Update on March 29th, 2024:
Willem Dafoe & Jon Batiste mark the latest additions to the cast of the highly anticipated SNL 1975.
Update on March 27th, 2024:
Just when we thought the cast for SNL 1975 couldn't get any bigger, this cast continues to get more impressive as more details of who's playing who are being unveiled.
Among the final additions of the anticipated Saturday Night Live movie are J.K. Simmons, Billy Byrk, Joe Chrest, Taylor Gray & McGabe Gregg.
Previously on March 17th, 2024:
While it's been reported that Nicholas Braun is supposed to play Jim Henson in the upcoming film SNL 1975, there's speculation that he's now reportedly playing Andy Kaufman in the film after photos from the film's shoot released this past week show that he's playing the famed comedian.
There's been no official update from the film's studio, Sony Pictures, to confirm this. But keep on the look out here for the latest!
Previously on March 12th, 2024:
Last year, it was announced Jason Reitman, the director & filmmaker behind the relaunched Ghostbusters franchise, would direct a behind-the-scenes story of the premiere of Saturday Night Live, one of the most beloved & iconic shows in that forever changed the course of sketch comedy & live television.
The upcoming movie, currently titled SNL 1975, tells the story of what took place in Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza on October 11, 1975, the night of SNL's series premiere told from the point of view of a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers that changed television forever. It depicts the chaos and magic of a revolution that almost wasn’t, counting down the minutes in real time to the infamous words, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”
The upcoming movie is based on the real-life behind-the-scenes accounts of the NBC late-night show’s opening night. Reitman and Gil Kenan wrote the script. Its screenplay is based on an extensive series of interviews conducted by Reitman and Kenan with all the living cast, writers and crew.
Reitman took to Instagram to officially share that filming & production on the anticipated new movie is underway.
Who's playing who in the 'SNL 1975' movie?
- Gabriel LaBelle, who played a fictionalized Steven Spielberg in 2022's The Fabelmans, will play Lorne Michaels (creator & producer of Saturday Night Live).
- Cooper Hoffman, who previously starred in Licorice Pizza, is on board to play Dick Ebersol (co-creator of SNL).
- Rachel Sennott, who starred in Bottoms, will play Rosie Shuster (writer for SNL).
- Ella Hunt, who starred in the Apple series Dickinson, will play Gilda Radner (first season cast member).
- Emily Fairn will play Laraine Newman (first season cast member).
- Kim Matula, star of FOX comedy LA To Vegas, will play Jane Curtin (first season cast member).
- Lamorne Morris, best known as the star of New Girl & also the co-host of The Lamorning After Podcast, will play Garrett Morris (first season cast member).
- Dylan O’Brien will play Dan Aykroyd (first season cast member).
- Cory Michael Smith, featured in 2023's May December, will play Chevy Chase (first season cast member).
- Matt Wood will play John Belushi (first season cast member).
- Nicholas Braun, star of the hit HBO drama Succession, will play Jim Henson (creator of The Muppets, who were a regular part of SNL's first season).
- Tommy Dewey will play Michael O’Donoghue (original head writer beginning on the first season).
- Nicolas Podany will play Billy Crystal, who was scheduled to appear on the first episode, but his sketch ended up getting cut (Crystal would later be a cast member on the show's 1984-1985 season).
- Kaia Gerber, who also starred in Bottoms, will play Jacqueline Carlin (who served as an extra on the show's first three seasons).
- Finn Wolfhard, the star of Stranger Things & the upcoming Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, will play an NBC page (comparable to Jack McBrayer's Kenneth Parcell on 30 Rock).
- Andrew Barth Feldman, who starred opposite Jennifer Lawrence in the hit R-Rated comedy No Hard Feelings, will play Neil Levy (who served as the show's talent coordinator).
- J.K. Simmons, who's best known for his famous performances in the first Spider-man franchise & Whiplash, will play the legendary comedian Milton Berle.
- Joe Chrest, who stars in Stranger Things, will play Weekend Update co-creator Herb Sargent.
- Taylor Gray & Mcabe Gregg, who've starred in Star Wars: Rebels & Teenage Badass respectively, will play the comedy duo Al Franken & Tom Davis (together famously known as Franken & Davis).
- Billy Byrk, who stars in Friendship, has a role in the film that has not yet been disclosed.
- Willem Dafoe will play David Tebet, VP of Talent Relations at NBC when SNL launched.
- Jon Batiste, the Grammy & Oscar award winning musician, will be (in a way) pulling double duty for his contributions to this film. He'll be playing Billy Preston, the show's first musical guest, as well as lending his musical talents to score the film.
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