Steven Spielberg Contracts COVID, Skips Gotham Awards

The critically-acclaimed filmmaker Steven Spielberg has contracted COVID, it emerges on Tuesday.

As reported, Steven Spielberg was set to present Michelle Williams with her performer tribute at Monday’s Gotham Awards but had to bow out after testing positive for COVID-19.

“The Fabelmans” director had tested positive before the red carpet opened for the annual gala, but Paul Dano confirmed the news when he replaced Spielberg for the Williams tribute.

Spielberg was also scheduled to be interviewed by old pal Martin Scorsese at a DGA screening of “The Fabelmans” while in New York for the Gothams, which has also been postponed.

Paul Dano, who plays Spielberg’s father in “The Fabelmans” opposite Michelle Williams as his mother, recalled talking to Williams about their early days in Hollywood while at events for the film.

“Michelle said, ‘I remember just driving around town looking for work,’” he said. “And I thought, ‘Imagine if that teenage girl knew that at the midpoint of her career she’d be seeing a tribute award at the Gothams from none other than Steven Spielberg, and what would she have thought?’”

Paul Dano went on to add, “Then I thought, ‘Well, what if we had to tell that girl that Steven got COVID?’ She’d be like, ‘What’s COVID?’ and that ‘Paul Dano was going to introduce you?’ She’d be like, ‘Who the f*ck is Paul Dano?’”