Michelle Williams on her Oscar-nominated turn in 'The Fabelmans', playing Spielberg's mother

Record ID: 1708848

  • Title: Michelle Williams on her Oscar-nominated turn in 'The Fabelmans', playing Spielberg's mother
  • Date: 25th January 2023
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JANUARY 20, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, MICHELLE WILLIAMS, SAYING: "Very high energy. Very high energy! Honestly, it was a beautiful thing to inhabit for a period of time. I loved being her. I loved sort of burning that brightly and having that much to give, to the point I really missed her when she was gone, when it was al
  • Embargoed: 8th February 2023 14:12
  • Keywords: Leah Adler Michelle Williams Michelle Williams Oscar Michelle Williams the Fabelmans Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg mom Steven Spielberg movie The Fabelmans The Fabelmans film
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: UK
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Film
  • Reuters ID: LVA004503825012023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Michelle Williams won critical acclaim for her performance in Steven Spielberg's autobiographical coming-of-age drama, "The Fabelmans", and her portrayal of the director's mother secured her a best actress Oscar nomination on Tuesday (January 24).
    Co-written by Spielberg and Tony Kushner, the movie is set in the 1950s and 60s and follows the fictional character Sammy Fabelman, based on Spielberg as a young man, as he falls in love with the moving pictures and discovers a family secret that changes the way he views the world.
    Williams and Paul Dano play Sammy's mother Mitzi and father Burt, inspired by Spielberg's parents, the late Leah Adler and Arnold Spielberg.
    In an interview with Reuters on Friday (January 20), Williams spoke about the movie, her performance and the awards season.
    The actor, 42, described the role as "very high energy" and said both Mitzi and Adler resonated with her as a mother and an artist.
    "She was an incredible pianist, could have been a concert pianist, could have travelled the world. But she used all of that energy and she put it into her family and she made her family this huge creative act. She made their childhoods so full of imagination and whimsy and play and joy and fun," Williams said of Adler.
    "It was a beautiful thing to inhabit for a period of time. I loved being her. I loved burning that brightly and having that much to give, to the point I really missed her... when it was all over," she said of the role.
    According to Williams and her co-stars, Spielberg got emotional on set, particularly when seeing Williams and Dano in character.
    "It's such an interesting moment because here's this man in front of you weeping because he's so moved to see the presence of his parents again, which is really why he made the movie, because he loved them so much and he wanted to bring them back and honour them and tell their story.
    "So your heart goes out to him because he's emotional, but also inside, as an actor, you're thinking 'oh, thank God, like, it's working. We're on the right track'."
    Williams, who has been acting since she was young and made her feature film debut in "Lassie" in 1994, said the recognition her performance and the film was getting was "rewarding".
    "You make your work because you want people to see it and you want them to connect to it and so when something connects like this, it's really rewarding," she said.
    "The Fabelmans", which received its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, began its global theatrical rollout in late December 2022.
    The winners of this year's Oscars, the industry's highest honours, will be unveiled at a March 12.
    (Production: Hanna Rantala)
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