(Williams is also mother to Matilda, 16, her daughter with the late Heath Ledger.)
They were accompanied by a sleeping dog, whose human-like snores could be heard over the phone line.
“The kids sleep well and it’s the dog that keeps us up,” she joked.
Merie Weismiller Wallace/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment
WILLIAMS:He opened his family history to me and he opened his heart to me.
He let me get to know her through him.
And the more that I knew her, the more I wanted to know her.
Paul Dano and Michelle Williams in ‘The Fabelmans’.Universal
She was just one of those people whose spirit fills a room.
I miss her still.
I can’t imagine how much he misses her.
But he finds the humanity in her from the point of view of a son who loved her.
They let this woman live in every word of every scene of every page that she is on.
She is having a full-blooded human experience.
She is not limited to her role as his mother.
She’s allowed a full range of expression, even if it’s through his lens.
I think what struck me about her is that she experiences all of these things fully.
I don’t think that she feels a diminishment in her life because she has so many children.
I think she experiences her children fully and individually, and can experience great longing.
I don’t think it was an either/or situation.
I don’t think that the children were keeping her from realizing herself.
And the two things didn’t have to be in conflict with each other.
Which is such a trailblazing way for her to have thought and acted at that time.
She maintained a great passion and love for Steven’s father.
That wasn’t the end of their story, either.
They found each other later in life.
She was just one of those people who could fit it all in.
Speaking of her pets, can you talk about the monkey in the film?
That monkey was incredible.
We are still telling stories about that monkey.
That monkey’s name is Crystal, and Crystal is a mega star, she can do anything.
We were all so reverent around the monkey, everybody.
And Crystal could handle anything.
She taught my baby how to do a high five.
Your character’s relationship to cooking and housekeeping was fraught sometimes.
I think what I really want to take on board is how she didn’t do the dishes.
And she just hated to clean.
She just hated to clean.
And she figured out how not to clean.
There’s a lot to love, there’s a lot to take from it.
Who wants to do dishes and who cares what the table looks like?
Just care who you’re eating with and what the food tastes like.
Was the tablecloth scene an actual move from Steven’s mom?
I think that’s tightly based.
The Fabelmansis in theaters Nov. 11.
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