SNL 1975 has found its Not Ready For Primetime Players

Jason Reitman has quite a task on his hands with his Saturday Night Live origin story, SNL 1975. People who care about SNL’s history really care about it. Choosing the right actors to portray the show’s legendary performers, whose comedy stylings are not only specific but also incredibly beloved by their fans, is a big challenge. Who can match the gonzo energy of John Belushi? The effortless quirk of Gilda Radner? The erudite arrogance of Chevy Chase? It’s a nigh impossible task, but one that is now completed and open to judgment from the masses: SNL 197 has cast its Not Ready For Primetime Players, a list that includes Dylan O’Brien, Lamorne Morris, Cory Michael Smith, and Ella Hunt (per Deadline).

Here’s the full rundown: we’ve got Cory Michael Smith (Gotham, May December) as Chase, Matt Wood (Spongebob Squarepants on Broadway) as Belushi, Lamorne Morris (New Girl, Fargo) as Garrett Morris, and Dylan O’Brien (Maze Runner, Teen Wolf) as Dan Akroyd. Last week, it was announced that Ella Hunt (Dickinson) would play Radner, with Emily Fairn (The Responder) as Laraine Newman and Kim Matula (LA To Vegas, Fighting With My Family) as Jane Curtin. (Reminder: Bill Murray, while considered part of the original Not Ready For Prime Time Players, didn’t join the show until 1977. So we probably won’t see a younger version of him in this film, which focuses on the airing of the first episode.)

The SNL 1975 cast so far is an interesting mix of up-and-comers and relative unknowns. This set of faux-comedians joins previously announced stars Gabriel LaBelle (The Fabelmans) as Lorne Michaels, Rachel Sennott (Bottoms) as his wife and childhood love Rosie Shuster, an SNL writer who eventually began an affair with Dan Akroyd. Cooper Hoffman (Licorice Pizza) was cast as Dick Ebersol, the NBC executive who helped develop the show. There are still some major behind-the-scenes SNL figures to cast, especially in the writers room: head writer Michael O’Donoghue, who appeared in the show’s first-ever cold open, future U.S. senator Al Franken and his comedy partner Tom Davis, Anne Beatts, Alan Zweibel, and more.

Reitman and Gil Kenan (who collaborated on Reitman’s Ghostbusters movies) co-wrote the screenplay for SNL 1975 based on an extensive series of interviews they conducted with surviving cast, writers, and crew, which kind of already existed in the comprehensive oral history Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller. Nevertheless, it was inevitable that someone would get around to making a fictionalized SNL origin story (Hollywood loves to mythologize itself), and it makes sense that Jason Reitman would get the job—his father, Ivan Reitman, worked closely with a lot of the early SNL guys. It also makes sense that this film would be made now, as we approach Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary. There’s certainly going to be a lot of SNL nostalgia in 2025, so why not add in a feature film? Let’s just hope the young cast can live up to the legend.