Is The Fabelmans based on a true story? Everything to know about Steven Spielberg’s new film-Aisha Nozari-Entertainment – Metro

The Fabelmans has been billed as Steven Spielberg’s most personal project to date (Picture: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

During Tuesday’s Oscar nominations reveal, it was announced that Steven Spielberg’s latest film The Fabelmans would be up for an impressive seven gongs at this year’s ceremony.

Billed as his most personal work yet, The Fabelmans is a family drama starring Gabriel LaBelle as Sammy, Michelle Williams as Sammy’s mum Mitzi and Paul Dano as his dad Burt. Since its release, The Fabelmans has racked up a string of rave reviews.

The movie’s script is modelled on Spielberg’s own upbringing and revolves around budding director Sammy’s life at home with his parents and three sisters.

Sammy’s life is uprooted when his parents decide to divorce, but how much of the plot is true to Spielberg’s childhood? Let’s take a closer look.

Is The Fabelmans based on a true story?

LaBell, 20, revealed when promoting the film that Spielberg, 76, actually said the entire script was true to life.

The Fabelmans is a family drama starring Gabriel LaBelle as Sammy, who is based on Spielberg (Picture: Merie Weismiller Wallace/Amblin)

Paul Dano plays Sammy’s dad Burt (Picture: Merie Weismiller Wallace/Univers)

According to Yahoo!, the actor shared: ‘This movie is his life. You don’t want to ruin Steven Spielberg’s life.

‘The first thing I asked him was, “How much of this script really happened to you?” And he said “All of it”.’

Seth Rogan, who plays family friend Bennie in the film, also noted that the film was very much autobiographical, telling People that he saw Spielberg ‘cry multiple times on set’.

‘It was a very emotional experience. He was crying a lot on set,’ Rogan said.

‘It’s very directly based on his life and pretty much everything that happens in the movie is something that happened to him.

The movie’s script is modelled on Spielberg’s own upbringing (Picture: AP)

Michelle Williams earned an Oscar nomination for her role as Sammy’s mum, Mitzi (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo)

‘As we were shooting, I’d be like, “Did this happen in real life?” and the answer was “yes” a hundred percent of the time.’

Not only did Spielberg’s parents – Leah Adler and Arnold Spielberg – actually divorce in real life, but, just like Sammy in the film, Spielberg discovered his mum was cheating on his dad when he was just a teenager.

Spielberg told the New York Times in November: ‘That was one of the toughest things, I think, that I had to sit down and decide to expose because it was the most powerful secret my mum and I shared since my discovery when I was 16.’

Another of the film’s most poignant narrative threads is Sammy’s anger at his parents for constantly moving the family from neighbourhood to neighbourhood.

The Oscar-nominated film will land in UK cinemas on January 27 (Picture: AP)

Seth Rogan said Spielberg ‘cried on set’ (Picture: Merie Weismiller Wallace/Amblin)

Sammy laments that his family are ‘the only Jewish people’ in the area, which echoes past comments made by Spielberg to publisher Behrman House.

‘I felt like I was the only Jew in high school,’ said the award-winning director.

‘I just simply wanted to deny being Jewish. I was ashamed because I was living on a street where at Christmas, we were the only house with nothing but a porch light on.

‘I so much wanted to be assimilated.’

Sammy laments that his family are ‘the only Jewish people’ in the area, which echoes past comments made by Spielberg (Picture: Merie Weismiller Wallace/Amblin)

What about the film’s monkey? Did Spielberg’s mum really bring home a pet monkey for him and his sisters? She did indeed.

Before her 2017 death, Adler revealed in the HBO documentary Spielberg that she saw the animal at a pet store in Phoenix and brought it home in a cage in the back of her Jeep.

The monkey had been separated from its mum and was depressed, so Adler thought it would make a good pet for her kids.

How many Oscar nominations does The Fabelmans have?

On Tuesday, actress Allison Williams and actor Riz Ahmed announced the nominations for this year’s Academy Awards live from the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in LA.

It was revealed that The Fabelmans would be up for seven gongs in total, with the film contending in the best picture, best director, best lead actress, best supporting actor, best original screenplay, best production design and best original score categories.

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What is The Fabelmans’ release date in the UK?

The Oscar-nominated film will land in UK cinemas on January 27.

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