away in 2017 at the age of 97.
- Steven Spielberg's father, Arnold Spielberg, passed away in 2020 at the age of 103.
Despite rarely writing his own movies, Steven Spielberg decided to team up with screenwriter, Tony Kushner, to pen the semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama, the first in his career. Kushner has admitted to writing down notes each time Speilberg mentioned anything about his childhood over the years. Eventually, this turned into the outline for Meet The Fablemans.
While Kushner and Spielberg were making West Side Story, they would delve deeper into the project. And when COVID started and Arnold Spielberg's health really began to fail, Spielberg found solace in the material.
But as soon as Arnold passed away, the filmmaker almost needed his new film to work through the grief.
"Steve needed to work through all of his grief, his father dying, and how he was now contemplating life without either of his parents," producer Kristie Macosko Krieger said to The Hollywood Reporter.
There's no doubt that Meet The Fabelmans was a way for Steven Spielberg to work through his relationship with both of his parents and his father's passing. But it was also a way for him to fully understand them as people.
"My life with my mom and dad taught me a lesson, which I hope this film in a small way imparts," Steven Spielberg said in his interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "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."