Julia Butters joins Michelle Williams in Steven Spielberg film, loosely based on director's childhood

Actor Julia Butters has joined the cast of the untitled Steven Spielberg film which is loosely based on the filmmaker’s childhood in Arizona. The 12-year-old, who was appreciated for her performance in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood will be playing a role inspired by Spielberg’s sister, reported Deadline. According to the publication, the star will join actors Michelle Williams and Paul Dano, who will feature as Spielberg’s parents, while Seth Rogen will be playing a character based on Spielberg’s favourite uncle. Newcomer Gabriel LaBelle is going to play the role of a young Spielberg. So far, the plot details of the upcoming project are being kept under wraps by the makers. Spielberg, who last wrote the script for the 2001 film A.I., will be co-writing the script for this movie. Spielberg, will co-write the untitled film with longtime writing partner and Pulitzer Prize-winner Tony Kushner, who is also part of the screenwriting team for Spielberg’s upcoming West Side Story adaptation. Both will co-produce the movie with Kristie Macosko Krieger, reports Deadline. Meanwhile, the shooting of the movie is all set to begin in the coming months for an anticipated 2022 release. Butters is currently working on the Russo Brothers’ big-budget action film The Gray Man. She will star alongside Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling. Veteran director Spielberg has three younger sisters. The oldest among them – Anne is a filmmaker like her older brother. Deadline reports that the director has often mentioned how many of his films were inspired by his time growing up in Arizona. Most of his movies revolved around Arizona be it his story themes or actual characters. It was the 2017 HBO documentary Spielberg, where the filmmaker came the closest to talking about his past. With this new movie, Spielberg will bring most of the childhood and young days of the 1950s and 60s on the big screen.