Growing Up Gabriel LaBelle

Live from Gabriel LaBelle’s apartment in Los Angeles, it’s lunchtiiime!

Only a few years ago, the 22-year-old actor was living in his hometown of Vancouver, unsure of the next steps in his journey after the pandemic interrupted his plans to attend drama school at Concordia University. That all changed in 2021 when he landed his breakout role in Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans.” 

Now, he’s starring as “SNL” maestro Lorne Michaels in Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” which hit theaters earlier this month. The film tracks the chaotic 90 minutes leading up to the 1975 premiere of the series, then called “NBC’s Saturday Night.”

These days, LaBelle is so busy that he has to sneak in meals when he can. “I’m feeling it a bit,” he says over Zoom, chatting between bites of chicken, yogurt, and kiwi. “It’s such a different sense of overstimulation from being on set. There, you have a job to do and you’re focused. But this—physically going to different places, traveling—wears me down faster.”

He’s talking about the tiring promotional push for “Saturday Night,” which comes two years after his first-ever press tour for “The Fabelmans” alongside Spielberg and costars Paul Dano, Michelle Williams, and Seth Rogen. “I had no idea what to do,” LaBelle recalls. “We premiered at TIFF in September, and then you’re doing the whole circuit until the Oscars in March. It was so new and scary.”

Since then, he’s grown more comfortable in his acting abilities. He’s carved out a niche as the go-to for portraying younger versions of film and TV protagonists, including the teen version of Julian Kaye (Jon Bernthal) on Showtime’s “American Gigolo” and now, a 30-year-old Michaels in “Saturday Night.” 

“[I’ve played] a wide-ranging group of Jewish men,” LaBelle, who’s Jewish himself, jokes. “I didn’t expect this to happen; it’s been such a whirlwind. But it’s made me actively grateful for all the blessings, and it’s opened me up to [thinking about] what’s possible moving forward.”

Landing the lead role in “Saturday Night” is the ultimate blessing for an “SNL” diehard who cites legendary alums like Chevy Chase, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Maya Rudolph, and Will Ferrell as some of his biggest influences. 

“My buddy and I would [pretend to be] the Spartan Cheerleaders at recess, and the other kids would have no idea what the fuck we were doing. But we thought it was hilarious,” the actor recalls fondly, citing the iconic Ferrell and Cheri Oteri sketch. “I’ve loved ‘SNL’ and the people involved in it for so long. So getting a chance to be a part of ‘Saturday Night’ really felt like I could give back and thank them for all the ways they’ve shaped my personality.”

LaBelle’s father, Rob, helped spark his son’s passion for performing at an early age; he’s a prolific TV actor who’s appeared on classic series like “Smallville,” “Psych,” and “NYPD Blue.” When the younger LaBelle went to theater camp at the age of 8, he instantly realized that “this is the thing; this is the rest of my life.” 

Three years later, he started taking acting classes and going out on auditions. Before long, he was landing small roles in Vancouver-based productions like “Motive,” “iZombie,” and “The Predator.”

He says that staying in his hometown allowed him to keep living like a regular kid. After graduating high school, LaBelle decamped to Montreal to attend Concordia—until COVID-19 suddenly altered his plans.

“It was the most unhappy I’ve ever been in my life,” he says. He could never have expected that, while stuck at home, he’d be phoning Spielberg.

During quarantine, LaBelle and his father served as each other’s readers on self-tapes. One of the many projects that the young actor put himself up for was an untitled film from Spielberg’s longtime production company Amblin Entertainment. 

“I didn’t find out until after [I submitted my tape] that it was for a movie based on Spielberg’s life,” he recalls. “And then I kept getting these articles that said things like: ‘Paul Dano is attached’; ‘Michelle Williams is also attached’; ‘Seth Rogen has joined the cast.’ And I was like, Fuck! I kept calling, but I heard nothing.”

