New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani and Steven Spielberg had a private meeting on Monday at the director’s Central Park West apartment, per The New York Times.
The Times reported on the pair’s pre-dinner meeting on Thursday, which was confirmed by City Hall and Terry Press, Spielberg’s spokeswoman. Press additionally told the outlet Mamdani and Spielberg agreed to keep their meeting private, while Dora Pekec, a spokeswoman for the mayor, declined to comment, aside from sharing that he returned to work after the events.
Knowledgable sources tell The Hollywood Reporter the meeting was not initiated by Mamdani or Spielberg but by a third party who wanted the mayor and director to meet with Spielberg now being a full-time New York City resident. (The Times reported that the Jaws director became an official resident of New York on Mamdani’s inauguration day.)
Spielberg’s wife, Kate Capshaw, and their son Theo, plus his wife, were present at the meeting, as was Morris Katz, a Mamdani advisor, the the Times additionally outlined. The meeting took place on the first day of Mamdani’s first full week being NYC’s mayor.
Mamdani was inaugurated on New Year’s Day, where he promised a “new era” during his speech.
“Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously,” he said. “We may not always succeed, but never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try.”
Spielberg is a well-known Democratic party donor, though the Times noted there are no records of him financially supporting Mamdani’s campaign. The Academy Award-winning director was an avid supporter of former President Joe Biden.
The Democratic Socialist’s mother, Mira Nair, is also a Hollywood filmmaker. She has one Oscar nomination, stemming from 1988’s Salaam Bombay!, which also won the Camera d’Or at Cannes. In a 2025 profile with Nair, THR wrote that her Golden Globe-nominated film Monsoon Wedding is when she “became an indie darling.”
Nair’s additional credits include The Namesake (2006); The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2013); and Queen of Katwe (2016), among others. The director was previously approached to helm Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, though she has said her son, Mamdani, talked her out of directing the project, telling her that “anyone can direct Harry Potter; only you can direct The Namesake.”
