EXTRA EMOTIONAL! Steven Spielberg 'burst into tears' to see Michelle Williams and Paul Dano as his parents in 'The Fablemans'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: In an interview on Thursday's episode of 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert', Academy Award-winning director Stven Spielberg described how a seemingly ordinary first day of production ended up being emotionally difficult.
In conversation with Stephen Colbert, Spielberg recalled the first time he saw Michelle Williams and Paul Dano dressed up together as his parents on the sets of 'The Fabelmans' .The Academy Award-nominated movie is based on Spielberg's upbringing as a budding filmmaker. In the course of the story, Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) learns a shocking family secret and uses his love of movies to help others see the truth.
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'I just burst into tears. Just like that'
“Mark Bridges (costume designer) came over to me and said, ‘I’ve got Paul and Michelle here in their hair and makeup and costumes,'” he said, mentioning that he had seen the actors in their costumes separately but not together. “I turned around and there was my father and mother, and I just burst into tears. Just like that, I didn’t even think about it, it just happened.”
Speilberg described how the actors quickly came to his aid. “Michelle ran to me, hugged me. Paul came around the back of me – he’s really tall – hugged me around the shoulders and just held me." He then said, “I had given them [Williams and Dano] speeches long before the first day of shooting. I got all my tears out writing the scripts with Tony Kushner,” Spielberg added. “I’m a professional. [I told them,] ‘Don’t worry about me. You don’t have to take care of me. My job is to take care of you and guide you to giving some great performances.’ And, it wasn’t to be.”
'The Fabelmans' nominated for seven Oscars
The storyline of 'The Fabelmans' recounts the rise of a young, film-obsessed kid as he grows up in Arizona and North Carolina. When his parents took him to see 'The Greatest Show on Earth', the teen fell in love with the movie. To the surprise of his encouraging mother, he continued on and started making his own movies at home. The movie has been nominated in multiple categories at the Oscars, and is likely to win a few. Films like 'ET the Extra-Terrestrial,' 'Schindler's List', 'Saving Private Ryan', 'The Adventures of Tintin', and 'West Side Story' have earned the seasoned director the prized trophy six other times in his career.