EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-nominated actor Willem Dafoe is set to join the ensemble cast of of Sony Pictures’ SNL 1975 (working title), which will be directed by Jason Reitman and based on the real-life behind-the-scenes accounts of the opening episode of Saturday Night Live. Reitman and Gil Kenan penned the script.
Dafoe will play David Tebet.
On October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. SNL 1975 is the true story of what happened behind the scenes that night in the moments leading up to the first broadcast of NBC’s Saturday Night Live. It depicts the chaos and magic of a revolution that almost wasn’t, counting down the minutes in real time to the infamous words, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”
The screenplay is based on an extensive series of interviews conducted by Reitman and Kenan with all the living cast members, writers and crew. Reitman, Kenan, Jason Blumenfeld, Erica Mills and Peter Rice are producing.
With over 150 films to his name, Dafoe has been recognized with four Academy Award nominations, including Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Oliver Stone’s Platoon; E. Elias Merhige’s Shadow of The Vampire; Sean Baker’s The Florida Project; and Best Leading Actor for Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate. He recently starred in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Academy Award nominated Poor Things; Asteroid City, his fifth collaboration with Wes Anderson; Saverio Costanzo’s Finalmente L’alba; and leant his voice to the English-language version of Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award winner The Boy and The Heron. He will next be seen in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice; Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness; Isaiah Saxon’s fantasy epic The Legend of Ochi; Olmo Schnabel’s Pet Shop Days; Patricia Arquette’s Gonzo Girl; and Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, marking his third collaboration with the director. He recently wrapped lensing Nadia Latif’s The Man in My Basement and will soon begin American Nails, his eighth collaboration with Abel Ferrara.
He is repped by WME and Circle of Confusion.