st222

MOVIE FEATURE

visit jbhifi.com.au/stack

Sealing the deal with Cheetos Steven Spielberg tenaciously pursued fellow director David Lynch to play the part of legendary filmmaker John Ford in The Fabelmans . Lacking confidence, Lynch rejected all invitations and only agreed to participate after persistent encouragement from their mutual friend and collaborator Laura Dern. Lynch had only two stipulations upon agreeing to the role: that Cheetos were in his dressing room, and that he be allowed to wear the costume every day for two weeks prior to filming.

A lightly fictionalised account of his early family life and developing passion for filmmaking, Steven Spielberg hopes his deeply personal drama, The Fabelmans , might also serve as a universal coming-of-age story. Words Gill Pringle W hile focusing on the pursuit of his young alter-ego’s dreams, Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans is also an exploration of love, THE SPIELBERG STORY

With much fraught family emotion involved, it’s a miracle the film ever got made. Although with Paul Dano cast as

Fabelman father Burt, and Judd Hirsch set to play Sammy’s great uncle Boris, the project began to take shape. With the cast all assembled in a recreation of Spielberg’s family home in Phoenix, Arizona, the filmmaker knew it would be emotional. “I walked onto set the first day, and I had to really control myself,” he recalls. “I walked through the rooms alone, and I got a lump in my throat when I was doing that, and then I came out of the set and started getting ready for the first shot. “The actors came on to stage. Michelle Williams wearing exact replicas of clothes my mom had worn. Paul Dano

artistic ambition, sacrifice, and the moments of discovery that allow us to see the truth about ourselves – and our parents – with clarity and compassion. At the heart of the movie is Michelle Williams’ Mitzi, the mother of budding filmmaker Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle). Redolent of Spielberg’s own beloved mother, Leah Adler, who passed away six years ago, Williams portrays her as a spritely woman with a similar bobbed haircut and denim outfits. Adler had long encouraged her son to tell this semi autobiographical story, even if he did wrestle over including his mother’s love affair with family friend Bennie Loewy, portrayed by Seth Rogen. However, he dragged his feet, and his co-writer, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, wondered if it would ever happen. “I was always serious about doing this story but I never thought Spielberg was,” says Kushner. Another hurdle involved sending the screenplay to Spielberg’s sisters

The road to The Fabelmans began in the late ‘90s when Steven Spielberg’s screenwriter sister, Anne, wrote a script about his life called I’ll Be Home . DYK?

Julia Butters and Gabriel Labelle

looking just like my dad. I looked at Paul and Michelle

together, and there was a little moment where everything sort of went into slow motion, like a car accident. I just looked at them together, and I didn’t see Michelle, and I didn’t see Paul. I saw Leah and Arnold. I saw my mom and my dad. I kind of lost it,” he admits. “And, bless their hearts, Michelle and Paul both walked up to me, and they both embraced me. So we were in a three-way hug, and that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

Gabriel Labelle

and possibly shattering their own childhood dreams – the script containing a secret he had never shared with his three younger siblings.

• The Fabelmans is out on Apr 12

jbhifi.com.au

16 APRIL 2023