They said it would never happen again. Not in a million years. It’s too risky, too out-there! But, for the first time since The Late Shift, someone has been cast to play Dick Ebersol in a movie. SNL 1975 will tell the story of the little late-night show that could and, in fact, still is. According to Deadline, the film will show the backstage chaos before the very first airing, counting down the minutes in real time to the infamous words “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” In a bold creative choice, filmmakers Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan have decided to cast real people to play the historical figures at the heart of the story, rather than go the Flash route and use AI deep fakes. The Fabelmans star Gabriel LaBelle is playing li’l baby Lorne Michaels, who is ushered into the NBCUniversal universe by Ebersol (Cooper Hoffman). Here’s who’s who in SNL 1975 (as well as who played them in The Late Shift and the Doug Kenney biopic A Futile and Stupid Gesture, when applicable).
The C-Suite
Gabriel La Belle as Lorne Michaels
Labelle’s Lorne will be working overtime to get Saturday Night Live on the air, after years toiling in the Lily Tomlin content mines. Armen Weitzman played Michaels in AFASG.
Cooper Hoffman as Dick Ebersol
As the main network ally of Michaels during development, Ebersol figures heavily in SNL oral history Live From New York. Ebersol went on to run SNL briefly, hiring Eddie Murphy, Martin Short, and Billy Crystal. He was played by Kevin Scannell in The Late Shift.
Willem Dafoe as David Tebet
Business boys Michaels and Ebersol will be joined by Dafoe, who’s set to play Tebet. He was NBC’s vice-president of talent relations at the time.
Finn Wolfhard as NBC Page
Wolfhard is playing an as-yet-unnamed NBC page, according to Deadline. Is Wolfhard really a nobody page in the film or one of the many personalities who got their start in 30 Rock? Speaking of Wolfhard, his Ghostbusters: Afterlife co-star and Hell of a Summer co-director Billy Bryk has been cast in an unknown role as well. Maybe they both got their SNL start as pages together.
The “Not Ready for Prime-Time” Players
Matt Wood as John Belushi
Wood will be playing Belushi, who was portrayed by John Gemberling in A Futile and Stupid Gesture and by Michael Chiklis in Wired. Belushi was a late hire by Michaels, as he was seen as a loose cannon. Those fears were later confirmed.
Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd
O’Brien, of Ponyboi and All Too Well fame, will play Aykroyd. Aykroyd was one of many Canadians who made SNL what it is today (somewhat Canadian). Before comedy, Aykroyd ran a cash-only bar in Canada and later co-founded an after-hours blues bar with Belushi during his SNL tenure. That makes his Crystal Head Vodka brand the most appropriate celeb liquor of all time. Aykroyd was played by Jack Cook in AFASG.
Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris
New Girl’s Lamorne Morris will play Garrett Morris (no relation). Garrett was a playwright before SNL. More people should know that! Garrett told People the advice he gave Lamorne about playing him. At the time, Garrett was 39 while the rest of the cast (save George Coe) was much younger: “The Black thing is you take longer to do what the younger white people do, and you usually have to do it two or three times as good. We talked about that, and he already told me he’s going to play it like that — an older Black guy who’s dealing with these younger guys.”
Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase
Chase will be played by May December’s Smith. Smith played the Riddler on Gotham, so that’s just three really normal guys back-to-back-to-back for him! Chase was embodied by his former Community co-star Joel McHale in AFASG.
Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner
Dickinson’s Hunt will play Radner (Jackie Tohn in AFASG). Radner was the first performer hired for Saturday Night Live. Like many of her co-stars, she came from the National Lampoon Radio Hour and Second City.
Kim Matula as Jane Curtin
Curtin will be played by LA to Vegas’s Matula. In Live From New York, Curtin remarked that she stayed out of the cast’s late-night shenanigans, being married, moisturized, and unbothered at the time.
Emily Fairn as Laraine Newman
Newman will not be played by any of her successful offspring — Hacks’ Hannah Einbinder and Problemista’s Spike Einbinder are her children. Rather, Black Mirror’s Fairn will be stepping up to play the Groundlings founding member.
Nicholas Podany as Billy Crystal
Crystal will be played by Podany. Even though he didn’t join the cast until the 1980s Ebersol-helmed years, Crystal had a sketch cut from the show’s very first episode.
