Lorne Michaels stars in director Morgan Neville’s documentary ‘Lorne.’ (Focus Features)
For decades, Lorne Michaels has made America laugh as the man behind the scenes of NBC’s Saturday Night Live. But for the most part he’s remained just that, behind the scenes.
The new documentary Lorne aims to change that, although its director, Morgan Neville, tells ABC Audio Michaels didn’t make it easy.
“I mean, the first day of shooting is literally what you see in the documentary, which is the cameras come out of the bags and Lorne vanishes,” Neville says. “Slowly, we got closer and closer. It was like making a nature documentary, and he kind of became a little more used to it.”
But while Michaels didn’t like talking about himself, plenty of people had no problem talking about him, with Michaels’ famous friends and colleagues, like Paul Simon, Steve Martin, Tina Fey, John Mulaney, Adam Sandler and more, contributing to the film.
“People do love to talk about Lorne, because for all of them, he looms large in their own stories,” says Neville. “You know, for a lot of them, he’s the reason they became famous or successful.”
The film also takes viewers inside the making of SNL, with cameras filming parts of the process most regular folks never get to witness.
Neville says the SNL footage was important because the film’s “not just Lorne’s backstory, but the dynamics he’s created and really the culture,” noting he wanted to capture that “while it still exists.”
And while moviegoers will indeed learn a lot about Michaels, they may still come away thinking he’s a bit of a mystery, and Neville’s OK with that.
“You know, Lorne is the Wizard of Oz, and on the one hand you want to learn about the Wizard of Oz,” he says, “but you also don’t want to demystify him to the point where he’s not the wizard anymore.”
Christopher Meloni is bidding farewell to his character Elliot Stabler, the Law & Order detective that he has been playing since 1999. After the news that Law & Order: Organized Crime had been canceled, Meloni took to Instagram to thank his fans for their many years of support. “I had a great time playing him. It was a great ride. Thank you. You helped give me a career that I never dreamed of, nearly 17 odd years,” Meloni said in the video …
Christine Baranski and Richard E. Grant are heading to the West End. Variety reports that the actors are set to star in a new production of Noel Coward’s Hay Fever in London’s Wyndham’s Theatre. Baranski, a two-time Tony winner, will make her West End debut playing Judith Bliss while Grant will star as David Bliss in the comedy of errors …
In other West End news, another upcoming production is getting some major star power. White Rabbit Red Rabbit is set to return to London with guest performers including David Tennant, Riz Ahmed, Luke Thompson and Jodie Whittaker, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show will run at the Duchess Theatre from June to November …
Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly in ‘Ransom Canyon’ season 2. (Netflix)
We now know when to expect season 2 of Ransom Canyon.
Netflix has announced that the second season of its Western drama series will debut to the streaming service on July 23.
Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly once again star in the new season of the series, which is set against the sweeping vistas of Texas Hill Country. The show follows the lives of the families who live in the small, interconnected town where everybody knows everyone else’s business.
Season 2 starts with a six-month time jump after the events of season 1. It finds “Staten Kirkland (Duhamel) fighting to reclaim his legacy after being unseated as trustee of his family’s Double K Ranch, while musician Quinn O’Grady (Kelly) must decide if her heart truly belongs in the small town she once tried to outrun or in the fast-paced world of New York City,” according to its official synopsis. “Are they star-crossed lovers, or fated to be together? In Ransom Canyon, true love stories are messy, complicated, and always worth the wait.”
April Blair serves as the creator, executive producer and showrunner of Ransom Canyon. Season 2 will consist of eight brand-new episodes.
Lizzy Greene, Garrett Wareing, Jack Schumacher, Marianly Tejada, Casey W. Johnson, Patricia Clarkson and Ben Robson also star in the new season.
