‘Saturday Night Live’ Origins Movie Casts Its Lorne Michaels

The Fabelmans star Gabriel LaBelle is set to play Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels in an upcoming SNL origins movie, according to a report from Deadline.

SNL 1975, written and directed by Jason Reitman, is based on behind-the-scenes accounts of the long-running comedy show’s debut night. Per the outlet, the screenplay itself is based on extensive interviews with SNL cast and crew. Reitman co-wrote the screenplay with Gil Kenan, with whom he also co-wrote the 2021 Ghostbusters film Ghostbusters: Afterlife as well as the upcoming Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

Aside from LaBelle, Cooper Hoffman — Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s son who starred in Licorice Pizza in 2021 — will play the NBC executive Dick Ebersol. Hoffman earned both Critics Choice and Golden Globe Award nominations for his Licorice Pizza role. Rachel Sennott, coming off a massive year co-writing and starring in Bottoms, will portray former SNL writer and Michaels’ ex-wife Rosie Shuster. Rolling Stone named Bottoms one of the best movies of 2023 and previously called the movie “the horniest, bloodiest high school movie of the 21st century.”

This of course isn’t the first time LaBelle has taken to the big screen to portray an industry titan, having played a fictionalized version of Steven Spielberg in the director’s semi-autobiographical Fabelmans in 2022. His breakout role, LaBelle was generally lauded for the performance, winning a Critic’s Choice Award last year for best young actor.