“Saturday Night Live” fatigue has been running high ever since the legendary NBC sketch show celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. That milestone moment inspired not only Jason Reitman’s feature-length comedy “Saturday Night,” but also the star-studded “SNL50” special and an endless string of other tributes. Hovering quietly above it all? The elusive and legendary Lorne Michaels.
For five decades, the heavyweight creative has functioned less like a celebrity or businessman than a Manhattan-based myth. He’s a backstage oracle whose voice is typically filtered through the comedians whose careers he helps ignite. But now, Oscar winner Morgan Neville and his new documentary “Lorne” promise to bring forward the famously private showrunner for a reflection delivered in his own words.
Known for the Academy Award–winning music documentary “20 Feet from Stardom,” and the beloved portrait of TV legend Mr. Rogers, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”, Neville has spent his career studying people whose influence often exceeds expectations. With “Lorne,” the filmmaker applies that same curiosity to the architect behind one of the most enduring institutions in American entertainment.
The first “Lorne” trailer suggests a satisfying profile of a still slippery subject. At one point, Michaels himself quips, “none of this is usable,” hinting at a playful tension between interviewer and interviewee. If the documentary captures Michaels doing what he’s done for decades — quietly directing the room even when he’s pretending not to — that’s history to some super-fans.
In addition to archived footage and rare behind-the-scenes material from “SNL,” the documentary gathers a who’s-who of comedy legends for a string of exciting interviews. Asked to explain Michaels’ strong gravitational pull as a creative, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Tina Fey, Kristen Wiig, Mike Myers, Paul Simon, and more appear in the trailer alongside current “SNL” cast members Colin Jost and Sarah Sherman. Conan O’Brien perhaps sums it up best in the promo, describing Michael as “the ultimate showbiz survivor. He’s still here and a hundred executives are not.”
But if anyone expects a tidy psychological key to Michaels’ longevity, the man himself seems eager to dash that hope. “All of life is reinvention,” he says with a shrug. “So, to be understood? Not gonna happen.” So, for anyone curious about Michaels and the machinery that shaped half a century TV? “Lorne” may be the clearest insight we ever get.
From Focus Features, “Lorne” is in theaters on April 17. Watch the trailer below.
