Is Steven Spielberg's Oscar-nominated movie The Fabelmans based on his own life?

Steven Spielberg's Oscar-nominated movie, The Fabelmans, tells the story of a young boy who aspires to become a filmmaker. However, throughout his journey, he faces a number of challenges as his parents cope with marital issues that leave a lasting impact on him.

The movie is a semi-autobiographical account of director Spielberg's early life and his journey towards becoming a director. The family depicted in the movie, however, is fictional, and there are numerous differences between the events in Spielberg's own life and the protagonist's life as is portrayed in the movie.

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The true story behind Steven Spielberg's Oscar-nominated film, The Fabelmans

One of the most striking similarities between protagonist Sammy Fabelman and Steven Spielberg's life is that they were both inspired to take up filmmaking after watching The Greatest Show on Earth.

According to Screenrant, the iconic director mentioned in a Golden Globes speech way back in 2009 that watching The Greatest Show on Earth had a massive influence on him and that his "fate was probably sealed" by the movie. He also mentioned during an interview with CBS News that,

''I didn't know what a movie was. And my dad and my mom took me to the movie in a theater. It was a movie about a circus. After a while I got very involved in the story. There's a train crash in the middle of the movie. And all I remember is, it was the scariest thing I'd ever experienced in my entire life.''

One of the most interesting aspects of The Fabelmans is the conflict between Sammy's parents, which forms the emotional core of the movie. In real life as well, Steven Spielberg's parents had reportedly divorced when the director was 19 years old.

Spielberg has often spoken about his parents' divorce in the past and the impact that it has had on him. The director apparently did not speak to his father for 15 years and blamed him for the separation. During the interview with CBS News, Spielberg spoke at length about this tumultuous period in his life, sharing:

''When my mom and my dad announced that they were separating, as is portrayed in 'The Fabelmans,' my dad fell on the sword. But I didn't know there was a sword to fall on. I simply took him at his word when he said, 'It's my idea that we separate.' And I lived with that, and I blamed my dad for that, for years.''

Similar to real-life, in The Fabelmans, Sammy's parents got separated during his late teens. In the movie, Sammy's mother has an affair with his father's best friend, with whom Sammy shares a special bond. Spielberg has said that as a teenager, he was unaware of the details pertaining to his parents' divorce and that he's never had a conversation about it with his father later in his life.

The Fabelmans has been nominated for a number of categories for the Oscars 2023, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and many more. The film, written by Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, stars Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, and Gabriel LaBelle, among many others, in key roles. Although the film garnered critical acclaim, it was not a commercial success.