Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty
Once upon a time, Lorne Michaels had the juice to turn “not ready for primetime players” into box-office gold.
As an executive producer, Michaels might have even more programming power and influence now within 30 Rockefeller Center’s NBCUniversal, NBC, and Peacock than he did when he launched Saturday Night Live. But 49 years later, he’s no longer focused on the business of taking young unknown comedians and developing them into movie stars. SNL writers and performers now are more likely to be married to a movie star (see Colin Jost and Scarlett Johansson) than to become a star themselves .
A Jason Reitman movie currently in production celebrating SNL’s 50th anniversary, SNL: 1975, boasts no movie stars, either. But they have a better shot (Rachel Sennott in particular, coming off of cult hits Bottoms, Bodies Bodies Bodies, and Shiva Baby) of becoming a star than anyone in the cast these days.