NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� In both Steven Spielberg鈥檚 and Kelly Reichardt鈥檚 upcoming 鈥淪howing Up,鈥� Michelle Williams plays women where life 鈥� societal hurdles and daily nuisances 鈥� gets in the way of self-expression.
Mitzi Fabelman, the early-1960s matriarch based on Spielberg鈥檚 own mother, has given up her career as a talented concert pianist to raise a family. It鈥檚 a sacrifice that haunts her. It鈥檚 also a gift that radiates from her.
鈥淚 think of her as the piano that she loved so much,鈥� Williams says. 鈥淭hat range was inside of her. That musicality. That emotional dexterity. That was her art. That music flowed through her, and it affected how deeply she could feel. She was the tornado that she drove into.鈥�
As an actor, Williams has, herself, steered straight into some indelibly tempestuous characters: the romantic of Marilyn Monroe in the anguished ex-wife of But if there was ever a role that showed the extent of Williams鈥� remarkable range 鈥� her every-note-on-the-piano 鈥渆motional dexterity鈥� 鈥� it鈥檚 Mitzi.
The fictionalized but autobiographical film, currently playing in theaters, centers on Spielberg鈥檚 coming of age as a filmmaker. But Mitzi is the film鈥檚 aching soul. At turns despondent, playful and ebullient, Mitzi鈥檚 moods swing with a quicksilver melancholy, caught between undying devotion to her children and a stifling of her dreams. In many ways, she gives them to her son. It鈥檚 Mitzi who gifts young Sammy/Spielberg his first movie camera. 鈥淢ovies are dreams that you never forget,鈥� she tells him at his first trip to the cinema.
How life filters into work is deeply embedded in Williams鈥� emotional life as an actor, one drawn from wellsprings of personal memory and illuminated by the kind of metamorphosis Mitzi was denied. How the two relate was on her mind as she spoke in a recent interview by Zoom from her home in Brooklyn. Occasionally, Williams鈥� newborn, her third child and second with her husband, the theater director Thomas Kail, stirred in the next room. Balancing a baby and a big new movie can be head-spinning. At where she received a tribute award, Williams stood stunned at the podium: 鈥淲hat is happening? I shouldn鈥檛 even be out of the house. I just had a baby.鈥�
But it may be just the start. Williams鈥� performance in 鈥淭he Fabelmans鈥� 鈥� luminous, enthrallingly theatrical, delicately heartbreaking 鈥� is widely expected to land Williams her fifth Academy Award nomination. It鈥檚 an honor the 42-year-old is yet to win, a shutout that looks increasingly like some mistake.
But what pushes an actor like Williams -- one of such interior intensity that she hasn鈥檛 watched her work in more than a decade -- is closer to her character in 鈥淪howing Up.鈥� In it, Williams plays a sculptor of modest human figures, with little hope of attracting a wide audience. The role is almost antithetical to Mitzi; Williams鈥� character, Lizzy, is solitary and less expressive. Her handmade artwork, crafted in between endless interruptions, is about the opposite of something as big and glitzy as a Spielberg production. But she鈥檚 compelled, regardless.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 that way for everybody,鈥� says Williams. 鈥淵ou never know if what you鈥檙e doing is going to be of any interest to anybody but yourself.鈥�
Is it true for Williams, too?
鈥淎b-so-lutely,鈥� she answers.
MINING SPIELBERG鈥橲 MEMORIES
Spielberg鈥檚 mother, Leah Adler, died at the age of 97 in 2017. His father, Arnold Spielberg, passed away in 2020 at 103. Making 鈥淭he Fabelmans,鈥� , became a way to memorialize the two most influential figures of his life.
In preparation, Spielberg 鈥� who had Williams cast in his mind a decade earlier after seeing 鈥淏lue Valentine鈥� 鈥� gave her copious amounts of home movies and photographs of his mother to comb through. Williams' impressions thoroughly informed her interpretation of Mitzi.
