Saturday Night’ How Gabriel LaBelle Approached Playing Lorne Michaels

Saturday Night star Gabriel LaBelle never imagined he’d become a specialist in playing titans of the entertainment industry. 

In Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical drama The Fabelmans (2022), the Canadian actor played Spielberg’s teenage surrogate character, Sammy Fabelman, whose emerging filmmaking prowess intersected with his family’s divorce. To capture the essence of an adolescent Spielberg in the ‘60s, LaBelle had every possible resource at his disposal, as the Oscar-winning filmmaker opened up his family’s vault in more ways than one. 

When The Fabelmans debuted in London at the start of 2023, Jason Reitman ventured over to the premiere event after spending a day on the set of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Impressed by LaBelle’s performance, Reitman initiated a get-together the following day, and after a period of time that involved coffee and a showing of the American Psycho musical, the Canadian-American filmmaker knew he’d found his Lorne Michaels for Saturday Night.

But instead of trying to capture a few formative years like he did with Spielberg, Reitman asked LaBelle to simply hone in on 90 minutes of 30-year-old Lorne’s life, as he assembled and reassembled the first episode of Saturday Night Live. 

“I just wanted to focus on that time and where I could go within this script,” LaBelle tells The Hollywood Reporter. “So all I really focused on is that Lorne is someone who knew exactly what he wanted out of life, and he stopped at nothing to get that done.”

LaBelle didn’t reach out to Michaels for firsthand recollections, photos and home movies like he received from Spielberg, but he did have a brief meeting with him after Josh Brolin’s SNL taping in March of 2024. 

“Lorne was really gracious and kind to us, and he has a great relationship with Jason [Reitman]. He invited us to watch SNL, and so we got to meet him … It was a great gesture,” LaBella says of his fellow countryman. “But Jason decided that I should focus on him as a young man because he’s a different guy now.”

Both Michaels and Spielberg were born into Jewish families in the mid-1940s, and they’ll forever be linked by their colossal influence on popular culture. On a micro level, Spielberg is known for figuring out blocking and shot selection on any given day of shooting, and the Lorne Michaels of Saturday Night also seemed to make his most effective creative decisions at the last minute.

While LaBelle didn’t make a point to overly compare the two figures, he did take a morsel of inspiration from watching the Lorne Michaels impressions that his former SNL collaborators often dole out on talk shows, whether that’s Bill Hader, Jimmy Fallon or Conan O’Brien, to name a few.

“I did watch them, but the thing is, he doesn’t actually sound like that. These are a bunch of comedians who are making each other laugh,” LaBelle says. “They respect him and admire him, and that’s their way of showing it. It’s a caricature. But I did notice that certain cast members would always do similar mannerisms of the face and speech, and I just felt, ‘Oh, if I could take a little bit of that, channel it way down and sprinkle it in somewhere, then that’d be fun.’”

Below, during a recent conversation with THR, LaBelle also discusses his lasting memories of the Saturday Night ensemble, as well as the growing sentiment for his under-the-radar coming-of-age film known as Snack Shack.

For the rest of time, you are the only actor who will be able to say that they played Lorne Michaels and Steven Spielberg. As a kid, I can’t imagine you ever expected to become the go-to guy for real-life luminaries in the entertainment industry.

No, not at all. It is a remarkable case of opportunities being presented my way at the right place and right time.

They’re both visionaries from the same generation, and their entertainment has impacted pop culture in immeasurable ways. That’s the overall comparison, but did you find even more overlap between them on a deeper level?

In these books that I was reading about Lorne, so much of the research was about Lorne’s early life and how he met everyone, and a lot of it was quoted from the people around him. So with this story being the lead-up to the first episode [of SNL], I just wanted to focus on that time and where I could go within this script. So all I really focused on is that Lorne is someone who knew exactly what he wanted out of life, and he stopped at nothing to get that done. That’s something I can relate to and it’s something a lot of people can relate to, and that’s just the story that we wanted to tell.

