Q&A: Tony Kushner on playing therapist to Steven Spielberg

By JAKE COYLE
AP Film Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — “The Fabelmans” is Steven Spielberg’s most autobiographical movie, but the introspection it required wasn’t done in isolation. The film, rather, grew out of conversations between Spielberg and his longtime collaborator Tony Kushner, the “Angels in America” playwright who had penned three of Spielberg’s best films: “Munich,” “Lincoln” and “West Side Story.” As Spielberg reflected on his childhood memories, he had, essentially, one of the most decorated therapists anyone’s ever had: a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright turned amateur psychiatrist. Kushner says he also used his own childhood memories to make the film. “The Fabelmans” opens in select theaters Friday.