John Mulaney And Bill Hader Dreamed Up An ‘SNL’ Movie For Stefon, But It’ll Probably Never Happen
Back whenBill Haderwas a cast member onSaturday Night Live, the character he became best known for playing was undoubtedly Stefon. The nightlife expert frequently appeared on Weekend Update to offer advice on New York’s hottest locations for various holidays and activities (even though he initially appearedin a completely different sketchwhen he was first created).
When Hader left the series in 2013, he was sent off with a wedding to his boy-toySeth Meyers. Stefon has returned a couple times since then just for fun, but according to formerSNLwriter and Stefon co-creator andJohn Mulaney(who justhosted SNL again recently), there was once the nugget of an idea to give Stefon more screen time with his own movie. Find out about theSaturday Night LiveStefon movie below.
John Mulaney recently appeared on theLate Night with Seth Meyerspodcast, and discussion inevitably turned to Stefon since they both have a history with the character. That’s where Mulaney revealed that there was a single discussion with Bill Hader about an idea for a Stefon movie, and it sounds like there was at least a solid premise and one hilarious idea forSNLcreatorLorne Michaelsto appear in the movie, but played by someone else. Mulaney explained (viaCollider):
“Bill Hader and I once had a discussion, only once, about making a feature film involving the character of Stefon. We avoided talking about it because we just avoided talking about it, we weren’t sure about it. But the one thing we were sure about was that the film would be kind of like24 Hour Party People, so like a narrative documentary where he is the correspondent onSaturday Night LiveWeekend Update, and the thing we were sure about was that Lorne would be played byGarry Marshall. And I think that was non-negotiable. He would say, ‘I’m Lorne Fucking Michaels and I run this town.'”
This would be the first time that aSaturday Night Livecharacter’s movie adaptation would have had the sketch series actually be part of their origin. That could have allowed for some unique comedic opportunities in the movie, including that hilarious idea about Lorne Michaels being played byPretty Womandirector Garry Marshall, who also had 84 acting credits to his name before he died in 2016.
Seth Meyers had his own idea of what he wanted to see happen in the Stefon movie, specifically with regards to what happens to this somewhat fictionalized version of himself:
“The only thing I wanted to have happen in that movie—and maybe it was Bill’s idea—was I wanted in the first scene to agree to go out with Stefon, and then a super-fast cut of us at all the clubs, and then I was then zipped into a body bag. So that would be the opening, and it would be zipped into a body bag, then it would pan up to Stefon saying, ‘He’s dead.’ And that would be it! Cause obviously Stefon would have to have a love interest, so get me out of the way.”
In the end though, it’s probably best that the narrative of Stefon was wrapped up on Hader’s last show when he and Seth Meyers finally got married. It allows Stefon to still come back toSNLoccasionally, and the character is probably best left with as little known or revealed about him as possible. Plus,SNLmovies arehit or miss anyway, so there’s no guarantee that this would have worked out. But if anyone could have made it work, it’s John Mulaney, Bill Hader, and Seth Meyers. Maybe we’ll still get to see it someday, but we won’t hold our breath.
