Bringing Steven Spielberg鈥檚 personal story to life in 鈥淭he Fabelmans鈥� came with a bit of pressure for two Canadian actors in key roles in the drama, but both praise the famed director for his vote of confidence and kindness on set.
鈥淗e wouldn鈥檛 cast me if he didn鈥檛 think I can do this,鈥� said Vancouver鈥檚 Seth Rogen at Q-and-A session Sunday at the Toronto International Film Festival, where the film premiered the previous night.
鈥淭he Fabelmans鈥� is about Spielberg鈥檚 childhood in New Jersey, Arizona and eventually California, examining his family dynamics and how they played a role in developing his passion for filmmaking. Newcomer Gabriel LaBelle, who is also from Vancouver, plays a young Spielberg as Sammy Fabelman. Michelle Williams and Paul Dano play his mother and father, while Rogen is a character referred to as Uncle Benny, a family friend who is much loved but also the source of interpersonal drama.
Uncle Benny is extremely charming and funny, Rogen said, and has a relationship with Sammy鈥檚 mother, Mitzi Fabelman.
鈥淚t was a lot of pressure to seem effortlessly like someone who you could imagine why this woman would be in love with, and (that) the audience could get on board with her being in love with him and understand her being in love with him,鈥� Rogen said.
鈥淵ou fully understand the conflict at play, and there鈥檚 so many layers to it.鈥�
The night of the premiere, Rogen described the process of filming as being a very emotional experience for Spielberg.
鈥淗e was clearly discovering an emotional air to it that I don鈥檛 think he even realized he was going to have until we were making the movie, because every scene pretty much is based on a real moment that happened to his life,鈥� Rogen said in a red-carpet interview.
鈥淎nd every time I鈥檓 like, 鈥楧id this happen? Did this happen?鈥� And every time the answer was 鈥榊es,鈥� and you could see he was having a very emotional experience which really just made me want to do a good job.鈥�
Spielberg acknowledged it was at times emotionally draining.
鈥淪ome of it was very hard to get through,鈥� Spielberg said at the post-screening chat, moderated by TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey. 鈥淲hen the whole writing process was over, I breathed a whole sign of relief,鈥� Spielberg said.
TIFF did not allow media to ask questions during the conference, instead requiring the press to submit queries in advance.
鈥淭he Fabelmans鈥� was one of the most hyped-up projects at TIFF, and it鈥檚 the first time Spielberg 鈥� known for films including 鈥淪aving Private Ryan,鈥� 鈥淐atch me If You Can鈥� and 鈥淟incoln鈥� 鈥� has submitted one of his films to the festival.
On casting the actor who would play himself in his younger years, Spielberg said he saw something special in LaBelle during the casting sessions that played out mostly over Zoom during the pandemic.
鈥淵ou know, I wanted to get somebody really good looking and sexy, and from Canada,鈥� Spielberg joked.
鈥淣one of this is really easy because we don鈥檛 often see ourselves the way our friends and our family sees us. As a kid growing up I always had a lot of reasons why I was always in the corner鈥hy I was always not the centre of conversation,鈥� Spielberg said.
鈥淚 needed someone who wasn鈥檛 going to bring too much self-awareness to Sammy.鈥�
LaBelle described the opportunity as a 鈥渨ild鈥� experience.
鈥淚 only had about a month before we started shooting, so we just Zoomed a lot and I asked him a lot of questions about his life 鈥o get a sense of who he was as a person,鈥� LaBelle said.
鈥淚 was very delighted and glad that you鈥檙e just like, a kind and good person,鈥� LaBelle said to Spielberg.
鈥擶ith files from Jaclyn Tansil
Melita Kuburas, The Canadian Press
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