October 11th, 1975 marked the first airing of the legendary television series “Saturday Night Live.” Sony Pictures is currently producing a film, “SNL 1975,” about that night. It’s now confirmed that Nicholas Braun (“Succession”), Tommy Dewey (“Casual”), and Nicholas Podany (“Hello Tomorrow”) will be among the film’s cast.
Braun will play Jim Henson, founder of The Muppets. If you didn’t know, Henson was a big part of the first few seasons of the show. Several sketches featured early Muppets, as well as Jim and fellow performer Frank Oz. Henson passed away in 1990.
Dewey will play head writer Michael O’Donoghue, who actually appeared alongside John Belushi in the very first sketch, “The Wolverines.” O’Donoghue passed away in 1994.
Podany will portray comedy icon Billy Crystal, who was a mainstay on the series as a guest, host, and cast member (from 1984 to 1985).
They will be joined by Emily Fairn as Laraine Newman, Matt Wood as John Belushi, Kim Matula as Jane Curtin, Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner, Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris (no relation), Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, and Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase.
“SNL 1975″ will focus on the chaos and magic of a revolution that almost wasn’t. It will count down the minutes, in real-time, to the famous words; “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” That premiere episode featured host George Carlin, who we are VERY curious to see who will portray. Musical guests for that night included Billy Preston and Janis Ian.
The script was written by Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan. It’s based on a series of interviews conducted by them with all the living cast, writers, and crew. (This is also the same duo that is responsible for “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.”)
Reitman, Kenan, Jason Blumenfeld, Erica Mills, and Peter Rice are all attached as producers.
Sony has not set a release window for the film yet, but we’ll keep you posted on updates as they become available.
