Steven Spielberg wept on the set of The Fabelmans—a lot—according to Seth Rogen
"I saw him cry dozens of times throughout filming," Seth Rogen says of The Fabelmans director Steven Spielberg
With The Fabelmans, director Steven Spielberg crafts his most personal project yet. The autobiographical film essentially works as a big-budget home movie, offering insight into his childhood and changing family dynamics. The Fabelmans also examines Spielberg’s blossoming interest in film and the art of filmmaking, which was fostered by his parents (played by Paul Dano and Michelle Williams).
Understandably, it’s an emotional project. With his mother passing in 2017 and his father in 2020, Spielberg embarked on recreating them for the screen, along with his sisters, Anne, Nancy, and Sue. The latter three played a pivotal role in crafting the story of their family, looking over every script draft and incorporating their own memories into the tapestry of the film.
Now, Seth Rogen, who plays a family friend in The Fabelmans, opened up about just how emotional the on-set experience was.
“He would cry a lot, openly,” Rogen tells The Hollywood Reporter of Spielberg. “We’d show up on set and he would just see a certain piece of wardrobe or a certain piece of set dec[oration] or everyone coming together to recreate a certain thing. I saw him cry dozens of times throughout filming the movie which was actually very beautiful and I think made everyone want to really honor what he was doing. You saw how much it meant to him and how truthful he was being.”
Part of the production included creating exact replicas of Spielberg’s childhood homes, fit with real items that belonged to his mother and father.
“To come to work every morning and walk on a set that is an exact replica of the house I grew up in created a level of nostalgia verging on grief,” Spielberg says of the experience. “It was a healthy kind of grieving.”
When shooting became emotionally overwhelming for the filmmaker, the actors cast as his mother and father came to his side to comfort him.
“Those were the hard moments,” he says. “Those were the moments where after I said ‘Cut,’ I’d have to leave the set. And inevitably, I’d suddenly see Paul coming around the corner, and he would just grab me and hang onto me. And the same thing with Michelle. She’d see me putting my hands up and say, ‘I need a break.’ And I’d go off, and she’d find me.”
The Fabelmans premieres in theaters on November 11.