Steven Spielberg Calls Daughter Destry's Upcoming Directorial Debut 'Exciting for the Whole Family'

Larry Busacca/Getty for Paramount

Steven Spielberg is not the only director in the family anymore.

On Monday, Spielberg, 76, expressed his excitement for his daughter Destry Allyn Spielberg's upcoming feature film directorial debut Four Assassins (And A Funeral) during a wide-ranging conversation about his career on the SmartLess podcast.

"I'm so excited about that," the Fabelmans director told cohosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett. "She was hired based on a short film. She made a wonderful short film, which I adored, and the producers behind the John Wick series saw it and gave her a movie — with a respectable budget, too."

"So, it's exciting for the whole family," Spielberg added.

Deadline first reported news of 26-year-old Destry's upcoming film in December 2022, with the script described as a combination of the Kingsman franchise, Knives Out and the HBO series Succession.

RELATED: Steven Spielberg and Ke Huy Quan Reconnect on Red Carpet in Adorable Indiana Jones Reunion

Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan via Getty

Though Spielberg said on SmartLess Monday that his daughter "always loved movies," he noted that Destry grew up an avid equestrian and appeared more likely to pursue a career in equestrian sports as a child until she gave the hobby up as a teenager.

"She'd always come to the set and she worked on the property department for West Side Story for three-and-a-half, four months, when we shot that movie, so she was on set every day," Spielberg added of Destry's film industry credentials. "And this was just something she was always interested in doing."

The director also complimented his daughter's still photography skills as she gears up for her first feature-length movie.

Never miss  a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

"Her compositions and her use of black and white... I thought she might be the only kid that follows sort of in my directing footsteps, although all my kids are in one fashion or another in the arts," he said on the podcast.

The director shares Destry, along with Sasha, 32, Sawyer, 30, Mikaela, 26 with his wife, actress Kate Capshaw, as well as her two: Jessica, 46, and Theo, 34. He also shares son Max, 37, with his ex-wife Amy Irving.

In July 2021, Destry responded to criticism of her short film Let Me Go The Right Way as a product of Hollywood nepotism — the project starred Sean Penn's son hopper and was written by Stephen King's son Owen King — as she wrote "I worked hard to get to where I am" on Twitter at the time, before acknowledging her "privilege."

Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage

RELATED: Steven Spielberg Says He Regrets How Jaws Caused 'Decimation of the Shark Population'

"I am just a young aspiring female filmmaker who admires the art of cinema. People can argue nepotism, but I know deep down that I worked hard to get where I am and it wasn't easy. Beyond proud of this film and proud of the team it took to make it," Destry wrote in a since-deleted tweet, per E! News.

In a follow-up statement, which still remains on her Twitter account, the daughter of the Oscar-winning director added, "I acknowledge that i was born with privilege! I own that through and through! I make it my mission to bring new talent into the industry & give opportunities to artists of all backgrounds. No one should be left out because of the connections they dont have."