鈥淭he resonant information that this woman transmitted through a photograph was enough for me to work with, to embody her,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how strong her spirit was. You could catch it in a frozen image taken 60 years ago.鈥�
But there was also something that Spielberg, who grew up with three sisters, told Williams about his mom that struck her. He said: 鈥淲e were more like playmates.鈥�
鈥淭hey got into mischief together. They got into fun,鈥� Williams says. 鈥淎nd I鈥檒l tell you this: None of her children seem to resent her for it. I think they thought they had a pretty great childhood. They had fun together. How often do we let ourselves really play with our children? What do our children want to do with us? Play! She was Peter Pan.鈥�
It's an aspect of Mitzi that may not be terribly far from Williams, herself. It's how she hopes she raised her first daughter, from her relationship with Heath Ledger.
鈥淚 love, in that small window of time, to invest as much magic as possible. I do think that childhood is a place where we can generate creative work from for the rest of our lives,鈥� says Williams. 鈥淚鈥檝e always felt very protective of my daughter鈥檚 childhood. Now as I embark on two more childhoods, I can see that because I know what it meant for me.
鈥淚 grew up in Montana. I grew up riding horses bareback. I grew up adventuring. I grew up unsupervised. I grew up wandering through natural environments. That wilderness is maybe the best part of me," says Williams. "The desire to feel free and exploratory and like a natural being, like a human animal, is something that I seek out over and over again in my life.鈥�
MITZI'S CHOICE
The pivotal event of 鈥淭he Fabelmans鈥� comes when Mitzi reluctantly leaves her husband (played by Paul Dano) for his best friend (Seth Rogen). It鈥檚 a defining moment for Sammy, wrapped up in his own dawning realization of the power of cinema to capture, shape and distort reality. For Mitzi, it鈥檚 a desperate stab at self-preservation.
鈥淚 thought she already suffered a near-death experience. When she gave up her dream of being a concert pianist, she experienced what it鈥檚 like for part of you to die,鈥� says Williams. 鈥淪o when she鈥檚 faced with another near-death experience 鈥� Do I stay in this marriage or do I allow myself to go where my heart is leading? 鈥� she knows that she can鈥檛 die again. There will be nothing left of her."
For Kushner, whose plays fuse domestic life with political currents, Mitzi is a mid-century woman only fitfully experiencing more modern freedoms. He and Williams spoke about the uncertainty and pain of her choice.
鈥淲hat is this thing in her that allows her to make this decision? Is it her artistry? Is it bravery? Is it how big her emotions are? What allowed this woman to stake a claim on her life like this?鈥� says Williams. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know but I do think it鈥檚 what鈥檚 allowed her children to do the same thing, to stake a claim on their own lives. That, I think, is one of the greatest gifts that you give to your kids, showing them how they can be a full person."
LETTING GO
Williams' favorite thing to hear on the set was Spielberg behind the monitor saying, 鈥淚 have an idea.鈥� In one especially vivid scene during a campout, Mitzi dances in the headlights of a parked car, swaying to a melody seemingly just out of reach. Spielberg had many impromptu ideas shooting that scene. Williams, coming off Gwen Verdon in the miniseries 鈥淔osse/Verdon," channeled a dancer's composure to give Spielberg as many options as possible. 鈥淢itzi wasn't a dancer per se, but she carried herself like one,鈥� she says.
Such moments making 鈥淭he Fabelmans," Williams says, were so intoxicating that she wanted to 鈥渆at the air鈥� on set. When Williams was 12, she decided she wanted to be an actress after seeing not just a play on stage but 鈥渢he whole beehive behind." 鈥淚 wanted to be inside of a family,鈥� she says. After finding that on 鈥淭he Fabelmans,鈥� letting go of Mitzi wasn't easy.
鈥淚t's hard to let them go. It鈥檚 sad to let them go. You鈥檝e spent so much time, to exclusion of other things and people in your life, with them,鈥� Williams says. 鈥淚 can allow it to be a slow process of letting go of them. And I can try to cling to the couple or maybe many things that they have taught me. You can鈥檛 help but be affected by their spirit as it鈥檚 been residing with you. She certainly was a huge loss for me. I hit the floor when this movie was over. I cried in a way that caught me by surprise.鈥�
But there are parts of Mitzi living, still, with Williams.
鈥淐oming up on the holidays, isn鈥檛 a camera the perfect gift for every child this year?" she says, smiling. "That鈥檚 what my kids are getting.鈥�
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Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
