Live from New York… it's the story of the very first Saturday Night Live.
Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air) is directing Saturday Night, a film set to chronicle the tense behind-the-scenes drama leading up to the first-ever SNL broadcast on Oct. 11, 1975. Reitman is co-writing the screenplay with frequent collaborator Gil Kenan, based on interviews with the cast and crew of SNL's first year on the air. The film will release on Oct. 11, 2024 — exactly 49 years after the night it takes place.
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So far the project has cast numerous up-and-coming actors to portray young versions of some of the most memorable Not-Ready-for-Primetime Players, including Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Garrett Morris Jane Curtin, and Laraine Newman, as well as behind-the-scenes figures like Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. Here's who's playing who in Saturday Night.
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Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels
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Gabriel LaBelle is set to play Lorne Michaels, the co-creator and perennial top dog at SNL. LaBelle previously broke out playing a fictionalized version of young Steven Spielberg in 2022's The Fabelmans. LaBelle is only 21 years old, whereas Michaels was about 31 when SNL first hit the airwaves.
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Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase
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Cory Michael Smith will portray Chevy Chase, the breakout star of SNL's first season (and original "Weekend Update" anchor) who quickly left the show to pursue a movie career. Smith played the Riddler on Gotham for five seasons, and recently appeared as Julianne Moore's son in May December.
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Matt Wood as John Belushi
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Matt Wood will play the late John Belushi, the cast member known for bringing live-wire energy to characters like Jake Blues, Samurai Futaba, Pete Dionisopoulos, James T. Kirk, and Henry Kissinger. Wood has primarily worked on stage in shows like Spongebob Squarepants and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, though he's also appeared in episodes of TV series like andDifficult People.
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Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner
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English actress Ella Hunt will star as the late Gilda Radner, the legendary cast member behind characters like Roseanne Roseannadanna, Emily Litella, and Baba Wawa, and who won an Emmy in 1978. Hunt played Sue Gilbert in Dickinson opposite Hailee Steinfeld on Apple TV+, and will next appear in Kevin Costner's four-part epic Western Horizon: An American Saga.
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Dylan O'Brien as Dan Aykroyd
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Dylan O'Brien will play Dan Aykroyd, the Conehead/Blues Brother and skilled impersonator who did impressions of Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, Julia Child, and many more on the show. O'Brien starred in Teen Wolf and the Maze Runner trilogy, as well as movies like Deepwater Horizon, Love and Monsters, and Bumblebee.
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Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris
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Lamorne Morris is set to portray Garrett Morris, SNL's first Black cast member, best known for characters like Chico Escuela and the "News for the Hard of Hearing" translator, as well as his musical performances. The younger Morris (no relation) played fan-favorite Winston on New Girl, and recently appeared in season 5 of Fargo.
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Kim Matula as Jane Curtin
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Kim Matula will play Jane Curtin, the beloved cast member who specialized in straight-woman performances and the matriarch of the Coneheads. Matula appeared in projects like L.A. to Vegas, UnReal, and Fighting With My Family. She was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in 2014 for her work on The Bold and the Beautiful.
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Emily Fairn as Laraine Newman
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Emily Fairn will play Laraine Newman, the performer known for characters like Christie Christina, Connie Conehead, and Valley girl Sherry. Fairn appeared in last year's "Demon 79" episode of Black Mirror, as well as British series like The Responder and COBRA. She also starred alongside Lucas Hedges and Mike Faist in the recent West End production of Brokeback Mountain.
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Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster
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Rachel Sennott is set to portray Rosie Shuster, the longtime SNL writer who was married to Michaels in the 1970s. Sennott made waves in comedies like Shiva Baby and Bodies, Bodies, Bodies before starring in (and co-writing!) last year's buzzy Bottoms.
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Cooper Hoffman as Dick Ebersol
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Cooper Hoffman will play Dick Ebersol, the former NBC executive who helped launch SNL and later produced the Olympic telecasts for NBC Sports. Hoffman, the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, made his film debut as the young hustler Gary Valentine in Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizzain 2022.
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Nicholas Braun as Jim Henson
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Succession star Nicholas Braun is set to play Muppets mastermind Jim Henson in the film. Henson's Muppets made regular appearances on the first 10 episodes of SNL, particularly in the recurring Land of Gorch segment. Braun other screen credits include Zola, Dream Scenario, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
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Nicholas Braun as Andy Kaufman
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Surprise! The Cousin Greg actor is taking on dual roles in the film as both Henson and alt-comedy legend Andy Kaufman. The future Taxi star performed bits from his stand-up act on the first season of the sketch show, including famously lip-syncing to only one line of the Mighty Mouse theme song while standing silently through the rest in the SNL premiere.
