Gabriel LaBelle: ​“Spielberg didn’t want an impersonation”

“I would love some fizzy water!” says Gabriel LaBelle with all the effervescence of your favourite (non-alcoholic) seltzer.

The actor is positively bouncing in his seat, in a central London hotel favoured by many a Big Hollywood Film on promotional manoeuvres. How’s the Canadian, who turned 20 in September, finding his first international press tour-slash-awards season as a leading man?

“If you’re just honest and having conversations and trying to be personable – which I have no problem with – it’s just a matter of protecting your energy. So, get good sleeps, don’t drink so much and try to take naps!”

When it came to casting, well, himself in autobiographical saga The Fabelmans, it’s not difficult to see what Steven Spielberg, king of the family-friendly blockbuster, saw in the peppy then-teenager from Vancouver. Personable to a fault, LaBelle is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (and ‑haired). He loves movies. Having moved to Los Angeles a year ago, his interests outside ​“the business” are, it seems, negligible. He really loves movies.

And in The Fabelmans – the factually correct origin story of the moving image-loving kid who’d grow up to be a director with the filmography responsible for the largest box-office take in history – LaBelle gets to channel all of that.

In Spielberg’s (obviously) most personal film to date, LaBelle is Sammy Fabelman, teenage son of Mitzi and Burt Fabelman (Michelle Williams and Paul Dano) in 1950s America. Rarely without an 8mm camera in his hand, he enlists his Boy Scout troop to help him shoot Westerns, document family gatherings and, eventually, film his school’s end-of-term beach jolly. But along the way, his all-seeing-eye also catches something else: the secret relationship between his mum and ​“uncle” Bennie (Seth Rogen).

The Fabelmans is a beautiful, artfully foreshadowing tale, both a coming-of-age and a coming-of-talent. It’s a fable, man, but with truth and sincerity at its heart. A lot, then, for a young actor to convey. Especially as he’d be doing so in front of a camera wielded by the maestro whose memories he was incarnating.

From the off, though, Spielberg ensured his young star that he wasn’t looking for an impersonation of young ​“Steve”.

“No, he said that in the first meeting,” affirms LaBelle, who beat 2000 boys to the role, despite having an acting CV that was, with the best will in the world, light. ​“Other than that, he had no words. I thought he was going to sit down and give me his diary from when he was seven and go, ​‘this happened, this happened, and this is me…’”

LaBelle shakes his head.

“None of that. So I had to kind of track him down and understand what story it was that he wanted to tell: about his parents and his siblings, what it was like for him growing up, the experiences he had. How much of this really happened? Oh, all of it happened? OK, what happened in between those scenes that you don’t see in the film?

“Emotionally, I wanted to just nail it [so] that he could get everything out of this story that he needed to.”

Physically, however, LaBelle went to town. ​“I wanted to walk like him, smile like him. His smile covers less of his teeth than mine does, so how do I manipulate those muscles in my face? Makeup and hair does a lot to make me look like him. But behaviourally, nobody knows what he was like 60 years ago. So there’s the freedom that, oh, I’m Sammy Fabelman and not Steven Spielberg.

“Today his energy and how he walks is all in his hips,” he continues. ​“His head is down, he’s confident and he has a swagger. But back then all the energy was in his chest – walk up straight, tuck your shirt in, chest out, shoulders back, hair combed: an American man, presentable.”

But for the teenage Sammy, that was all an act. ​“So you want to honour the script and his stories, but then you can just do with that what you want.”

Now, though, let’s honour LaBelle’s own origin story…

The film, TV show or actor that made me want to get into acting…

My dad’s an actor. So, growing up, it was never this far-fetched thing. It was just: oh yeah, if dad’s on screen, I can do that. But I wanted to get into acting ​’cause there was a theatre camp in my neighbourhood. I was the youngest; the age was nine to 18, and I was eight. I made sure that I met the director of the camp, and he made an exception to let me in. You have all these older girls playing with your hair and treating you like a normal guy. That’s just the best.

The first time I performed on stage was…

I was eight, almost nine, around 2011. At the Kay Meek [Arts Centre] in West Vancouver, we did Footloose. I had the small role of… Oh God, what was his name? Dougie or something. He had a few lines here and there, but he was mostly ensemble. [Sings] ​“Cut loose, footloose!” A big musical with dancing and singing – that was a lot of fun.

