Steven Spielberg wept on the set of The Fabelmans—a lot—according to Seth Rogen
"I saw him cry dozens of times throughout filming," Seth Rogen says of The Fabelmans director Steven Spielberg
Aux News Steven Spielberg
With The Fabelmans, director Steven Spielberg crafts his most personal project yet. The autobiographical film essentially works as a big-budget home movie, offering insight into his childhood and changing family dynamics. The Fabelmans also examines Spielberg’s blossoming interest in film and the art of filmmaking, which was fostered by his parents (played by Paul Dano and Michelle Williams).
Understandably, it’s an emotional project. With his mother passing in 2017 and his father in 2020, Spielberg embarked on recreating them for the screen, along with his sisters, Anne, Nancy, and Sue. The latter three played a pivotal role in crafting the story of their family, looking over every script draft and incorporating their own memories into the tapestry of the film.
Now, Seth Rogen, who plays a family friend in The Fabelmans, opened up about just how emotional the on-set experience was.
“He would cry a lot, openly,” Rogen tells The Hollywood Reporter of Spielberg. “We’d show up on set and he would just see a certain piece of wardrobe or a certain piece of set dec[oration] or everyone coming together to recreate a certain thing. I saw him cry dozens of times throughout filming the movie which was actually very beautiful and I think made everyone want to really honor what he was doing. You saw how much it meant to him and how truthful he was being.”
Part of the production included creating exact replicas of Spielberg’s childhood homes, fit with real items that belonged to his mother and father.
“To come to work every morning and walk on a set that is an exact replica of the house I grew up in created a level of nostalgia verging on grief,” Spielberg says of the experience. “It was a healthy kind of grieving.”
When shooting became emotionally overwhelming for the filmmaker, the actors cast as his mother and father came to his side to comfort him.
“Those were the hard moments,” he says. “Those were the moments where after I said ‘Cut,’ I’d have to leave the set. And inevitably, I’d suddenly see Paul coming around the corner, and he would just grab me and hang onto me. And the same thing with Michelle. She’d see me putting my hands up and say, ‘I need a break.’ And I’d go off, and she’d find me.”
The Fabelmans premieres in theaters on November 11.
21 Comments
Good thing Jimmy Kimmel wasn’t there.
David Lynch will be there. That’s why I’ll go.
Young Sammy Fabelman falls in love with movies*jacking off motion*
Why just the motion?
Just implying this movie sounds like self-indulgent navel-gazing
The movie itself might be great, but dear god the commercials make it look like the worst kind of treacly cliched tripe.
Treacly! That was the word I was looking for. I kept thinking treckling, but knew it wasn’t right. It’s been bugging me for like 5 minutes. Thank you.Also, I agree.
“Just implying this movie sounds like self-indulgent navel-gazing”
Wow, you managed to crack the code, did you? *jacking off motion*
He earned the right to be self-indulgent.
I mean, for sure, he is a legendary talent. I’m not gonna go see a movie about movies though. I don’t read books about authors, and I don’t watch TV shows about TV either (except 30 Rock)
The best art is deeply personal.
shuuuuuuut uppppp
Stanley Kubrick is awesome.
“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a filmmaker.”— Raises inhaler to mouth, mournfully watches all the other kids in the street joyfully playing stickball.
I’m gonna go get the papers, get the papers, get the papers.
The film might be wonderful, and it might not, but I respect that he’s opening himself up to his audience. Kudos.
Id cry too if I realized that social media was basically responsible for any success or failure these days
Sounds tedious.
But how do you not meet your hero when it is yourself?
In fifty years, an up-and-coming director is gonna remake this at Universal/Paramount/WB and call it “Steven” or “The Spielbergs”…
I would 1000x rather watch a straightforward Spielberg biopic. It’s so clearly autobiographical that fictionalizing it comes off as disingenuous. I wouldn’t even care if it were a Spielberg biopic made by Spielberg; that would still seem less onanistic than this.