“So… are you going to retire?”
The great Steve Martin lobs that million-dollar question at Lorne Michaels in the official trailer for Lorne, filmmaker Morgan Neville’s upcoming documentary about Saturday Night Live‘s creator and longtime boss.
Though the trailer does not proceed to disclose Michaels’ response—for the record, he told the New York Times in June 2024, “I’m going to do it as long as I feel I can do it“—it does feature Seth Meyers (revealing the SNL boss’ displeased face), Tina Fey, Paul Simon, Chris Rock, and others speaking to the creative force’s enigmatic nature.
We also hear Michaels reflecting on what drove him to sire SNL back in 1975.
“I was probably too driven to be a hippie,” he shares. “What I wanted was a voice in the culture, and SNL was that vehicle.”
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).
Due out Friday, April 17, Lorne promises “an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes glimpse at the man who built the inimitable empire of comedy, shaping television and culture for generations.” It does so by way of exclusive footage, “archival treasures,” and candid interviews with cast members and writers including Fey, Meyers, Rock, Maya Rudolph, John Mulaney, Andy Samberg, and Conan O’Brien, among others.
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.”
Filmmaker Neville’s credits include last year’s SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night four-part docuseries for Peacock, as well as 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).
