Steven Spielberg Says His Parents Were 'Nagging' Him to Make Movie About Them Before Their Deaths

Steven Spielberg's late parents encouraged him to make a movie about their family.

The Oscar winner, 75, directed and co-wrote The Fabelmans, which is inspired by his own childhood and stars Michelle Williams and Paul Dano as characters based on his parents. Spielberg's mom Leah died in 2017 at 97 and his dad Arnold died in 2020 at 103.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about his personal new film, Spielberg said his parents had been "nagging" him to put them on the big screen prior to their deaths.

"They were actually nagging me, 'When are you going to tell that story about our family, Steve?' And so this was something they were very enthusiastic about," he said.

He also shared what finally prompted him to make The Fabelmans: "I started seriously thinking, if I had to make one movie I haven't made yet, something that I really want to do on a very personally atomic level, what would that be? And there was only one story I really wanted to tell."

RELATED: Steven Spielberg on How E.T. Was Inspired by His Parents' Divorce: 'We All Take Care of Each Other'

Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Steven Spielberg (far right) with his parents in 1989

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Spielberg — known for classics like E.T., Jaws, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List and many more — said The Fabelmans is "the first coming-of-age story I've ever told."

"My life with my mom and dad taught me a lesson, which I hope this film in a small way imparts," he told THR. "Which is, when does a young person in a family start to see his parents as human beings? In my case, because of what happened between the ages of 7 and 18, I started to appreciate my mom and dad not as parents but as real people."

Merie Weismiller Wallace/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment The Fabelmans (2022)

Cast member Seth Rogen recently told reporters that Spielberg often became emotional on the set during production.

"It was a very emotional experience. He was crying a lot on set," he said. "It's very directly based on his life and pretty much everything that happens in the movie is something that happened to him. 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."

The Fabelmans is in select theaters Nov. 11, and opens nationwide this Thanksgiving.