My most embarrassing audition moment was…

For Riverdale. There was a scene where the character is emotional. But I do it and it’s totally flat. And then they’re like: ​“OK, thank you.” ​“I can do it again!” ​“No, it’s alright.” I’m like [crushed]: ​“OK…” And that was it: ​“Shit, I guess I’m done…”

The most awkward thing that’s happened to me on set…

On The Fabelmans, you’re working with these masters. I’ve done these [acting jobs] as a kid but I hadn’t taken it so seriously. Now [I’m on set] and I was born the year that [Spielberg’s Leonardo DiCaprio/​Tom Hanks yarn] Catch Me If You Can came out! These guys worked on Saving Private Ryan and Indiana Jones and ET – and Lincoln! They watched Daniel Day-Lewis act for four months! Now I’m showing up, and there’s that uncertainty. It’s definitely hard to feel a part of it all.

The biggest lie I’ve ever told to get a part…

I don’t think I’ve ever lied to get a part. It never made sense for me. ​“Are you a trained singer?” ​“Yeah!” ​“Then sing for me.” ​“Oh…” That would embarrass me too much.

One item I always have in my trailer is…

My journal. My script. Coffee. My phone to play music off of. I’ve been listening to a lot of Paul McCartney solo stuff. So I play Ram over and over again. I love Wings – I was listening to Band On The Run last night. And it’s funny: I’m here in London with Paul Dano and Michelle Williams. Two nights ago, I’m in the hotel room, I’m scrolling the channels, and Love & Mercy is on, the Brian Wilson story [that stars Dano]. After that, I’m like: I gotta listen to Pet Sounds again!

The best thing I’ve stolen from a set is…

One of the 8mm cameras I used on The Fabelmans. Then they also gifted me with cameras. But yeah… I wouldn’t say I stole it. I would say they never asked for it back.

When I’m not acting, I’m…

So much of my life is about acting. But I guess on my days off, when I really have nothing to do, I’ll go to the gym. I’ll hang out with some friends. I’ll walk and get coffee. I’ll try to journal. I’ll call home. I’ll try to keep myself busy. But I’m still kind of figuring that out.

One thing people get wrong about Hollywood is…

People often assume that a movie like one of Steven Spielberg’s calibre is made by a group of men with suits at a round table, thinking: how do we make money today? But what I was so pleasantly surprised to learn about Steven is that he’s just holding a camera, and [working] with his friends, who produce and write and shoot it. It’s just him with a camera, no different than when he was 12. There’s just more people involved. It’s the same level of passion and creativity.

There’s a dehumanisation that happens to people of that calibre and skill and talent. You forget that they’re deeply feeling individuals. The idea of celebrity almost loses its lustre. As you meet these people, you start empathising with them. I think people forget to humanise celebrities.

The most starstruck I’ve been on a job was…

I had a small part in the Predator movie when I was 14. And Keegan Michael Key’s in that. We never had any scenes together. But we were on set for, I think, 20 minutes at the same time. He’s rehearsing a scene and – even though you should not do this – because I was 14, I thought I could get away with it. I ran up to him and was like: ​“Ohmygod, Key and Peele!” And he’s like: ​“Thank you for watching!” And I’ve actually seen him on this [tour]. We were at a party, and there’s a photo of Keegan Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Steven Spielberg and myself. Key and Peele is huge for me, so that was a big deal.

My most Hollywood’s diva moment was…

On a set, actors are really catered to. They’re treated so much better than everybody else. They’re given a trailer, people get things for them, they’re driven to and from set. You’re pampered. And when you’re exposed to that so much you expect it.

There was one time on Fabelmans where somebody said: ​“Can I get you anything?” And I’m like: ​“Yeah, can I get a protein bar and a banana, please?” They come back with a banana. I don’t say anything. But in that one moment, I’m stressed and I’m exhausted and other things are going on, and I’m thinking: ​“Where’s my goddamn protein bar?” Then I had to stop myself. She doesn’t have to do anything for me, what am I thinking? That would be the most diva moment, where I was so disappointed and angry with myself.

My dream role is…

I don’t know if anybody’s writing it, but I would love to play Terry Fox. He’s this big Canadian icon. When he was about 21, he had a goal to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. He had cancer, and his leg was amputated. But he ran halfway around Canada with one leg before he died of cancer. And every year that organisation raises hundreds of millions of dollars.

Every elementary school in Canada does the Terry Fox Run annually. And there’s this thing, a ​“Toonie for Terry”, which is a $2 coin, that every kid would bring in once a year. There’s statues of him all over Canada. I think I kinda look like him. I got curly hair, I’m around his age. So I’d be into playing that.

My favourite costume I’ve had to wear for a role was…

I did a television show called American Gigolo, where I played the younger version of Jon Bernthal’s character. It was pretty nuts. I’m a kid who has been sexually abused for a very long time, who’s being trafficked into the sex industry, who’s being manipulated to the max. And they had me in this rave outfit: I have beads and glowsticks and a pacifier. Yeah, it was a weird show!

The Fabelmans is in cinemas from 27th January.