The Fabelmans: the next Spielberg offers a sparkling trailer

On the occasion of its presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Universal studio has released the first trailer for the next film by American director and producer Steven Spielberg (ET the Extraterrestrial, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List), inspired by his own childhood. The film, which is already shaping up to be a serious Oscar contender, will be released in France on January 25, 2023.

One of the most personal projects of Steven Spielberg is revealed today in pictures. Universal has released the first trailer for The Fabelmans, film largely inspired by the American filmmaker’s own childhood and which, in view of these impeccably produced first images (among other things thanks to the photography of Janusz Kamiński, Spielberg’s appointed cinematographer since Schindler’s List in 1993), seems to return to the foundations of his unconditional love for the seventh art.

Of Rome (Alfonso Cuaron) to Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson) via Once upon a time… in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino), Belfast (Kenneth Branagh) or soon Armageddon Time (James Gray), many filmmakers have delivered, in recent years, introspective films on their own childhoods or encapsulating their first emotions as cinephiles.

A declaration of love at the cinema

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and received a warm reception there. ” I thought it was going to be a lot easier than it was (…) I’ve known these characters all my life, but it was still a very intimidating experience “said the 75-year-old director at a press conference. In the film, young Spielberg takes the name Sammy Fabelman; her parents are played by Paul Dano and Michelle Williams, her uncle by Seth Rogen.

Co-written with Tony Kushner (Pulitzer Prize winner for the play Angels in America, who collaborated with Spielberg on Munich, Lincoln and West Side Story), the film, whose music is once again signed John Williams, looks back on the growing passion of the young Spielberg for the cinema, then confronted with the painful experience of the divorce of his parents – “ this movie is a way to bring my mom and dad back “says the filmmaker. To say how much this project is autobiographical, the 8mm films directed by Sammy Fabelman are nothing less than “improved” versions of the films Spielberg made as a teenager.

A last film then leaves?

On paper, The Fabelmans thus has everything of a testamentary film mixing all the filmmaker’s obsessions. Not to mention that Spielberg’s latest films have been relatively disappointing at the American box office, like his remake of West Side Story released last December, or Ready Player One and The Good Big Giant. But the director of Sea teeth and Dating of the Third Kind doesn’t seem ready to hang up the gloves anytime soon. Spielberg assures us that this project, admittedly long-term, does not mark ” his swan song “. As a reminder, the American director is currently working on a remake of Bullitt, cult film from the late 1960s starring Steve McQueen.

The Fabelmans will be released in the United States next November and already seems to be in pole position in the race for the Oscars. In France, you will have to wait until January 25, 2023.