Casting his upcoming semi-autobiographical movie The Fabelmans was not without its pressures for Steven Spielberg, but choosing The Batman actor Paul Dano to play a character based on his own father didn’t take more than ten minutes.
Dano’s audition happened over Zoom, Spielberg told The Hollywood Reporter. “There was something so evocative of my dad. Ten minutes after the Zoom, I was choking. I was holding back my emotion,” the director confessed.
Spielberg asked Dano to audition based on what he had heard from industry friends about his off-screen demeanor, which he thought would capture his father’s “quiet decency.”
The connection happened on both sides, with the 38-year-old actor’s heart “leaping” as he heard Spielberg describe the film. “I just could see it,” he shared.
Dano confessed to feeling unusually nervous before the meeting, even ditching his glasses for contact lenses, which he almost never does, and shaving. “I was like, ‘I’ve got to look good,’” the actor said. Once the audition started, however, “everything went calm.”
Spielberg’s “familiarity” with Dano, and Michelle Williams, who plays the protagonist’s mother, led him to finally cast the two as the fictional versions of his parents.
The Fabelmans is a retelling of the director’s own childhood where he discovered his love for filmmaking, and honors his family’s memories. Spielberg’s sisters, Anne, Sue, and Nancy were heavily involved in the process.
Gabriel LaBelle plays Sammy Fabelman, who is inspired by Spielberg himself. Spielberg directed, and co-wrote the film with Tony Kushner.
The Fabelmans arrives in theaters on Nov. 11.