Cry your freakin’ eyes out with the trailer for Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans

With his first screenwriting credit since Poltergeist, Steve Spielberg is exorcising a few ghosts again. The beloved master director’s next film, and his most explicitly autobiographical outing ever, The Fabelmans, has been atop critics’ and fans’ must-see lists since it was announced in 2020.

Fabelmans premiered at the Toronto Film Festival this weekend, and while we’re all jealous of the lucky critics who got the first taste of the new Stevie, we did get a consolation prize. The trailer for The Fabelmans is here, and, Jesus, it looks glorious. But before you watch, we want to set the proper expectation: David Lynch is not in the trailer. Lynch was cast in a mysterious role in the film, which Wikipedia claims is John Ford. Now that you’re drooling on your keyboard at the thought of Lynch in an eyepatch in Monument Valley, enjoy the trailer:

It’s no secret that the divorce of Spielberg’s parents had a massive impact on his career. As a result, the most consistent thematic lines in his filmography explore children of divorce, single mothers, and absent fathers. Here, the director and his longtime collaborator Tony Kushner are making the subtext text.

Four-time Oscar-nominee Michelle Williams stars as Mitzi Fabelman, Sammy’s a supportive and artistic mother, who encourages her son to make movies, much to the detriment of her husband, the practical-minded Burt (Paul Dano). But as the trailer shows, making movies is a little more than a hobby for Sammy, who would grow up to direct Bridge Of Spies, we presume.

Behind the camera, Spielberg’s brought some of his Oscar-winning buddies back to help. Shot by Academy Award winner Janusz Kaminski, as anyone could tell from those pools of light, The Fabelmans reunites Spielberg with composer John Williams and editor Michael Kahn. It’s a family affair.

The Fabelmans opens wide on November 11.