Kaia Gerber as Jacqueline Carlin
Gerber has been cased as Carlin. Confusingly, Jacqueline Carlin wasn’t related to first host George Carlin but rather was Chase’s girlfriend at the time (they married in 1976). After Chase, Jacqueline married music exec/Doris Day’s son/object of Charles Manson’s ire Terry Melcher.
??? as George Carlin
On-set photos from SNL 1975 show a flyer with … someone playing host George Carlin. Is it frequent Reitman collaborator Paul Rudd? Bradley Cooper in full Jackson Maine drag? Or perhaps (the heavily rumored choice) it’s Matthew Rhys.
Jon Batiste as Billy Preston
But what’s a host without their musical guest? Taking on the role of SNL’s very first musical guest, Preston, will be none other than Batiste, who’ll be pulling double duty by serving as the film’s composer.
The BTS (Behind the Scenes) Army
Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster
Bottoms star Sennott has been cast as Shuster, who came on to the show as both a writer and Michaels’s wife. Shuster went on to date Aykroyd (early seasons of the show were basically one big cuddle puddle, according to frequent host Carrie Fisher).
Tommy Dewey as Michael O’Donoghue
Dewey, from Hulu’s Casual, will play head writer O’Donoghue. O’Donoghue was known for being temperamental and driving the humor at SNL to darker places, e.g., staging ABBA on a sinking Titanic set. He was played by the State’s Thomas Lennon in AFASG.
Andre Barth Feldman as Neil Levy
No Hard Feelings ingenue Feldman will play Levy. Levy was a talent coordinator, a writer in season three, and an extra throughout his time on the show.
Taylor Gray as Al Franken
Star Wars Rebels’ Gray will play one-half of the writing duo Franken and Davis. Per Live From New York, Franken once denied Henry Kissinger tickets to SNL. He shouted into the phone, “If it wasn’t for the Christmas bombing, you’d have those tickets!” He later joined Congress, then, uh, left.
Mcabe Gregg as Tom Davis
Filling out the back half of Franken and Davis is Teenage Badass’ Gregg. Davis helped create such recurring sketches as “Coneheads” and “Nick the Lounge Singer.”
Joe Chrest as Herb Sargent
Chrest is playing “Weekend Update” co-creator Sargent and joining his Stranger Things son Finn Wolfhard on set. As an old on the notoriously young set, Sargent brought a lot of late-night experience. Before SNL, Sargent had been a writer on The Steve Allen Show (not to be confused with Tonight Starring Steve Allen).
J.K. Simmons as Milton Berle
The infamous comedian Berle will be played by the regular-famous actor Simmons. Berle was banned in 1979 after hosting in season four due to creative differences. But writer Alan Zweibel says he at least got to see Berle’s notoriously huge member. “He just takes out this — this anaconda,” Zweibel said in Live From New York. “He lays it on the table, and I’m looking into this thing, right? I’m looking into the head of Milton Berle’s dick. It was enormous. It was like a pepperoni.” Will Simmons pack a stunt hog à la Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights? Only time will tell.
Nicholas Braun as Jim Henson Andy Kaufman?
Braun was announced as playing Henson, which is really a lot to take in. Some elements of this make sense: Henson was six-three and lanky, and Braun has a bit of a Muppet-y voice. But something also feels spiritually bizarre about it. Then, after that announcement, Braun was papped on set dressed as Andy Kaufman, so do with that what you will.
(If you’re wondering why Braun as Henson was announced to begin with, that first 1975 season of SNL featured a recurring Muppet segment called “The Land of Gorch” that everyone apparently hated. And thank God for that, because Henson left after the first season and began making The Muppet Show in earnest.)
Who’s Been Cut for Time?
There are still a lot of people who were key to that first night of SNL whose zoomer equivalents have yet to be revealed. Important writers who could figure in SNL 1975 include Anne Beatts; writer and John’s wife, Judith Belushi; Marilyn Suzanne Miller; and Alan Zweibel. Other execs who midwifed Saturday Night Live (according to the oral history Live From New York) include manager Bernie Brillstein, former NBC president Fred Silverman, and former NBC chairman and Mary Tyler Moore husband Grant Tinker. And let’s not forget that Albert Brooks was lurking around Studio 8H that first season. We’re also still missing any mention of resident old of the OG SNL players, George Coe. Whither Coe?
It’s also worth considering whether anyone will play music supervisor Howard Shore or OG band member Paul Shaffer. If Shaffer figures in SNL 1975, he will be the only one in all three major films in the NBCEU (National Broadcasting Company Extended Universe).
This post has been updated throughout.