Months later, LaBelle was summoned for a callback with the casting director; the next day, he and Spielberg spoke over Zoom. “I kicked everyone out of my house so I had no distractions, and I had to sit and meditate for 20 minutes beforehand just so I could have control over my brain,” he says.

“It was the most rewarding acting experience I’d had in my life, because I knew that I nailed what the job was supposed to be. Steven was so lovely, and I left thinking, Wow, I just auditioned for Steven Spielberg, and he liked my stuff. I’m crazy proud of what I just did. And if it’s not this, it’s the next one. It was an acting breakthrough for me; I just felt like there was something spiritual about it. And so to get cast was just like: OK, let’s go!”

LaBelle landed the role of aspiring filmmaker Sammy Fabelman in the writer-director’s semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama. That meant not only leading a Spielberg movie, but essentially playing Spielberg for Spielberg. “I don’t think anything will ever scare me as much as ‘The Fabelmans,’ ” he says. “It’s the greatest education a young actor can get. There’s nothing else like that—to be so young and willing to learn, and to be surrounded by people who are just so open and are terrific examples of how to navigate yourself, both personally and in the business.”

“The Fabelmans” went on to earn seven Oscar nominations, while LaBelle scored rave reviews and a Critics’ Choice Award for best young actor. It was during that long, scary awards campaign that he met another distinguished filmmaker: Reitman. 

The “Juno” and “Up in the Air” director couldn’t help but be drawn to LaBelle. “I met Gabe [when he was] standing next to Steven Spielberg, and [he] held his own standing next to the greatest director alive,” Reitman told the Hollywood Reporter last month. “That was one of the first moments where I went, Wow, this kid has a presence.”

LaBelle laughs at the memory. “Maybe he was expecting me to be a stuttering little kid, but then he was like, Oh, he’s normal. Sick. Socially, I’ve always been pretty adept and confident and personable.”

The two quickly hit it off, and the next day, they bonded over coffee and attended a screening of “American Psycho” together. Reitman mentioned the “Saturday Night” script, which he wrote alongside Gil Kenan, adding that he was trying to meet with as many promising actors as possible. But it wasn’t on LaBelle’s radar that he was in the mix to play Michaels until a conversation with fellow actor Josh Gad. 

Gabriel LaBelle, Kaia Gerber, Cory Michael Smith in “Saturday Night” Credit: Hopper Stone

“Josh was like, ‘Yeah, Jason is thinking of you for Lorne.’ I was like, ‘Lorne? What?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah. It’s a great script, and he’s the heart of the movie.’ ” When LaBelle received official word that Reitman wanted him to audition, he was faced with a decision: go on tape, or fly to New York to read for the role in person. He didn’t hesitate to choose the latter; he’d sleep on his cousin’s couch so he could audition live from New York. “Best $800 I ever spent,” he says. 

LaBelle felt great about his time in the room, especially when Reitman asked him to stick around afterward. Then he walked outside and saw his buddy Cooper Hoffman, who starred in 2021’s “Licorice Pizza.” 

“I’m thinking, Shit, I hope he’s not auditioning for Lorne!” Thankfully, Hoffman was there to try out for the part of John Belushi. Reitman asked the duo to read a scene between Michaels and NBC executive Dick Ebersol on the spot. 

Despite believing they delivered “the worst cold reads ever,” he and Hoffman both got cast in their respective roles. They were joining a deep bench of talented up-and-comers (Matt Wood,
Cory Michael Smith, Ella Hunt) and established actors (Dylan O’Brien, J.K. Simmons, Willem Dafoe) alike. 

“I have never felt so connected to a cast,” LaBelle says. “At the table read, everyone was clapping and cheering for each other. It felt like you’re on a sports team and you’re like, These are the strongest, fastest people alive. And if I don’t keep up, I’m fucked!”

