Sony’s Saturday Night Live behind-the-scenes retelling, SNL 1975, has tapped a group of actors to play some of the classic late show’s most iconic cast members.
Deadline reports that the Jason Reitman-directed movie has tapped Lamorne Morris (New Girl) to play Garrett Morris (no relation), Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) to play Dan Aykroyd, Cory Michael Smith (Transatlantic, Gotham) as Chevy Chase, and Matt Wood (SpongeBob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical) as the late John Belushi. It’s a lineup of actors who aim to help reimagine one of the series’ most important nights.
Morris, O’Brien, Smith, and Wood are joining a cast that’s quickly coming together. Other roles that have already been picked up for SNL 1975 include Gabriel LaBelle as SNL’s longtime leader Lorne Michaels, Cooper Hoffman as Dick Ebersol, and Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster. Other cast members, as previously reported by Deadline, include Kim Matula, who is playing Jane Curtin, Ella Hunt, who will portray Gilda Radner, and Emily Fairn, who is set to play Laraine Newman.
The movie aims to give viewers a lens into the off-screen antics that took place the night of the real-life show’s first episode on October 11, 1975. Reitman and his collaborator Gil Kenan are handling the screenplay together, with both having done interviews with cast and crew members who were involved with SNL’s first episode. Although SNL is known for its rotating cast of comedians, it’s hard to deny the impact the initial batch had on comedic entertainment during and after their time on the show.
Reitman and Kenan are producing SNL 1975 alongside Jason Blumenfeld, Erica Mills, and Peter Rice. However, Reitman and Kenan have other obligations to carry out in the meantime. Both creatives are working on wrapping up their spiritual sequel, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, which is set to hit theaters March 22, 2024.
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Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
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