steven spielberg premiered his muchanticipated the fabelmans to thunderous applause at the toronto international film festival debuting his most autobiographical film and one the 75yearold filmmaker said hes been building toward his whole life the fabelmans which spielberg wrote with tony kushner draws extensively from the directors own childhood from his parents played by michelle williams and paul dano in the film and from his early formation as a filmmaker read alsofirst poster for steven spielbergs semiautobiographical movie the fabelmans unveiledthe first poster of steven spielbergs semiautobiographical movie the fabelmans has been unveiled and in it a young spielberg looks to rise from wouldbe filmmaker to celluloid stardom in hollywoodthe film opens with a timid young boy outside a cinema going to see his first movie the greatest show on earth his mother encourages him movies are dreams doll its something obviously ive been thinking about for a long time spielberg said on stage after the screening late saturday i didnt really know when i was going to get around to this it is not because i decided to retire and this is my swan song dont believe any of that spielberg said he first talked about what would become the fabelmans with kushner during the making of lincoln the playwright spielberg said played the role of therapist as spielberg unloaded his memories but it wasnt until the pandemic that the director resolved to tell for the first time his own story as things got worse and worse i felt if i was going to leave anything behind what was the thing that i really need to resolve and unpack said spielberg spielberg whose three sisters were in the audience later added this film is for me a way of bringing my mom and dad back and it also brought my sisters annie and sue and nancy closer to me than i ever thought possible and that was worth making the film for universal pictures will release the fabelmans on november 11 in new york and los angeles before expanding it nationwide november 23 its world premiere at toronto which happened to immediately follow rian johnsons glass onion a knives out mystery at the princess of wales theatre was a major event and an unusual one it was spielbergs first film at tiff and he said while introducing the film that it was his first time ever in a film festivals official lineup the twoandahalf hour film was immediately received as a grand and personal opus for spielberg all but certain to play a starring role at the academy awards aside from williams who is pregnant with her third child and dano the cast includes seth rogen as a close family friend a brief standout performance from judd hirsch jeannie berlin and newcomer gabriel labelle who plays sammy fabelman the fictionalised young spielberg steven was generous about letting us into his life said dano who said he had access to spielbergs old photographs home movies