Pete Davidson is notably absent from the new documentary about SNL boss Lorne Michaels. Morgan Neville, who explored the history of the famed creator, explained recently why Pete Davidson was not a part of the documentary. Many other SNL veterans like Tina Fey, Chris Rock, Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien, Maya Rudolph, and Andy Samberg made appearances in the documentary.
Here’s why Pete Davidson wasn’t in Lorne documentary
Morgan Neville’s Lorne featured an in-depth look at Lorne Michaels, the creator and producer of SNL, one of the most renowned shows in the history of television. The documentary featured interviews with many of the prominent SNL veterans. These include Tina Fey, Chris Rock, Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien, Maya Rudolph, and Andy Samberg, but Pete Davidson was notably missing from this lineup.
Morgan Neville explained to PEOPLE why Davidson was not around. “I interviewed so many people for the film, and at a certain point, after I’d interviewed [John] Mulaney and he had said everything he had said, I just didn’t know where we were gonna put more voices,” Neville said. “It just felt like it was full, you know?”
The director also said that as he interviewed many of the alumni, he could not ascertain “where anything’s gonna fit.” He added, “That was the hard part…It was like an embarrassment of riches, that you could interview a thousand people about Lorne Michaels. So many people have stories.”
Neville also said that Davidson was busy during the production of the documentary.
“I was just trying to distill his essence into a film,” Neville said, “A lot of those stories are not about Lorne — they’re about those people.”
The director also asserted that he wanted to avoid too many anecdotes about the show. He wanted to narrow it down to the creator and his story. “I just wanted to make sure I was staying on Lorne’s story and not other people’s stories,” Neville explained, “Because there are stories everywhere and it’s huge. There are thousand-page books about the show. So, it’s really just trying to get that essence of what makes him tick that I was just zeroed in on.”
Lorne is currently playing in theatres across the United States.
