Acclaimed director David Lynch is part of the ensemble cast of Steven Spielberg‘s latest drama movie, which is loosely based on Spielberg’s own childhood. Spielberg is already in post-production on The Fabelmans, which is set to be released in November of this year.
In the semi-autobiographical film Michelle Williams and Paul Dano play versions of Spielberg’s parents and Seth Rogen plays an Uncle. Newcomer Gabriel LaBelle plays Sammy, who is based on Spielberg himself and Julia Butters plays his sister Anne. It sounds not dissimilar to Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, which is based on the director’s childhood. This is not the first time that Spielberg has made a fictionalised memoir – Empire of the Sun (1987) was based on author JG Ballard’s childhood experiences in a prisoner of war camp.
Spielberg has strong themes connecting his work, such as examining the relationships between children and parents or parental figures, from Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ET, Hook, and Jurassic Park to AI: Artificial Intelligence. Many have speculated that these are personal themes for the director, but it sounds like this will be his most personal work yet.
David Lynch hasn’t done as much acting as his fellow directing David – Cronenberg – but he has had several Alfred Hitchcock style cameos in his own films and TV shows. Lynch is probably best known for his strange and cerebral noir series Twin Peaks. His movies include Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Dune, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and Mulholland Drive. He hasn’t released a feature film since 2006’s Inland Empire. David Lynch’s daily weather reports have been a highlight of the pandemic, however.
David Lynch and Steven Spielberg appear on the surface to be polar opposites as writers and directors. However, you could imagine Lynch making AI: Artificial Intelligence, or maybe even Minority Report or The War of the Worlds. You could also picture Spielberg making The Straight Story – seemingly Lynch’s most ‘normal’ film.
Spielberg is currently on the Oscar campaign trail for his latest film – a new version of musical West Side Story.