One of the 2023 Oscar favorites, The Fabelmans is not only directed and produced by Steven Spielberg; it is a free adaptation of his own youth and beginnings as a filmmaker. As a result, the director had to find actors who would take him back to his childhood days, while the cast faced the notsoeasy challenge of playing relatives of a Hollywood icon all under his own command!
“When I started thinking about who could play my mom and dad, a few people immediately came to mind. One of them was Michelle Williams,” Spielberg says in a video he received firsthand from The Fabelmans tangerine (see below).
In the clip, the filmmaker explains why the Dawson’s Creek (19982003) and Brokeback Mountain (2005) actress was the ideal person to play pianist Mitzi, based on the director’s mother, Leah Adler (19202017) : “Your style was very familiar to me.” Michelle, who already has four Oscar nominations the most recent for Manchester by the Sea (2016) was set to receive her fifth this year.
The star was blown away by what she saw of Leah Adler preparing for The Fabelmans. “She was very elegant, very confident. I would never want to be without the exuberance and courage with which she lived,” says Michelle. The character, a lover of the arts, is one of the greatest encouragers of Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle), Spielberg’s fictional version, to pursue a career in cinema.
The role of the film’s patriarch fell to Paul Dano, who lived the Riddler in Batman (2022) and has modern classics like Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Blood Black (2007) and 12 Years a Slave (2013) on his resume. “I was a huge admirer of Paul’s immersion in his roles. And I expected the same thing to happen to my dad,” Spielberg said.
The electrical engineer Arnold Spielberg (19172020) becomes Burt Fabelman in the feature film. The character is a technology enthusiast and plays an important role in young Sammy’s access to camcorders and home video editing equipment. “On one of the first tapes I heard Arnold say, ‘Electronics is a way of life for me.’ So at the time I was trying to connect to that part of me or him,” Dano explains.
The most complicated cast of Os Fabelmans for Spielberg was of course himself or rather Sammy Fabelman. “It was difficult because it made me ask myself, ‘Do you really know yourself well?'” teases the filmmaker. Gabriel LaBelle, the chosen one, had only acted in deadpan feature films or had small roles in larger productions such as The Predator (2018). After being cast, he joined the cast of the American Gigolo series.
And if Spielberg had trouble finding an actor to play him, LaBelle also had such a challenge bringing the world’s most famous film director to life. To facilitate his work, he was freed from the temptation to parody the filmmaker’s way of speaking and acting. “He has made it clear that he does not want to be imitated. The story speaks for itself, so he let me act freely,” says the 20yearold.
The Fabelmans cast also includes Seth Rogen (Bennie), Jeannie Berlin (Hadassah), Julia Butters (Reggie), Robin Bartlett (Tina), Keeley Karsten (Natalie), Sophia Kopera (Lisa) and veteran Judd Hirsch (Uncle Boris) , nominated for an Academy Award for People Like Us (1980) and rated highly to be nominated again. Production begins next Thursday (12) in Brazilian cinemas. Check out the exclusive video from tangerine:
The Fabelmans: The Casting
Spielberg and actors from the feature film discuss the process of bringing the filmmaker’s life to the screen