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The film was a deeply personal project for Spielberg.

This week saw the premiere of veteran filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s latest production, The Fabelmans, a fictionalized retelling of his own life, his relationship with his family, and how he got his start in the film production industry. According to the cast and crew that Spielberg assembled for this film, Fabelmans was a deeply personal project for him, and they were honored to contribute.

“It took me a minute to realize what he was asking,” Michelle Williams, who plays a fictionalized version of Spielberg’s mother, told The Hollywood Reporter about getting the call. “It’s still taking me a minute to realize where I am and what’s happening, it’s pretty dreamy.”

“I have friends who have worked with Steven Spielberg and it’s been surreal for everyone I know, but also, the added layer of it being such a deeply personal film, it was something that was not lost on anybody,” said Seth Rogen, who plays a friend of Spielberg’s family. “There was a point that I went up to Michelle and was like, ‘You’ve worked with Scorsese, does this seem different than that?’ And she’s like, ‘Oh this is way different. This is a singular experience.’ Which I was glad she verified my feeling that that’s what was happening.”

Seth Rogen on Emotional Filming of Steven Spielberg's 'The Fabelmans’: "I Saw Him Cry Dozens of Times" https://t.co/t4gLVJhceA

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) November 7, 2022

“He would cry a lot, openly,” Rogen added about 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.”

The Fabelmans is slated to hit theaters on November 11.