Rachel Sennott wanted to be the perfect ex-wife for Lorne Michaels when it came to bringing the story of “Saturday Night Live” to the big screen.
Sennott, who portrays “SNL” creator Michaels’ first wife Rosie Shuster in the 1975-set feature, told Cultured magazine that she tried to get Michaels to approve her accuracy.
“Halfway through filming, I went to an ‘SNL’ show and sat with my friends, Ben [Marshall] and Martin [Herlihy] and John [Higgins], and Lorne was there. They were like, ‘Rachel’s playing Rosie [Shuster, comedian and Michaels’ ex-wife] in this movie,’” Sennott said. “And then obviously, I’m like, I have to make Lorne Michaels fall in love with me.”
She continued, “He’s like 80. I’m asking him, ‘Am I giving your ex-wife?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, sure.’”
“The Fabelmans” breakout actor Gabriel LaBelle portrays Michaels in the film. LaBelle previously portrayed a version of “The Fabelmans” filmmaker Steven Spielberg in the semi-autobiographical feature.
“Saturday Night” begins at 30 Rockefeller Center at 10 p.m. ET on October 11, 1975 and spans the 90 minutes leading up to the first taping. Jason Reitman directs the ensemble cast which also includes Willem Dafoe, Matthew Rhys, Nicolas Braun, J.K. Simmons, Dylan O’Brien, Cooper Hoffman, Kaia Gerber, and Jon Batiste.
While Sennott hasn’t actually been a part of the real-life “SNL” before, she has been vocal about her hopes to be on the live sketch series some day.
“Hosting is my dream,” the actress said. “I think it would be so fun. So many people that I went to school with are now writers on the show and I feel like we would have a great time, especially since I’ve been in that kind of space with ‘Saturday Night.’”
“Saturday Night” is written and directed by Reitman, with Gil Kenan co-writing based on interviews with alumni from the “SNL” cast and crew.
“We interviewed everyone we could find that was alive from opening night,” Reitman told Vanity Fair. “Every living cast member, every living writer, people from the art department, costumes, hair and makeup, NBC pages, members of Billy Preston’s band — I mean, anyone we could find.”
Reitman called “Saturday Night” is a “thriller-comedy” about the stress of putting the show together.
“I always describe this movie as a shuttle launch, and the question was, ‘Would they break orbit?’” Reitman said.
“Saturday Night” premiered at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival. Sony Pictures will release it in theaters on Friday, October 11. Read the IndieWire review here.
