Moviefone Editorial

Tag: kate mckinnon

  • Leslie Jones Is Leaving ‘SNL,’ Kate McKinnon Confirmed to Return

    Leslie Jones Is Leaving ‘SNL,’ Kate McKinnon Confirmed to Return

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    Yesterday, “Saturday Night Live” revealed an exciting lineup for the beginning of its upcoming 45th season. But now, we have news that one of the show’s stars will not be there to participate in the fun.

    Multiple outlets have confirmed that Leslie Jones will be leaving “SNL,” after five years with the long-running sketch comedy series. According to Deadline, Jones made the decision to depart herself, opting out of her seven-year contract to focus on a number of upcoming film projects (including a role in the “Coming to America” sequel) and a new stand-up special for Netflix.

    The comedian earned two Supporting Actress Emmy nominations for her work on “SNL” (and is a current Emmy nominee for co-writing an original song for a digital short) which she joined in 2014 initially as a writer, before several buzzy appearances on Weekend Update bumped her up to cast member status. She went on to star in several films, including “The Angry Birds Movie 2,” “Top Five” with Chris Rock, and the 2016 “Ghostbusters” reboot, throughout her “SNL” tenure.

    Jones’s costar in that latter flick, Kate McKinnon, is also one of her “SNL” cast mates, and was also on the bubble to return for next season, thanks to her bustling film career. But thankfully, the two-time Emmy winner has officially signed on to come back for season 45, though Deadline says that it remains to be seen whether she will be a full-time cast member or only appear sporadically. (Our fingers are crossed for lots of McKinnon in the coming months.)

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, it’s not clear yet whether “SNL” will hire a replacement for Jones, though its cast is already quite large. The stars that will be returning this season are Beck Bennett, Aidy Bryant (whose future was uncertain after her Hulu series, “Shrill,” was renewed), Michael Che, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Colin Jost, McKinnon, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson (who is seemingly always rumored to be leaving), and Melissa Villasenor; featured players Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, and Chris Redd will also be back.

    Season 45 of “Saturday Night Live” premieres on NBC on September 28.

    [via: Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter]

  • Kate McKinnon to Star as Elizabeth Holmes in Hulu’s ‘The Dropout’

    Kate McKinnon to Star as Elizabeth Holmes in Hulu’s ‘The Dropout’

    The Spy Who Dumped Me trailer still
    Lionsgate Movies/YouTube

    The strange story of Theranos and its now-notorious founder, Elizabeth Holmes, will be told again.

    Hulu is in the midst of closing a deal for the limited series “The Dropout,” Deadline reports. Holmes will be played by Kate McKinnon, who is also executive producing the Fox Searchlight TV project.

    There will reportedly be between six and 10 episodes in the miniseries, and it will be based on the ABC News/ABC Radio podcast of the same name. The “Dropout” podcast looked at Holmes, her wild success with Theranos, and then her subsequent fall from grace. Rebecca Jarvis, the host and creator of the podcast, is set to executive produce alongside McKinnon. Taylor Dunn and Victoria Thompson will serve as producers.

    Holmes’s story has drawn a lot of attention in recent years. She was at one time hailed as a revolutionary in medicine and technology, but has since been embroiled in scandal. The ex-CEO was indicted in June on multiple counts of committing wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She has pleaded not guilty, and her case is pending.

    Portraying Holmes will certainly be an interesting job for McKinnon. The project adds to the two-time Emmy-winning actress’s many film and TV roles. She recently appeared in the 2018 comedy flick “The Spy Who Dumped Me” and is one of current stars of “Saturday Night Live.”

    [via: Deadline]

  • Adam Driver’s ‘SNL’ Promo Suffers ‘Aladdin’ Sabotage

    Adam Driver’s ‘SNL’ Promo Suffers ‘Aladdin’ Sabotage

    Saturday Night Live promo, Adam Driver
    NBC

    Adam Driver is returning to “Saturday Night Live” this weekend to launch Season 44.

    You remember his instant classic “Undercover Boss” sketch, right? My God that was perfect.

    That “Star Wars” spoof is not referenced in Driver’s first “SNL” promo. Most of his other sketches are ignored, too, much to Driver’s frustration. The only one that gets mentioned is his “Aladdin” bit with Cecily Strong, recycling the same “I can show you the world” clip with over and over and over.

    Apparently it’s Kate McKinnon‘s fault. She “sabotaged” Driver’s promo out of jealousy. Let the woman sing!

    Watch to the very end, ’cause the “Help!” yell might be the best part:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8UNJZZAq5s

    The uber-earnest black-and-white promo is a perfect fit for Driver’s deadpan humor. This *should* be a great first episode. Driver shares the limelight with Kanye West as musical guest, plus one new cast member, a bunch of new writers, and whoever shows up for the cold open.