One of the most visually arresting shots in The Fabelmans is when Sammy imagines himself filming his parents’ divorce announcement. He couldn’t help but process life through his viewfinder. Do you think Lorne has his version of that? Do you think he constantly sees the world through the lens of what would make for good sketch comedy? 

That’s something only Lorne could answer. With Steven, I got to really talk to him and get to know his personal life. With Lorne, we were just focusing on these 90 minutes, and it’s just my interpretation, to be honest.

Yeah, with Sammy Fabelman, you were given the keys to the kingdom. But in Lorne’s case, you just had a really quick meeting after Josh Brolin’s SNL taping?

Yeah, Lorne was really gracious and kind to us, and he has a great relationship with Jason [Reitman]. He invited us to watch SNL, and so we got to meet him, which was really nice of him. It was a great gesture. But Jason decided that I should focus on him as a young man because he’s a different guy now. He’s gone through so much [since Oct. 11, 1975], and this was before anybody had even seen Saturday Night Live. So I just wanted to focus on his early days.

I realize what the focus was, but a number of former SNL castmembers do phenomenal Lorne Michaels impressions. And while essence is always more important than impression, did you let yourself revisit any of those mimicries in case they opened your eyes to something truthful you could use? 

I did watch them, but the thing is, he doesn’t actually sound like that. These are a bunch of comedians who are making each other laugh. They’re not doing the impression to get it down; they’re doing it to make each other laugh and because they all know him. They respect him and admire him, and that’s their way of showing it. It’s a caricature. So I just wanted to focus on the cadence of his voice and his Canadian accent, which wasn’t hard for me to do. I’m Canadian. But I did notice that certain cast members would always do similar mannerisms of the face and speech, and I just felt, “Oh, if I could take a little bit of that, channel it way down and sprinkle it in somewhere, then that’d be fun.”

Does Canada celebrate Lorne often? Does the country make it known that he’s their progeny?

I have yet to read a statement from the Government of Canada to commemorate him into the Canadian Hall of Fame, but Canada is very proud. (Laughs.) Also, not a lot of people who watch Saturday Night Live every Saturday even know who he is. He’s very behind the scenes in that regard. He’s not as much of a [Canadian] personality as Wayne Gretzky or Terry Fox.

Jason and co. shot Saturday Night on 16mm film, and film doesn’t allow as much room for error as digital does. So did the use of celluloid help create some of the story’s inherent pressure?

Just the nature of the project on its own was enough to get everybody on their top game, but it’s so cool that they shot it on film. The film grain and the colors of [DP] Eric’s [Steelberg] lighting really pop. So shooting on film was just the cherry on top of this intricate job that we all had to do.

Has this movie increased or decreased your desire to host SNL someday?

I’ve always wanted to be a part of Saturday Night Live in any regard. When I was a kid, I would have loved to be in the cast. I love Saturday Night Live. I grew up on it. I’m a huge fan of it. This movie gave me so much creative fulfillment, and to be a part of this ensemble is truly an honor for me. So I would love to host, I would love to, but I feel satiated. I feel like I’ve done my part. I would love to host if they have me, but it’s so close to me already that if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. It would be amazing if it does, but I’m not holding my breath.

Lorne bottles up most of his stress in the movie, but his eyes finally bulge out of his head when he grabs the crane at the end. Did you have a day where your stress level hit a similar point?

What was so great about this is that we had 10-hour days, so we’d go home at 6 or 6:30, and we could get eight-and-a-half hour sleeps and come back truly rested. But after a number of months of being there every day, it weighed. So it wasn’t necessarily the stress that ever got in the way, but it was more so just the physical tiredness. There was a day where I was sitting down and I just wanted to go home. We were only at lunchtime, and Rachel [Sennott] was rubbing my back as my head was on her shoulder. So I look back on that as a really sweet memory now.