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Tommy Dewey as Michael O'Donoghue
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Tommy Dewey will portray SNL's first head writer, Michael O'Donoghue, who was also credited as a cast member in the first four episodes of the show and performed sporadically after that. Dewey previously worked with Reitman on Hulu's Casual (on which he was a series regular) and The Front Runner. He also appeared on The Mindy Project and the Fox sitcom Pivoting.
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Matthew Rhys as George Carlin
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The Americansstar Matthew Rhys will playGeorge Carlin, SNL's first host. Unlike the show's current format, Carlin did not appear in any sketches as host, instead doing stand-up bits throughout the premiere. His monologue entrance was also unusual compared to what has become the show's standard setup: He did not enter though a door on stage, but instead came down a back staircase from the balcony seating section of the audience and performed his "Baseball and Football" observational comedy bit while standing on a platform in the middle of the crowd.
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Nicholas Podany as Billy Crystal
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Nicholas Podnay will play legendary comedian Billy Crystal, who was set to appear in the SNL premiere before his sketch was cut (though he later performed a monologue in the 17th episode of the season). Podnay was a series regular on the Apple TV+ show Hello Tomorrow and played Albus Potter in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway.
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Kaia Gerber as Jacqueline Carlin
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Kaia Gerber is set to portray Jacqueline Carlin, the girlfriend (and later, wife) of Chevy Chase. Gerber, the daughter of Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, starred in Bottoms alongside Sennott, appeared in several episodes of American Horror Stories, and played a small role in Damien Chazelle's Babylon.
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Andrew Barth Feldman as Neil Levy
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Andrew Barth Feldman has been tapped to play Neil Levy, Lorne Michaels' cousin who served as a talent coordinator and production assistant on SNL for nearly a decade. Feldman played Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway and starred opposite Jennifer Lawrence in No Hard Feelings.
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Finn Wolfhard as an NBC page
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Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard will play an as-of-yet unnamed NBC page. 30 Rock fans should be familiar with the studio's page program thanks to Jack McBrayer's portrayal of Kenneth on the Tina Fey sitcom. Wolfhard previously worked with Reitman on Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
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J.K. Simmons as Milton Berle
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J.K. Simmons will play legendary TV comedian Milton Berle, the former host of NBC’s Texaco Star Theatre who hosted an infamous SNL episode in the show’s fourth season. An Academy Award winner for Whiplash, Simmons has appeared in every one of Reitman’s directorial features besides 2018’s Tully.
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Joe Chrest as Herb Sargent
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Joe Chrest is set to portray Herb Sargent, a veteran television writer who co-created Weekend Update alongside Chevy Chase. Chrest is perhaps best known for playing inattentive father Ted Wheeler on Stranger Things, and also appeared in projects like 21 Jump Street, Ant-Man, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Reitman’s The Front Runner.
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Taylor Gray as Al Franken
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Taylor Gray has been tapped to play Al Franken, the writer and occasional performer for SNL who went on to serve as a senator for Minnesota. Gray provided the voice of Ezra Bridger on Star Wars: Rebels, and also appeared as a regular on shows like In the Vault and Bucket and Skinner’s Epic Adventures.
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Mcabe Gregg as Tom Davis
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Mcabe Gregg will portray Tom Davis, the longtime SNL writer who was Franken’s primary comedy partner. Gregg has appeared on shows like Shameless, Grown-ish, The Flowers, and Chicago P.D., as well as movies like Teenage Badass and Age of Summer.
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Willem Dafoe as David Tebet
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Four-time Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe is set to play David Tebet, the renowned NBC executive who allegedly inspired both Jack Lemmon's character in The Odd Couple and William Holden's character in Network. One of the most prolific character actors of his generation, Dafoe has recently appeared in Poor Things, Asteroid City, Inside, The Northman, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
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Naomi McPherson as Janis Ian
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Naomi McPherson has been tapped to make their screen debut as Janis Ian, the musical guest who performed "At Seventeen" and "In the Winter" on the inaugural SNL broadcast. McPherson is a guitarist in the indie pop band Muna, which has released three studio albums to date and toured with prominent pop artists like Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Lorde, and the 1975.
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Jon Batiste as Billy Preston
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Five-time Grammy winner Jon Batiste will portray Billy Preston, the legendary keyboardist and intermittent Beatles collaborator who performed as the other musical guest on SNL's first broadcast. Preston played his songs "Nothing From Nothing" and "Fancy Lady" during the episode. Batiste is no stranger to after-hours comedy TV — he served as the bandleader for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert from 2015 to 2022. He'll also compose the score for Saturday Night.
