Overview
- The Focus Features documentary about Lorne Michaels, directed by Morgan Neville, opened Friday and uses a year of access to follow how Saturday Night Live gets made each week.
- Cameras track pitch meetings, overnight writing, table reads and dress rehearsals, and they linger on Michaels’ routines, including late start times and the ever-present popcorn in his office.
- Michaels signals no plans to retire, telling Steve Martin he needs to protect SNL, which keeps succession questions unresolved after five decades of his stewardship.
- At recent Q&As, Michaels said the new SNL U.K. must feel distinctly British and even be the “cooler” show, stressing it should not imitate the U.S. version.
- Critics describe the film as lively and star-packed for fans but light on new insight into its guarded subject, with many noting that SNL’s history has already been heavily chronicled.