If you had to dramatize 90 minutes from your own career thus far, what hour and a half would make for the most interesting movie à la Saturday Night?

Oh wow, compared to this movie, I don’t know if my life is that interesting or intricate that 90 minutes of any of it could be made into a movie. But I don’t think I’ve done it yet. Whatever that 90 minutes is, I believe I’ve yet to experience it. 

Lorne Michaels and Steven Spielberg are plenty ambitious, but neither holds a candle to the ambition of Moose Miller. 

(Laughs.)

I have to compliment you on Snack Shack. I was late to it, but it’s such a gem of a movie. 

Thank you so much. 

Are you feeling lots of belated love for it as people catch up to it on streaming? 

Yeah, I kind of am. More and more people are talking to me in person about it, and usually the only time you’d hear about it is on Letterboxd or something. But as it was released on MGM+, more people are seeing it, which is really great. We’re really proud of that movie, and we think everybody should see it. I’ve only talked to people who’ve absolutely loved it, and that means a lot. When you really pour your heart out into something and people respond with joy, it makes everything worthwhile.

Your movie came out before Challengers, and while neither invented the love triangle, it’s interesting how they were both dealing with similar material at the same time.

Yeah, a lot of people are making that comparison. It’s funny.

For a guy who’s constantly smoking cigarettes and drinking homemade pilsner, I kept wondering how Moose was in such good shape. So I had the biggest laugh when he was randomly doing tricep dips in the middle of a conversation. 

(Laughs.) You saw that! That’s what he does. He’s an animal. He probably wrestled and drank a lot of milk. He was free range. He was a teenager, so his metabolism is in top shape.

Returning to Saturday Night, Rosie (Rachel Sennott) asked for Lorne’s preference regarding her name credit at the start of the movie, and he didn’t really give her a straight answer as to whether she should go by Michaels or Shuster. And then he seemed caught off guard when she ultimately chose the latter. What was he thinking in that moment?

There’s a lot of subtext to that story, and because I don’t know Lorne and Rosie personally, I would just love to hear other people’s interpretations of that moment. But Lorne really loves Rosie, and he just wants her to live the life that she wants. So it starts as, “Hey, we just need your credit for the show,” but he wants to know how she’s going to move forward in her career.

The cast didn’t have trailers on this movie. You had individual dressing rooms, as well as a ‘70s-inspired common room with board games and SNL season one clips playing on loop. Would you like to work in this arrangement more often? 

It worked amazingly for this kind of ensemble. The characters have known each other for years, and as actors, we’re all united in this crazy movie that’s so high stress. But in rehearsals and table reads and screen tests, we all got to know each other as friends. So hanging out on set all day and then hanging out in this dorm, this common room, we all just got along .We were in this small town in Georgia, and we were always together. Everyone’s sense of humor and passions aligned. Everyone allowed themselves to be really vulnerable in their pursuits and where they saw themselves in this film, so that really bonded us. It just made everyone lead with such joy and encouragement and positivity. Everyone was so happy to watch each other succeed, so to get an ensemble to be that close, I think that’s brilliant. If you want people to hate each other on screen and be isolated, then put them in separate shacks like Robert Pattinson and William Dafoe did on The Lighthouse or something. So it depends on the project, but I thought it was done perfectly here.

Lastly, when you reminisce about the making of this movie many decades from now, what day will you likely recall first? 

I don’t remember days; I remember moments and scenes, and there are so many memories. I was journaling all throughout this shoot, and while I’m sure I’ll look back and remember a lot of it, I think I’ll just remember laughing with everybody, to be honest. That’s how I remember it now. There were some scenes that were nerve-wracking and some that were invigorating, but what really made this special for me was the cast and how much fun I had with all of them. If you played football in high school or something, you don’t remember the games, you remember the bus rides to the games. So that’s how I already feel about it now, and I would imagine that’s how I’ll feel about it in the future.

***Saturday Night is now playing in movie theaters.