The Fabelmans is the newest movie from celebrated director Steven Spielberg, and it has gotten some of the best reviewers of Spielberg’s storied career. There have been so many period movies that are love letters to cinema over the years, but The Fabelmans is different, as it’s semi-autobiographical; the characters are all based on Spielberg’s family and, of course, himself.
With it being such a passion project of the filmmaker’s, how the film came to be is almost as interesting as the film itself. Between the screenplay coming together shockingly quickly, being on the back burner for decades, and David Lynch’s Cheeto obsession, there’s even more history to The Fabelmans than audiences know.
It Was Short Work For The Screenwriter
While Spielberg is credited as a co-writer, the director worked with his long-time collaborator, the screenwriter Tony Kushner. The Fabelmans marks their fourth collaboration following Munich, Lincoln, and last year’s West Side Story. And according to Indie Wire, it was the easiest work of Kushner’s career.
The screenwriter spoke about his day-to-day while working on the script, and it was essentially a part-time job. Kushner explained, “We wrote three days a week, four hours a day, and we finished the script in two months: by leagues, the fastest I’ve finished anything. It was a blast. I loved it.”
Spielberg Had The Idea In 1999
Though the development time of The Fabelmans was relatively short and had a shockingly quick turnaround from when Spielberg and Kushner put pen to paper, the idea had been ruminating in Spielberg’s head for much longer. According to The New York Times, Spielberg had the idea all the way back in 1999.
In the interview from 23 years ago, Spielberg worried, “My big fear is that my mom and dad won’t like it and will think it’s an insult and won’t share my loving yet critical point of view about what it was like to grow up with them.” It was probably for the best that Spielberg waited to make the film, as that 23-year gap includes some of the director’s best movies, and his legacy has only grown exponentially. So a movie celebrating his life and upbringing is way more impactful now than it would have been in 1999.
It Was Originally Titled “I’ll Be Home”
It turns out that The Fabelmans was way more than just an idea in 1999 too, and there had actually been some major development made on the project. However, it was much different from the final result that just hit theatres. According to the same NY Times article, Instead of The Fabelmans, the movie was titled I’ll Be Home.
It also seems as if a draft of the screenplay had been completed, as Spielberg explained that the movie was written by his sister, Anne Spielberg. His sister also co-wrote the classic 1988 Tom Hanks comedy, Big, which was whimsical, sentimental, and endlessly entertaining, and that’s exactly what The Fabelmans has been praised for, too, so the film has at least kept the same tone as the 90s project.
Spielberg’s Parents Were Actually “Nagging” Him To Make The Film
Though Spielberg worried that his parents might have thought the movie might have been an insult, the actual truth is that they were “nagging” him to make the movie. According to People, the filmmaker’s parents wanted him to make the film before their deaths.
Spielberg explained, “They were actually nagging me, ‘When are you going to tell that story about our family, Steve?’ And so this was something they were very enthusiastic about.” Both of Spielberg’s parents, unfortunately, passed away before the film went into development, and that could have been what encouraged Spielberg to finally make it.
Spielberg Cast Michelle Williams After Seeing Blue Valentine
Michelle Williams is one of the greatest actresses working today. She has starred in tons of beloved movies and has had four Academy Award nominations. But the reason why Spielberg decided to cast her as Mitzi Schildkraut-Fabelman, the character that’s based on the director’s mother, was based on her role in the emotionally exhausting 2010 movie Blue Valentine (via The New York Times).
Blue Valentine cuts between two stories, as it’s about a couple that’s head-over-heels in love, and it follows that same couple years later with kids and utterly unhappy. There are some parallels between the 2010 film and Blue Valentine, as they’re both about divorce and the effect that’ll have on their children, and it spans decades too. But above all else, Williams’ performance is so raw and realistic, and she totally deserved the Oscar win for it.
Paul Dano Felt Intimidated Playing Spielberg’s Father
Along with Williams playing a character based on Spielberg’s mother, Paul Dano plays Burt Fabelman, who is based on Spielberg’s father, and such an important role came with a lot of pressure. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Dano felt intimidated about playing the semi-real-life character that the celebrated filmmaker looked up to so much.
The actor explained, “The stakes felt really high… You’re embodying one of the most important, influential, complicated figures in [Spielberg’s] life. It was incredible to see how much of this was in his work the whole time.” However, Dano seemingly enjoys the nerves, as his filmography is full of daunting roles, such as starring alongside Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood relatively early in his career. And just recently, he played The Riddler in The Batman, which is part of a franchise that has such a huge, fastidious fanbase. But he ended up giving the best portrayal of the Riddler.
It Took Lynch Three Weeks To Agree To Feature In The Film
David Lynch is a unique filmmaker best known for his surreal thrillers like Mulholland Drive, and he sometimes acts too, as infrequently as it may be. Lynch returns to acting in The Fablemans, as he plays the iconic movie director John Ford, but it wasn’t without a ton of convincing.
According to The Playlist, not only did it take Spielberg three weeks to convince the elusive filmmaker to sign on, but he had the help of their mutual friend, Laura Dern, who called him countless times to commit to the role. But most interestingly, Lynch only agreed to do it provided Cheetos were available on set at all times, which is a small but strange request.
Sammy Was The Hardest Role To Cast
Gabriel LaBelle plays Sammy in the new movie, and the character is based on Spielberg when he was a child, so it comes as no surprise that the director thought it was the hardest role to cast. And according to Vulture, Spielberg auditioned 2000 different actors to play the character.
The director explained the tightrope he had to walk when looking for the perfect actor, noting, “I wasn’t looking for what I see in the mirror, I was looking for a young actor who could carry a lot of story by being curious and honest and engaging and unpredictable.” LaBelle did exactly that and beat out 2000 other actors, but even he wasn’t successful until he auditioned a second time three months later.
Spielberg Selected Most Of The Music
Most movies will have music supervisors, and there are specific members of the film’s post-production that make most of the music choices. However, for The Fabelmans, outside of John Williams’ score, Spielberg chose a lot of the classical music featured in the film himself (via Indie Wire). While it isn’t unprecedented, and some filmmakers even score their own movies, directors have a huge hand in the soundtrack is a rarity.
And when it comes to the movie’s music, The Fabelmans is also notable for being John Williams penultimate movie score before his retirement, with his final movie being Indiana Jones 5. And it marks the end of a long-running working relationship with Spielberg, as they have worked together on 29 movies.
It Was Emotional On Set
Given that it’s such a personal movie for Spielberg and is so semi-autobiographical, it’s hardly surprising that there were so many emotions on set. Seth Rogen, who plays Benny Loewy, Sammy’s surrogate uncle, detailed just how emotional it really was and that he’d regularly find Spielberg crying while shooting (via People).
The actor added, “I’d be like, ‘Did this happen in real life?’ and the answer was ‘yes’ a hundred percent of the time.” The movie will undoubtedly leave audiences crying just as much, but they’ll mostly be tears of joy, but that’s hardly any different from any other Spielberg-directed film.
