J.K. Simmons has joined the cast of Jason Reitman’s SNL 1975, and not only will the Oscar winner be playing Hollywood legend Milton Berle, but he’ll have the notable distinction of becoming the first actual SNL host to join the cast of the Sony movie.
Simmons hosted the Jan. 31, 2015 episode of Saturday Night Live, which featured D’Angelo as the musical guest. At the time, Simmons was riding high off an Oscar nomination for Whiplash, and he would go on to win the Academy Award following his SNL hosting stint.
Meanwhile, Berle hosted SNL on April 14, 1979, and Ornette Coleman was his musical guest. It’s unclear where Berle fits into Reitman’s movie at this moment in time.
SNL 1975 is a behind-the-scenes account of the very first episode of Saturday Night Live. The film will reportedly unfold in real-time.
On the heels of playing Steven Spielberg in The Fabelmans, rising young star Gabriel LaBelle will play SNL boss Lorne Michaels, and he’ll be joined by Cooper Hoffman as Dick Ebersol; Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster; Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd; Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase; Matt Wood as John Belushi; Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner; Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris; Kim Matula as Jane Curtin; Emily Fairn as Laraine Newman; Nicholas Podany as Billy Crystal; Taylor Gray as Al Franken; Mcabe Gregg as Tom Davis; Tommy Dewey as Michael O’Donoghue; Andrew Barth Feldman as Neil Levy; Joe Chrest as Herb Sargent; Nicholas Braun as Jim Henson; Kaia Gerber as Jacqueline Carlin; and Finn Wolfhard as an NBC page.
Reitman co-wrote SNL 1975 with Gil Kenan, director of current box office champ Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and the two based the script on hundreds of hours of interviews they did with the original cast and crew of Saturday Night Live.
At 69 years old, Simmons is as busy as ever. He voices Omni-Man in the hit animated series Invincible, and he’s about to begin filming a sequel to The Accountant with Ben Affleck. He’ll also be seen alongside Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry in the upcoming Netflix movie The Union, and he plays Santa Claus in Prime Video’s holiday movie Red One starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans.
Simmons will also be seen in Clint Eastwood’s courtroom drama Juror #2, which Warner Bros. will release later this year. Don’t be surprised if that film winds up in the awards conversation along with SNL 1975.
Where it fits in is that Uncle Miltie’s SNL appearance was an unmitigated disaster! Maybe the worst host ever.
JK will make it must-see TV I’m sure.