Movie About SNL’s 1975 Premiere Casts Its Not Ready for Primetime Players — See Photos
Live from New York, it’s… Jason Reitman’s SNL 1975.
The film, which was written by Reitman (who also will direct) and Gil Kenan based on first-hand accounts of the first-ever Saturday Night Live taping, has enlisted Gabriel LaBelle to play SNL honcho Lorne Michaels, our sister site Deadline reports.
Best known for starring in Steven Spielberg’s 2022 film The Fabelmans, LaBelle also has several small-screen credits to his name. The young actor has appeared on ABC’s Motive, The CW’s iZombie, Netflix’s Brand New Cherry Flavor and Showtime’s American Gigolo.
Additionally, the following actors have been cast as the original Not Ready for Primetime Players: Ella Hunt (Dickinson) as Gilda Radner; Emily Fairn (Black Mirror) as Laraine Newman; Kim Matula (L.A. to Vegas) as Jane Curtin; Lamorne Morris (New Girl) as Garrett Morris; Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf) as Dan Aykroyd; Cory Michael Smith (Gotham) as Chevy Chase; and Matt Wood (SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical) as John Belushi.
As previously reported, Cooper Hoffman (Licorice Pizza) will play NBC executive Dick Ebersol, while Rachel Sennott (The Idol) will play SNL writer — and Michaels’ real-life spouse — Rosie Shuster.
As the title suggests, SNL 1975 takes place on Oct. 11, 1975, “where a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever,” according to the film’s initial announcement. “This is the true story of what happened that night behind the scenes in the moments leading up to the first SNL broadcast, retelling 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!'”
Have thoughts on the casting of the original SNL crew? Drop a comment with your reactions to the movie below.
Josh Gad as John Belushi.
Rachel Brosnahan as Gilda (or Larraine?).
No idea for the others!
Ilana Glazer for Gilda
Yes, that would be great
There should be a rule that when you guys tease a movie or show, you should also say when/ where it can be seen.
Big tentpole franchise movies have their release dates set before they enter production, but something like this wouldn’t.
It’s gong to be filmed in Atlanta
Sounds like an interesting project! :) I loved that kid in ‘The Fabelmans’ — he reminds me of a young Jonathan Richman (Velvet Underground superfan, and The Modern Lovers’ singer-songwriter-guitarist).
He’s a little old, but it would be funny to see Joel McHale play Chevy Chase.
Joel played Chevy in “A Futile and Stupid Gesture.”
Eden Sher – Laraine Newman
Some of the 1975 filming was done in my parents house in Briarcliff NY. They had a very small budget. Dick is my dad’s half brother :).
Taylor Thomlinson as Jane Curtin.
Good luck finding Belushi, Chase and Aykroid. Those are distinctive faces that everyone knows. Going to be hard to match the looks and persona.
“Aykroyd”. *sigh*
I mean, I feel like Radner and Curtain are too…
Actually the intro on the first episode was “Live from New York, its NBC’s Saturday Night “
ABC already had a variety show called Saturday Night Live hosted by Howard Cossel.
Wrong… It’s on YouTube. Just look for “The Wolverine” sketch.
Chevy Chase says it just like it’s always been “Live from NY, It’s Saturday Night!”
But ABC did have a show with Howard Cosell at the time called Saturday Night Live. It didn’t last long and Lorne took that name after it died at ABC.
Would also love to see who they get to play George Carlin. He was the first host, and according to legend, completely stoned that night.
AI
Why so many casting suggestions for Gilda, Laraine and Jane in the comments, when the article is about the fact that those roles are already cast?
I’m looking forward to this project, though — I hope they’re fast-tracking it to have it out in time for the 50th anniversary next year.
Because this is an updated article from last week when those roles had not yet been cast. Check the comment dates ;)
George Carlin was the first guest host. I wonder who they will get to play him. I remember staying up really late to see it and having to have the sound turned down low because I was afraid my parents would hear and make me go to bed.
It’s interesting that the movie players are noticably more attractive than the Not Ready for Prime Time players. One of the things that made the original players interesting is that they were not models. They were ordinary looking people who were very funny.
Speak for yourself, Jane Curtin is gorgeous.
It’s far easier to “glam down” someone to look “normal” than it to “glam up” someone to look like a supermodel. There’s lighting, makeup, even prosthetics (if needed). It’s backstage at the first episode of a 1970’s TV show, I doubt things were (or will be depicted) as bright and clean then as they are now. Trust me, these actors will look plenty “normal” on-screen.
The guy they need for Belushi is definitely Chris J Sorrentino (@babybelushi). He’s got the chops!
Big missed opportunity not having Will Forte play Lorne.
Will Forte would need a lot of makeup to pass for 30 at this point.
I can’t quite picture Dylan O’Brien as Dan Ackroyd, but he has the right energy, and I’m sure hair and makeup will help.
With all the others, the resemblance is quite strong.
Unfortunately Dylan O’Brien is dating an openly racist model so I won’t be supporting any project he’s in.
I’d say it’s a stretch to call her “openly racist,” and they aren’t even “openly dating,” so it feels like a rather flimsy justification to boycott.
But obviously you’re entitled to make your own decisions about what movies to watch and why.
OMG 😳. Great creactor choices. I’m so excited and can’t wait for this to come on. Oh if only it could be remakes of all of the shows from back then. Creactor choices are spot on. It’s going to be so good. Such an awesome idea. To bring them back to life again is a way of honoring them for how talented they all were and the remaining living truly were and are. Thank you for keeping them alive. 🙏 It works out and can possibly carry on longer.
Good luck too the new not ready for prime time cast and happy birthday to Garret Moris cheers