As viewers gear up for the upcoming Blu-ray release of Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical The Fabelmans, Entertainment Weekly has revealed a sneak peek at one of the film’s bonus features, which offers an inside look at the inspiration behind the characters. The featurette, which will be available for audiences to see on the official Blu-ray release, showcases a behind-the-scenes look at the production of the film, with Spielberg providing insight into how Paul Dano and Michelle Williams got into character to play Burt and Mitzi Fabelman.
“I provided both actors with what I consider to be a treasure trove of personal memories for me, not knowing whether those memories would have any kind of personal connection with either Paul or Michelle,” Spielberg said in the bonus feature. “And histories of what my dad did as a computer scientist and what my mom did as a homemaker and a concert pianist.” Taking inspiration from actual footage of Spielberg’s family likely contributed to the compelling performances from the cast of the film, which offered a genuine and emotionally engaging comradery.
Alongside showcasing behind-the-scenes footage from the production of the film, the featurette also provides real-life footage of Spielberg’s parents, which helped channel the actors into their performances. “One of the first tapes I listened to of Arnold [Spielberg]— I’m going to paraphrase now — but he says something like, ‘Electronics was a way of life for me,'” Dano, who plays Burt Fabelman, further adds in the bonus feature. “And so right there, it was like, ‘Okay, this guy is an engineer to his core.’ He was a computer engineer. That’s in every fiber of him, since he was a kid building radios, so I immediately started to get in touch with that part of myself or that part of him.”
