Gabriel LaBelle is making a career out of portraying legendary creatives.
After playing a version of Steven Spielberg in the auteur’s semi-autobiographical film “The Fabelmans,” LaBelle is set to star as Lorne Michaels in “SNL 1975,” charting the rise of “Saturday Night Live.” IndieWire can confirm that Cooper Hoffman and Rachel Sennott will co-star; Deadline first reported the casting news.
“SNL 1975” is written and directed by Jason Reitman, with Gil Kenan co-writing based on interviews with “SNL” alum. Reitman, Kenan, Jason Blumenfeld, Erica Mills, and Peter Rice are producing.
“Licorice Pizza” and “Wildcat” actor Hoffman will play Dick Ebersol, and “Shiva Baby” star Sennott is set to portray Rosie Shuster in the biopic.
The logline reads: “On October 11th, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. This is the true story of what happened that night behind the scenes in the moments leading up to the first broadcast of SNL. The chaos and magic of a revolution that almost wasn’t, as we countdown the minutes in real time to the infamous words, ‘Live From New York, it’s Saturday Night.'”
“SNL” creator and producer Michaels recently told Entertainment Tonight that the approaching 50th anniversary of the sketch series has inspired thoughts of retirement.
“Of course I’ve thought about it,” Michaels aid. “We’re doing the 50th anniversary show in February ’25. So, I will definitely be there for that and definitely be there until then. And then we’ll figure out what we’re going to do.”
Michaels addressed the long-gestating rumors that “SNL” alum Tina Fey could take over as showrunner, saying, “It could easily be Tina Fey. But there are a lot of people who are there now who are also, you know…Tina’s brilliant and great at everything. She’s a very important person in my life.”
Michaels served as showrunner of “SNL” from 1975 to 1980, before returning in 1985 and continuing until today. Over its history, “SNL” has received 314 Emmy nominations with 84 wins, and launched the careers of iconic actors and comedians like Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, Adam Sandler, Amy Poehler, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, and more.
Fey joined the show in 1997 as a writer; she later became the show’s first woman head writer in 1999 and started appearing as part of the troupe in 2000. She exited “SNL” in 2006 and developed NBC sitcom “30 Rock” in part based on her experience on the series.
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