The Fabelmans (2022) on Netflix
Mitzi and Burt Fabelman take their son Sammy to his first film. Dazzled by a train crash, he wants to shoot one himself. A new job moves the family to Phoenix, Arizona.
- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb7.5/10137,096 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
Sammy Fabelman is a small boy in Haddon Township, New Jersey, when his parents, Mitzi and Burt, take him to his first film in 1952. A train wreck on the screen stays with him, and for Hanukkah he asks for a model train set so he can stage a crash of his own. Mitzi lets him use Burt's 8 mm camera to film it, and Sammy begins shooting regularly, sometimes involving his sisters. A new job takes Burt to Phoenix, Arizona, in 1957, and his best friend and business partner, Bennie Loewy, moves with the family after Mitzi insists on it. As a teenager, Sammy shoots films with friends from the Boy Scouts, works with post-production effects, and earns a photography badge.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Fabelmans (2022)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Spielberg said it took three weeks to convince David Lynch to play John Ford, with Laura Dern persistently calling him; Lynch said he would take it as long as there were bags of Cheetos on set, and asked to be given his Ford costume to wear every day for two weeks before filming his scene.
- Michelle Williams wore jewelry that was in fact some of Leah Adler's as Mitzi Fabelman, including a charm bracelet with pictures of all four of her children, while Julia Butters was gifted Anne Spielberg's high-school ring to wear as Reggie Fabelman.
- Spielberg conceived the project as early as 1999, then postponed it for 20 years over concerns about how it might affect his parents; the finished film is dedicated to the memories of Leah Adler and Arnold Spielberg, who died in 2017 and 2020.
- With his 53rd nomination, for Best Original Score on this film, John Williams broke his own record as the most Oscar-nominated person alive, at the age of 90.
- John Williams's score was his 29th film collaboration with Spielberg, approaching the 50th anniversary of their first film together, The Sugarland Express; in June 2022 Williams said this and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny may be the last two films he scores before retirement.
- Ben Schwartz revealed in 2024 that he was originally cast to play Bennie Loewy, but a scheduling conflict with voice-over work on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 prevented it, and Rogen took over the role as a result.
