Canadian icon Lorne Michaels may be one of the biggest behind-the-scenes players in television, but the producer/writer/director takes the spotlight in Lorne. This documentary profile from Academy Award winner Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) looks at the life and work of the man who built Saturday Night Light and other comedic milestones. Universal Pictures Canada and Focus Features released the trailer today before Lorne hits theatres on April 17.
Lorne tells how Michaels conceived of the late night sketch comedy series and carried it from its original airdate in October 1975 to present. The film features a who’s who of comedy greats, including Steve Martin, Mike Myers, Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, John Mulaney, Andy Samberg, Conan O’Brien, and Chris Rock, as so many funny folks in film and television got their big breaks on SNL.
The film continues a swell of SNL nostalgia of late marking the show’s 50th anniversary. Canadian actor Gabriel LaBelle portrayed Michaels in Jason Reitman’s 2024 comedy Saturday Night, which offered a dramatic take on the night of SNL’s TV premiere, while the episodic documentary SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night took audiences behind the scenes of the hit show. Neville served as a producer on SNL50, which was directed by Marshall Curry and garnered three Primetime Emmy nominations. The new documentary puts Michaels at the centre to celebrate the career of a producer with voices with whom he built a late-night TV empire along the way.
Neville previously directed by Pharrell Williams LEGO documentary Piece by Piece and the Paul McCartney film Man on the Run, which recently debuted on Prime Video. He serves as producer alongside Lauren Belfer.
Watch the trailer for Lorne below:
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