Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the ... Read allGrowing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.
- Nominated for 7 Oscars
- 28 wins & 271 nominations total
Mateo Zoryan
- Younger Sammy Fabelman
- (as Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFor the scenes of Sammy filming his own 8mm films, Steven Spielberg decided to have the character re-create the exact ones he made during his childhood, and worked with cinematographer Janusz Kaminski to ensure that they were portrayed as accurately as possible, but with improvements in the camera angles. A few of the films portrayed in this film include the Western short film that he made with his fellow Boy Scout friends in order to earn the photography merit badge, the war short film Escape to Nowhere (1961), in which he used his school bully by casting him in the lead role in an effort to face his fears, and Spielberg's re-creation of the train wreck scene from Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth (1952).
Spielberg remarked "It was joyful being able to recreate those films. ... I shot a lot of films when I was a kid on 8mm. It was unique in those days. Not a lot of people were going out and shooting in 8mm. It was physical; it was a craft. You had to sit there with a...splicer, and then you had to scrape the emulsion off the film in order to get a seal so when you put glue on it, you literally glued the film together. And I must say, I miss it."
- GoofsYounger Sammy Fabelman's eyes are blue, while the older Sammy Fablelman's eyes are brown.
- Crazy creditsTwo dedications to Spielberg's real life parents Leah Adler and Arnold Spielberg appear after the closing credits.
- SoundtracksThe Greatest Show on Earth
from The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
Written by Victor Young, Ned Washington
Performed by the Paramount Studios Band
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Featured review
An origin story without capes
I have been interested in this film since the moment I heard about it. As a kid whose first memorable movie theater experience was E. T., no filmmaker has more influenced the way I experience movies than Spielberg...and nothing influenced those movies more than his parents' divorce. So I was 100% ready for a personal tale, an origin story without capes or superpowers. No CGI. No motion capture. Just a movie about the power of families and stories through the eyes of a kid. It is just that... But it is more too. There's a generosity in the way that Spielberg makes sense of his own story after the fact. Nobody is a villain or hero. They are just people choosing between happiness and responsibility while realizing slowly and painfully that it may not have to be either/or. There were scenes that worked better than others (and I am still sorting through the third act), but it was fun to see him tell a story like this, whether it was his own or not.
helpful•12627
- cliftonofun
- Dec 22, 2022
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Tuổi Trẻ Huy Hoàng
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $40,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $17,348,945
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $161,579
- Nov 13, 2022
- Gross worldwide
- $45,532,316
- Runtime2 hours 31 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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