Saturday Night Live Movie Casts SNL Legends

Movies

The Saturday Night Live movie has put most of its main cast together. The film, which is titled SNL 1975 (Really, guys? That’s the best you could come up with?), is about the night of the sketch comedy show’s premiere episode and will be directed by Jason Reitman, who co-wrote the script with Gil Kenan. Now, two Deadline exclusives reveal the actors playing the original Saturday Night Live cast. Starting with the ladies, Ella Hunt will play Gilda Radner, Emily Fairn will be Laraine Newman, and Kim Matula will portray Jane Curtin. As for the men, the lineup is: Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris (no relation), Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Matt Wood as John Belushi, and Cory Michael Smith as the great Chevy Chase. Cast member George Coe, who was only credited as a regular for the premiere, as well as host George Carlin and SNL creator Lorne Michaels, have not been cast yet.

If you click the Deadline links, you’ll see that the actors are all exceptionally well cast from an aesthetic perspective. Each one looks like they could be a younger version of their character. Lamorne Morris, in particular, looks a great deal like a young Garrett Morris, and Kim Matula uncannily resembles Jane Curtin. As for their acting talent, I’m not overly familiar with any of them; I’ve seen Lamorne Morris here and there, but not in anything memorable, and Cory Michael Smith used to play the Riddler on the abysmal Gotham. Dylan O’Brien seems to mostly do teen stuff (and the Vince Flynn adaptation American Assassin, which I haven’t seen but in which he appears to have been woefully miscast). Matt Wood has only done theater so far, having acted in Spongebob Squarepants on Broadway and a tour of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The ladies haven’t done much; Kim Matula has the most credits because she’s guest-starred on a bunch of TV shows. But that’s probably a good thing; it’ll help audiences see them as the legends they’re portraying, which will be one of the film’s biggest challenges. I’m very interested in this movie, but seriously, they need to change that title. I know Live from New York is taken by that book from a few years ago, but there’s got to be something better than SNL 1975. That’s not a movie title; it’s a band from the 60s nobody remembers.