Spielberg’s Auto-biopic

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I’ve been reading the Spielberg biography by Joseph McBride, so I’ve been revisiting some of my favorite Spielberg movies and thinking a lot about his filmography. Spielberg is a filmmaker known for including autobiographical elements in his films, but people tend to think of his earlier work like ET and Close Encounters as being more personal than a lot of his later work. Catch Me If You Can might be Spielberg's most autobiographical work. For those who haven’t seen it in a while, Catch Me If You Can is the story of Frank Abagnale Jr., a mischievous adolescent boomer who runs away from home because he can’t deal with his parent’s divorce. He then embraces the life of a conman, lying his way into a job as an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer. He supports his insane lifestyle by forging checks and uses superhero secret identities like Barry Allen(The Flash) as aliases. You don’t have to look very hard for some of the basic autobiographical elements, Steven’s parents were divorced around the same time as Frank’s parents, and both men indulged in fantasies as an alternative to growing up. Spielberg was also something of a conman, constantly making up stories to scare or entertain his family and friends. Steven even talked his way onto the Universal lot and managed to get himself an office and an unofficial internship at the studio when he was only 16 years old. Both characters are somewhat child prodigies, constantly underestimated and misunderstood because of their childish ambitions and motivations. A lot of the film is about Frank's relationship with his parents which was also similar to Steven’s, both men spent much of their youth seeking the recognition of their father, and both had a parent that encouraged their mischievous behavior (although in Steven’s case it was his mother). Ultimately, Catch Me If You Can is a story about a kid running from adulthood, living a fantasy life and believing that he will never have to grow up and deal with the consequences of his actions. This is the story of Spielberg’s personal and professional career, the man who described himself as having “Peter Pan Syndrome”, who was accused of infantilizing Hollywood and wasn’t really taken seriously until he was in his 40’s and won Best Director for his very adult film, Schindler’s List.