Steven Spielberg appeared on stage during the opening ceremony of the 66th Annual Cannes Film Festival at the Palais des Festivals in France. The photo was taken by Pascal Le Segretain.
The images are from the same company.
I thought Steven Spielberg was about to retire. The first time I thought of that was when I watched a rewatch of Hook and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which dealt with Spielberg metaphorically coming to terms with his parents strengths and flaws and then trying to figure out how to be a world. Hook ended with a note implying that the director couldn't do both.
I wonder if the director would have retired or become less active by the mid 1990's if the summer blockbusters of 1993 had not become the biggest-grossing movies of all time. Stephen King retired in 1999, but Spielberg retired in the mid 1990s.
It felt like the final chapter of an incredible movie when the director was pushing 70 and was about to make a fifth Indiana Jones movie. James Mangold is in charge of Indiana Jones 5 for June 30, 2023, but Steven Spielberg is in charge of The Fabelmans.
I hope the film opens on a present-tense film set because someone will say that Stevie will have to think about his whole life before he directs Ready Player One. It is next year's unofficial big Thanksgiving movie that isn't a Disney toon.
Gabriel LaBelle plays young Sammy, who is the film's stand-in for Mr. Spielberg. Paul Dano will play his father, while Paul Williams will play his mother. The last time they worked together, it was for Sarah Polley's wonderful dramedy Take This Waltz, which should have been the end of the discussion about whether or not to do drama.
Any family dramedy written by Spielberg and Tony Kushner is something I am interested in. Spielberg has mostly been a historical drama and closer to Hollywood not making this anymore output than Ready Player One is. The kind of movie which wouldn't exist at this level without the Spielberg connection is what The Fabelmans is.
When his next two films were West Side Story and Indiana Jones 5, will they mark Spielberg's final two films? He has a decade left to show those young whipper-snappers how it is done. Spielberg has a lot of films that are middle of the road, but would be among the career-best for maybe 85% of any.
I don't know what to expect from this period piece family melodrama. The Spielberg/Kushner combo remains 3 for 3, so it is an event no matter what superhero movie or franchise-specific tentpole is opening alongside.
