SNL 1975, the film about the dawn of Saturday Night Live from Ghostbusters: Afterlife director Jason Reitman, is gaining momentum, casting some of its most crucial players.
According to a new report from Deadline, Gabriel LaBelle, who broke out in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans, will take on the role of the head honcho himself, Lorne Michaels. Licorice Pizza's Cooper Hoffman is set to play Dick Ebersol, while Bottoms and Bodies Bodies Bodies star Rachel Sennott will play Rosie Shuster.
The movie is set to follow the chaotic behind-the-scenes moments leading up to SNL's first broadcast, which was hosted by George Carlin on October 11, 1975. Per the film's first reveal last May, SNL 1975 will draw from interviews that Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan conducted with cast, writers, and crew members who were on the ground on that historic evening.
Even the cast members announced here give us a little more insight in the kind of story that might be told. Seeing Michaels is no surprise, but viewers up on their TV history know Ebersol is one of the NBC executives who initially approached Michaels about filling a certain Saturday night time slot. Shuster, meanwhile, was married to Michaels from 1971-80 and was one of the early writers on SNL.
LaBelle, Hoffman, and Sennott are the only cast members announced thus far, though we imagine more news may come out as development ramps up. Reitman and Kenan are producing the film under their overall deal with Sony, which was signed after they collaborated with the studio on 2021's Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
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Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
