Playing in the young Steven Spielberg was nerve-racking. The Fabelmans, the director’s semi-autobiographical movie base on his own family and upbringing. For starters, star Gabriel LaBelle said during an appearance at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles awards-season event that he never actually sat down with the director to get the 411 on what Spielberg was like as a young kid.
“He didn’t really tell me anything. That made me nervous. He didn’t sit down and say ‘when I was 5….’”LaBelle was recalled as having been joined by Judd Hirsch onstage at DGA Theater, where he played Uncle Boris in the Universal Pictures/Amblin film. “I had to track him down.”
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Hirsch stated that it was actually a testimony to the trust Spielberg placed in his cast, which included Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, and Seth Rogen. “He doesn’t rehearse. It’s not going to be, ‘How do I play it?’ before filming,” explained Hirsch. “Steven is confident in the people he cast. We didn’t have real direction in how well to play the part. He (LaBelle) was Steven and I was that crazy man.”
The Fabelmans centers on a young man’s discovery of a shattering family secret and an exploration of the power of movies to help us see the truth about each other and ourselves. Neben LaBelle and Hirsch, Williams and Dano, Rogen, star the movie’s Jeannie Berlin and Julia Butters. Robin Bartlett, Keeley Karsten, and Robin Bartlett are also featured. It was written and directed by Spielberg and Tony Kushner.
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Hirsch and LaBelle both recalled how they met Spielberg in the course of the panel discussion. LaBelle auditioned via Zoom during the height of the pandemic and didn’t really know until much later he was being asked to play the director. Hirsch received a message from someone named Hirsch. “SS”I wanted to speak with him.
“I said [to his agent] find out who SS is,” Hirsch recalled. “Is it some sort of secret? It felt like a crime show.”
It wasn’t the first time Hirsch had met Spielberg. Hirsch recalled meeting Spielberg years ago, when he was just beginning his career.. “I was told he’s gonna be very big. He was a little guy. I met him when he was 24 years old with Jaws on his desk.”
The panel video will be available Monday.