The Fablemans trivia: Lesser-known facts about the Steven Spielberg film The Fablemans

The Fablemans is a semi-autobiographical film based on the life of acclaimed filmmaker Steven Spielberg. Helmed by Speilberg himself, the film narrates the story of a young Sammy Fableman, who uses films as a means to navigate the challenges in his life in post-World War II Arizona. The film received seven Academy Award nominations this year, and it is our pick for today’s Now You Know. Here’s exploring some of its lesser-known facts about The Fablemans.

1. To create a level of authenticity for the film, the cast and crew were provided with access to Spielberg’s home movies, photos, and Spielberg’s own accounts of incidents from his past concerning his family. Actor Paul Dano, who plays Burt Fableman, a fictionised version of Spielberg’s father Arnold, said, “It was overwhelming and it was sort of a heavy cloak to bear because we were with someone who was having a big experience every day, revisiting and reworking through a part of their life. For somebody like Steven to share that much of himself with us, with the audience too, it was really a profound experience.”
2. Much of the film revolves around a young Sammy Fableman creating short films with 8mm film. Spielberg opted to have the character Sammy re-create the same films as the ones Spielberg created during his childhood. Spielberg and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski went to great lengths to capture these scenes with great authenticity but with certain improvements to the camera angles from the original. The war-based short film Escape to Nowhere, which had one of Speilberg’s high-school bullies in the lead, was among the films that were recreated in The Fablemans.
3. Actor Seth Rogen claimed that Spielberg would often get very emotional while filming certain scenes. He also added that after filming a particular scene he would ask Speilberg whether the scene happened in real life, and the answer would always be ‘yes’.
4. The film has reportedly been in the works for decades, but it wasn't until the Covid pandemic that Spielberg and co-writer Tony Kushner decided to work on a screenplay from scratch. The script was completed in two months despite both writers working remotely from separate locations.
5. To play the role of Mitzi Schildkraut-Fabelman, the fictionalised version of Speilberg’s mother Leah Adler, Spielberg’s only choice was Michelle Williams after watching her performance in the critically-acclaimed film Blue Valentine. And the jewellery that Williams wore in the film as Mitzi actually belonged to Leah Adler, which includes a charm bracelet containing the pictures of all four of Leah’s children.
6. Paul Dano is arguably one of the most revered actors today, best-known for his outstanding performances in There Will Be Blood, Little Miss Sunshine, Prisoners, and The Batman. In order to better understand his character and elevate his performance in The Fablemans, he ordered and built a crystal radio. This was Dano’s attempt to gain a better understanding of Speilberg’s father Arnold, who used to work with electronics. Dano plays the role of Burt Fabelman, a fictionalised version of Arnold. Furthermore, Dano’s final scene was shot on the anniversary of Arnold’s passing.

Well that's the OTTplay Now You Know episode for today, until the next time it's your host Nikhil signing out.

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• Written by Ryan Gomez