The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical movie, hit the screens on November 11 to wide critical acclaim. The film premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival ahead of its wider theatrical release.

White attending an event at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles, the film’s stars, Gabriel LaBelle and Judd Hirsch, opened up about their experience on working with the master director and the latter’s approach with the actors in his films.

Also Read| Taylor Swift on Ticketmaster fiasco: Excruciating for me to just watch

LaBelle, who played the lead character, Sammy Fabelman, said about Spielberg, “He didn’t really tell me anything. That made me nervous. He didn’t sit down and say ‘when I was 5….’”“I had to track him down”, he added.

Hirsch said that the Jaws filmmaker does not believe in rehearsing with the members of his film’s cast, and this goes on to show the confidence he has in his actors. Hirsch’s comments were, “He doesn’t rehearse. It’s not going to be, ‘How do I play it?’ before filming,” further adding,  “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.”

Also Read| Ellen Pompeo, Grey’s Anatomy’s Meredith Grey, announces exit from show after 19 seasons

The two actors went on to speak about how each one of them had met the legendary director. LaBelle said that he had to audition via Zoom because of COVID-induced restrictions. He was not aware that he had to portray the younger version of Spielberg until much later.

Hirsch, on the other hand, was told that someone called SS wanted to have a conversation with him. The actor said, “I said [to his agent] find out who SS is,” adding, “Is it some sort of secret? It felt like a crime show.”

Besides Hirsch and LaBelle, the film stars veteran director David Lynch, comedian Seth Rogen, Paul Dano, and Julia Butters.