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How does one follow the Herculean feat of embodying a pop culture icon on screen? By playing another. After earning a Critics\u2019 Choice nomination for his performance as young Steven Spielberg<\/strong> in The Fabelmans,<\/em> Gabriel LaBelle<\/strong><\/a> has been cast as Saturday Night Live<\/em> creator Lorne Michaels<\/strong> in an upcoming film, Deadline reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 21-year-old actor will lead SNL 1975<\/em>, a behind-the-scenes reimagining of the NBC sketch series\u2019 opening night from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Jason Reitman<\/strong>. Rachel Sennott<\/strong><\/a>, best known for Bottoms<\/em> and Shiva Baby<\/em>, will play Rosie Shuster<\/strong>, one of the show\u2019s original writers. Cooper Hoffman<\/strong>, star of Paul Thomas Anderson<\/strong>\u2019s Licorice Pizza<\/em>, and son of the late Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, has been enlisted to portray Dick Ebersol, one of NBC\u2019s late-night executives at the time of SNL<\/em>\u2019s origins. No other cast has been revealed, but the movie is likely to feature some of the show\u2019s original Not Ready for Primetime Players including John Belushi, Chevy Chase,<\/strong> and Gilda Radner.<\/p>\n Written by Reitman and his Ghostbusters: Afterlife<\/em> collaborator Gil Kenan<\/strong>, the film is reportedly based on \u201cextensive series of interviews conducted by Reitman and Kenan with all the living cast, writers and crew,\u201d according to Deadline and depicts the events leading up to SNL<\/em>\u2019s first broadcast on October 11, 1975. Reitman, whose late father Ivan<\/a> helped launch the film careers of SNL<\/em> alumni including Bill Murray<\/strong> and Dan Aykroyd<\/strong> with films like Ghostbusters<\/em> and Meatballs<\/em>, is producing along with Kenan, Jason Blumenfeld<\/strong>, Erica Mills<\/strong>, and Peter Rice<\/strong>.<\/p>\n As the longstanding series nears its 50th anniversary, Michaels has been asked about his successor as showrunner. \u201cIt could easily be Tina Fey<\/strong>,\u201d the 79-year-old told Entertainment Tonight<\/em><\/a> at the recent 2024 Emmys<\/a>, though his replacement could also be \u201ca lot of people\u201d who currently work at Studio 8H. \u201cOf course I\u2019ve thought about it,\u201d Michaels continued. \u201cWe\u2019re doing the 50th anniversary show in February of \u201825. So I will definitely be there for that, and definitely be there until that. And sometime before that we\u2019ll figure out what we\u2019re gonna do.\u201d<\/p>\n When recently asked about his remarks on the Today<\/em> show, Fey joked<\/a>, \u201cHe\u2019s not going to retire. He has an elixir and he will live forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n