“I don’t think I would advise you to try and capture Lorne,” Paul Simon warns in the trailer for the upcoming Lorne Michaels documentary. “He wouldn’t be happy with that, and then you’ll capture a guy who’s not happy.”
He’s probably right, but Morgan Neville’s Lorne is happening anyway, in theaters April 17. The film traces Michaels’ rise from an ambitious Canadian to a legendary Saturday Night Live creator who’s still dodging those retirement questions — including in a dinner scene with Steve Martin.
The trailer features SNL legends trying to untangle the mystery of Michaels, like Kristen Wiig (“He has this man-behind-the-curtain mystique about him”), Chris Rock (“For all I know, he works for the CIA”), and Mike Myers (“If you told me he made maple syrup, I would believe you”). “All life is reinvention,” Michaels says in the clip. “So, to be understood, not gonna happen.”
Tina Fey, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, Andy Samberg, Maya Rudolph, Colin Jost, John Mulaney, Conan O’Brien, and more also appear in the film.
Focus SNL SNL celebrated its 50th anniversary last year with the four-part documentary series SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night (executive produced by Neville), Questlove’s three-hour film on the sketch show’s musical legacy, a special, a concert, and more.
“I was probably too driven to be a hippie,” Michaels says in the Lorne trailer. “What I wanted was a voice in the culture, and SNL was that vehicle.”
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Those small opportunities became part of the festival’s identity: a place where established acts and future stars could exist side by side. That philosophy remains central to the festival’s return. While Warped Tour’s biggest names will draw crowds, Lyman believes the real magic has always happened away from the main stages.