Set on the evening of Oct. 11, 1975, as the clock ticks down to the moment the first episode goes live, “Saturday Night” plays like “24” crossed with “30 Rock.” Back then, “SNL” was a high-risk proposition: a live sketch show from an unproven TV creator, starring a group of young misfits. 

“Saturday Night” is only LaBelle’s third major film, after he followed up “The Fabelmans” with Adam Rehmeier’s under-viewed 2024 comedy “Snack Shack.” (“Most people see it on a plane,” the actor cracks.) 

“ ‘The Fabelmans’ was a lot more nerve-racking because I was so new to the concept of serious acting,” he says.

“I hadn’t been validated as a performer yet, so I’d be working my ass off for a scene and then have no frame of reference [as to whether] it worked or not. And that weighed on me. But I came to ‘Saturday Night’ with a lot more confidence in my abilities and personal sanity.”

He did have concerns, however, about convincingly playing a 30-year-old at the age of 21. “It was something I was very aware of. But I realized that Jason [was more interested in] the energy of the character,” he says. “There is something really fulfilling about utilizing some of the perspectives you’ve come to take on about what’s relevant to you as an adult. I don’t think I’m always going to be playing adult characters, but it’s nice to not have a backpack on and experience some real-life stakes.”

Now 79, Michaels is arguably the most famous TV creator of all time, having launched a pop-culture touchstone and the careers of countless comedians. So it’s safe to say that most people know what he looks and sounds like. In order for LaBelle to play him, he set out to discover a side of the man that was unknown to most of the world. 

“This isn’t Lorne when he’s the big, scary boss that people hype him up to be. I read a lot of books about how the show got formed, how he got to be in that position, and how he met all of those people. He just amassed the friends he thought were the funniest and did garage theater with them. So on the interior, I wanted to focus on being a young man with a huge responsibility to the people he cares about.”

To work on his character’s exterior, LaBelle looked to an interview that Michaels and the original cast did on “Tomorrow With Tom Snyder” ahead of the premiere. He watched it dozens of times a day to help him nail the creator’s mannerisms and voice. But his research was complicated by the exaggerated Michaels impressions that “SNL” alums like Myers and Bill Hader have done over the years. 

“Before I made this film, a lot of people I talked to about it were like, ‘Are you doing Dr. Evil?’ They actually think Lorne sounds like that!” LaBelle says with a laugh. (It’s a common rumor that the “Austin Powers” character was inspired by Michaels.) “At first, I did ignore that; but I’m always watching interviews with those guys because they’re entertaining and I learn from them. In their caricatures of Lorne, I noticed they all used similar mannerisms. And I thought, Oh, what if I take that and tone it down?”

When asked if he can see a world where he gets a call about hosting “SNL,” LaBelle believes he “would thrive in that environment. But it’s up to the show and Lorne. Honestly, I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about whether Lorne would approve of [my performance], because it’s so weird regardless. I focused more on: Would these hundreds of people he’s raised up approve of this portrayal of their pseudo–father figure? 

“What’s so great about playing Steven or Lorne is that there’s a literal rubric for how to separate yourself from who this real person is. Now, I can apply that to any character,” LaBelle says. 

He’s eager to find out where his career will take him next—especially if it means getting the chance to mix things up. “I’d love to do some darker, grittier shit, or something physical, whether it’s an action movie, a Western, or a drag performance. As long as it’s something I haven’t done before where I can just look different, be different, talk different, walk different.” He would definitely be walking differently if he ever landed his dream role: one of the primates in the “Planet of the Apes” franchise. “That’s on the bucket list,” he says.

With a bright future ahead of him, LaBelle will forever be influenced by the experiences that shaped his acting mindset and showed him what’s most important in cinema.

“The people I’ve worked with over the last three years have all been writer-directors who were making something personal to them,” he says. “As long as I can work with people who really, really care about what they’re making, that’s all there is. And what a gift to experience that so young.” 

This story originally appeared in the Oct. 10 issue of Backstage Magazine.