Saturday Night Live fans will get a closer look at the creator of NBC’s long-running sketch comedy series when a Lorne Michaels documentary hits theaters this spring.
Lorne, which is set for a Friday, April 17 release, hails from Morgan Neville—the filmmaker behind last year’s SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night four-part docuseries for Peacock. (Read LateNighter’s interview with Neville about that project.)
Neville’s credits also include the Academy Award-winning 2013 docu 20 Feet from Stardom, 2018’s Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (about Mister Rogers Neighborhood‘s Fred Rogers), and 2024’s Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in 2 Pieces (for Apple TV).
“While SNL is one of the most examined and celebrated shows in television history, the man who built and sustained the institution for nearly five decades has largely remained out of view,” reads the official logline for Lorne. Touted as “the first-ever, behind-the-scenes look into the life of Lorne Michaels,” the film “reframes a cultural story audiences think they know, offering unprecedented access to the quiet force who shaped American comedy.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lorne features interviews with Tina Fey, Chris Rock, Conan O’Brien, Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg, and John Mulaney, among others, as well as exclusive footage and “archival gems.”
Michaels launched SNL in October 1975, with original cast members Laraine Newman, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, Garrett Morris, and Chevy Chase. To date, he has amassed 24 Emmys, while SNL itself stands as the most-awarded TV program in Emmy history, with 84 wins (…and counting).
In addition to siring SNL, his TV credits include writing for Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In; Canada’s The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour (with writing partner Hart Pomerantz); Emmy-winning Lily Tomlin specials; and exec-producing NBC’s 30 Rock and Late Night. On the film side, he has produced numerous SNL character spinoffs as well as Mean Girls, Tommy Boy and (turn head-and-cough!) Three Amigos.
It’ll be a hot mess, like everything Michaels has put out for a while now!
been meaning to read the big biography that recently came out
would have preferred someone who came in neutral and wasn’t recently hired by Broadway video and nbc
yep, but that’s how all these docs are done now