His costars have all marveled at it, but LaBelle demurs at the compliment.
“Showing up on set, the last thing I felt is confident,” he tells EW.
“If it appeared that I was like that, then I guess I was doing my job well.
Michael Kovac/Getty Images
But I don’t know.
It must have just been the preparation.
And the time I spent with Steven.”
Paul Dano and Michelle Williams in Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Fabelmans.'.Merie Weismiller Wallace/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment
Securing an agent as a teenager, he worked on indie films and minor roles on Canadian television.
He was all set to attend drama school at Concordia University before chasing his Hollywood dream.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Star Gabriel LaBelle and director Steven Spielberg on the set of ‘The Fabelmans’.Merie Weismiller Wallace/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment
“It was intimidating,” he admits.
It went better than expected.
I performed in a way I felt that I hadn’t done before.
Ari + Louise
And Steven and I had a great conversation.
I felt like I made an incredible impression.
I left the audition for the final callback thinking, ‘You know what?
If it’s not this one, it’s this next one.’
The next day I got a call from my agent that I got it."
“But this coach would tell me, ‘Gabe, stop coming unprepared.
You’re not somebody who can just say it and be good.
You’re only good if you prepare and if you show up ready.’
That was a real moment for me of understanding what preparation is.”
That carried over to the role once LaBelle knew what it was.
“To remind myself of the artist that he is.
I couldn’t get through all of his movies in that week.
That was essential in giving LaBelle the grounding he needed to dive in.
He continues: “Everything that happens to Sammy has really happened to Steven.
But on set, he would say that it’smyjob.
On set, we don’t talk about it.
Fittingly, one of LaBelle’s main resources was home movie footage of Spielberg and his family.
“I could feel the dynamic,” he says.
I could see how he smiled, and I could change how I smile to look like him.”
But more important than learning to imitate any physical attributes was learning Spielberg’s own craft.
It’s such time-consuming manual labor,” he reflects.
“Steven started doing that when he was incredibly young.
I got to key into that just by doing it.”
Any scenes where we see Sammy filming with a camera in the movie, it’s the real deal.
It was both a technically and emotionally demanding scene.
“That day was a little tricky,” LaBelle says with a laugh.
“They all started seeing success in their late teens, early 20s,” LaBelle muses.
“So, I felt very connected to them.
I felt like they understood where I was.
That sense of respect and admiration extended to every facet of the production.
“I was in awe every single time I stepped on set,” LaBelle says.
“I got insight into what it takes to make a movie in all departments.
Steven only works with the best of the best in every department.
That’s why his movies are so successful.
Not only is he the best of the best, but he surrounds himself with those people.
They all work incredibly hard, and they’re all incredibly passionate.
Now, a lot of times, it is.
But for somebody to make beautiful art, it’s created by people who really care.
That’s all I witnessed on the set.”
Next up, LaBelle will star inThe Snack Shack,a coming-of-age dramedy from writer-director Adam Rehmeier.
And after that, well, our guess is as good as his.
