“Saturday Night Live” creator and longtime producer Lorne Michaels may be involved with recently launched U.K. version of the sketch comedy show, but he insists he’s not too hands-on.
“My design for it was that it would be the cooler of the two shows, and it would be the thing they beat us up with that. That it’s smarter, funnier, more original, and it had to be that,” Michaels said Tuesday night at the Los Angeles premiere of his documentary, “Lorne,” on the Universal lot. “It had to be its own thing. It couldn’t be an imitation of what we do.”
Michaels’ remarks came during a post-screening Q&A moderated by NBCUniversal Entertainment chief Donna Langley.
Michaels said he talks “all the time” with U.K. producer James Longman and head writer Daran Jonno Johnson. Even so, he said, “it has to be their show because I can tell you how I would do it — I’ve been doing it for 50 years, and it’s pretty well known how I would do it – [but] you have to do it your ways.”
“Saturday Night Live U.K.” premiered on March 21. The cast includes Hammed Animashaun, Ayoade Bamgboye, Larry Dean, Celeste Dring, George Fouracres, Ania Magliano, Annabel Marlow, Al Nash, Jack Shep, Emma Sidi and Paddy Young.
The Focus Features documentary, directed by Morgan Neville, features archival material, as well as interviews with “SNL” cast members and writers including Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, John Mulaney, Andy Samberg, Conan O’Brien and Chris Rock.
In the doc, Michaels, 81, tells Steve Martin over dinner at Orso in New York City that he has no plans to retire.
During his introduction of the screening, Mulaney said, “I don’t think Lorne Michaels is ever going to leave, but obviously a lot of people are excited – which lucky duck will get to run that show at a third of the salary with none of the stature?”
On the red carpet, Neville said that he may have gotten unprecedented access to the famously private Michaels, but he wasn’t able to crack him on two subjects. “He didn’t want to talk about his family,” Neville said. “And he didn’t want to talk about how much money has. But he’s done alright. I don’t know if you’ve heard.”
“Lorne” is in theaters on April 17.
See more photos from the “Lorne” premiere below.
Morgan Neville, Donna Langley and Lorne Michaels and Steven Spielberg
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Jon Hamm and Anna Osceola
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Laraine Newman and Steven Weber
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Owen Wilson
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Vanessa Bayer and Kyle Mooney
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Rob Morrow and Tu Simone
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Susan Yeagley and Kevin Nealon
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Chris Parnell
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variety.com
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