Michelle Williams admitted that in independent cinema “she discovered self-love”

He just got his fifth Oscar nomination for one of the most important roles of his life, inspired by the mother of Steven Spielberg in the autobiographical “Los Fabelmans”, but Michelle Williams he is devoted to independent cinema, with which he discovered, he assures, the possibility of “self-esteem”.

Williams does not know, nor does she want to know, why the director thought of her to put himself in the shoes of Mitzi Fabelman, an eccentric family mother with a vocation as an artist in the United States of the fifties and sixties, inspired by Leah Adler, the Spielberg’s actual mother.

“I didn’t want to know so as not to narrow my vision of the character”argues the American actress in a meeting with a small number of international media.

But at the same time, he confesses that he soaked up all the details and circumstances of Adler’s life that permeate the character. She must not have done it wrong because Spielberg was moved watching her.

“You have to keep in mind that he was recreating his childhood, his own house, with a great level of precision and detail; for him it was like walking through his past and surrounded by important people who are no longer alive, it is logical to get emotional ”, she explains.

As for herself, she says that she feels that each and every one of the 30 years that she has dedicated herself to acting has been a preparation for this role; among other things, It has allowed her to reflect on the difficulties of combining being a mother -she has three children- and being an artist.

“Any mother can understand that struggle because we all demand a lot from ourselves,” she reasons, but recommends remembering that “who you are as a mother influences who you are at work and vice versa,” and that with a little benevolence, conflict can become “symbiosis”.

The film, which opens in Spain on February 10, combines drama, humor, emotion and a playful spirit and bears the stamp of the creator of “Jaws”, “Indiana Jones”, “ET” or many titles that connected with the inner child of each viewer.

But this time Spielberg narrates his own childhood, his traumas related to a secret that he kept from his mother for a while or the bullying he suffered for being Jewish.; and, in the midst of all this, the discovery of cinema as a tool to control his own fears.

Williams also discovered his calling at a very young age. She made her television debut at the age of 13 and says that filmmaking has taught her not only to broaden her vision of what it means to be human, but also to accept herself.

“Independent cinema revealed to me the possibility of self-love and self-acceptance, because when I saw the characters in Cassavetes’ films, so difficult and challenging and yet so attractive to me, I thought maybe they could give me something of that. same”.

Williams had a hard time leaving behind her facet as a teen idol achieved by her participation in the series “Dawson’s Creek” in the late 1990s. But in 2005 he reached the peak and achieved his first Oscar nomination thanks to “Brokeback mountain”, which was followed by three others for “Blue Valentine”, “My week with Marilyn” and “Manchester by the sea”.

Although her image is often associated with women who suffer and with a turbulent inner life, the truth is that the first films that marked her and made her want to be an actress were musicals such as “The Sound of Music” and “The Wizard of Oz”.

“They attracted me because they seemed to have a good time, that they were happy and I still believe that singing and dancing gives you joy, because when you do it your conscience turns off, to keep up with the rhythm and tone you have to stop thinking, you can’t overanalyze or worry nor distract yourself with other things, and I think that is happiness and life, being in the present moment”.

His next project, directed by Todd Haynes, may bring him that joy as it is a biography of the singer, songwriter and actress Peggy Lee (1920-2002), author of songs like “Fever” or “Whay don’t ‘t you do right”.

(with information from EFE)

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