Imagine making a movie about your own young life and stepping into a perfect replica of your childhood home, complete with the decorations, knick-knacks, toys, and photos that made it exactly your family’s. Then imagine turning around in that home-like set, and seeing two people dressed and styled to look exactly like your parents from when you were a child. That would be a lot to process, and it certainly was for Steven Spielberg when he made the film The Fabelmans last year.
In a recent interview with W Magazine, Spielberg set the scene, saying:
“We re-created the house I grew up in from blueprints and photographs, and we matched it exactly. I stepped into my childhood home! I wanted to ask everyone to leave me alone in the house, but I didn’t do that. I wanted to have a good cry, but I didn’t want to cry in front of my entire crew and cast on the first day of interior shooting. Instead, I turned around, and there was Paul [Dano] looking like my dad and Michelle [Williams] looking like my mom, and I just broke down. Paul and Michelle came over and hugged me, and I will never forget that moment: The family was forged in those few seconds.”
Just that description alone is a tearjerker! I’m so glad that Steven Spielberg was able to make this labor of love. It was an homage to his life, the real, beautiful, and complicated stuff, and to the art of filmmaking.