    “Saturday Night Live” Season 44 premieres Saturday, Sept. 29 at 11:29 p.m. on NBC.

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  • Kate Mckinnon Joins Movie About 2016 Fox News Scandal

    Kate Mckinnon Joins Movie About 2016 Fox News Scandal

    Kate McKinnon in Rough Night
    Columbia Pictures’

    The still-untitled movie about the Fox News sexual harassment scandal just keeps adding big names.

    Kate McKinnon is the latest star to join the Annapurna Pictures drama, Deadline reports. She joins the likes of Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Allison Janney, Margot Robbie, and John Lithgow. The script comes from Academy Award winner Charles Randolph, and Jay Roach is directing.

    The film centers on the problems at Fox News under its former chairman and CEO Roger Ailes and on the women who spoke out against him. Their allegations led to Ailes’s resignation in 2016 after numerous claims came to light (he denied them). As such, many of film’s characters are based on actual people, such as Ailes (Lithgow), Megyn Kelly (Theron), and Gretchen Carlson (Kidman). That’s not the case for McKinnon’s character, though. She’ll play a fictional producer.

    McKinnon most recently appeared in “The Spy Who Dumped Me” and is best known as a comedy actress. However, she’ll get a chance to play a very different kind of role in the Fox News drama.

    A release date for the upcoming project has not yet been announced.

    [via: Deadline]

  • Watch the Hilarious ‘SNL’ Season 43 Blooper Reel

    NBC

    “Saturday Night Live” features plenty of bloopers during its live broadcasts (everyone breaking during an especially insane Kate McKinnon performance, for example), but there are lots of behind-the-scenes outtakes, too, thanks to the show’s pre-taped digital content. And thankfully, the “SNL” team saved a bunch of them from the recently-wrapped 43rd season, and packaged them into one handy, hilarious blooper reel for your viewing pleasure.

    The clip features a bunch of celebrity guest hosts (including just-announced Emmy nominees Donald Glover and Bill Hader) as well as regular cast members (fellow Emmy nominees McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Leslie Jones, and Kenan Thompson) completely flubbing lines, or just straight-up dissolving into giggles. It’s classic blooper reel stuff, and it’s all pretty wonderful.

    Some of the moments are expected (Thompson, Glover, and Chris Redd can’t stop laughing about their ridiculous chains in the “Friendos” video), others are sort of awkward (Charles Barkley really enjoys using the F-word to express frustration). One of the most prescient mistakes comes at the tail end of the clip, when Bryant accidentally says “Welcome to sh*t” instead of “Welcome to hell” while filming the pop anthem send-up about female sexual harassment. Bryant’s version of the line is pretty accurate, too.

    Watch the clip above and just try not to bust out laughing yourself.

  • ‘The Spy Who Dumped Me’ Trailer: Mila Kunis, Kate McKinnon Meet ‘the Beyonce of the Government’

    There’s a lot of action coming our way this summer, and the trailers are getting us more and more pumped.

    Lionsgate Films dropped its latest preview for “The Spy Who Dumped Me” on Thursday. The video shows off more of Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon as Audrey and Morgan, two friends who get tied up (literally) in some action-heavy adventures thanks to a CIA agent ex-boyfriend. There are some perks to it, though: Along the way, they meet very interesting people. In particular, there’s a funny scene in which the two encounter Gillian Anderson‘s character, a woman in charge.

    “What? You’re the boss? And yet you have not sacrificed one ounce of femininity,” McKinnon’s character, Morgan, marvels. “That is the Beyoncé of the government.”

    Watch below.

    In addition to Kunis, McKinnon, and Anderson, the movie also stars Justin Theroux, Hasan Minhaj, Ivanna Sakhno, and Sam Heughan.

    “The Spy Who Dumped Me” hits theaters Aug. 3.

  • ‘The Spy Who Dumped Me’ Trailer Forces Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon to Flee Assassins

    Think your breakup was bad? It’s nothing compared to what Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon experience in “The Spy Who Dumped Me.”

    The actresses debuted the first trailer for their action comedy on “The Ellen Show.” Kunis plays a woman who just got broken up with her boyfriend (Justin Theroux) — who turns to be an undercover CIA agent. So that explains the ghosting!

    He shows up at the apartment she shares with McKinnon, assassins on his trail. Now, the women are forced to flee, too.

    As the best friends go on the run across Europe, they’re forced to become quasi-agents themselves. There are explosions, car chases, sequined gowns, and swallowing of USB drives. The trailer itself starts with a fun play on the James Bond movie “The Spy Who Loved Me.”

    “The Spy Who Dumped Me” opens in theaters August 3.

  • Ruth Bader Ginsburg Is a Fan of Kate McKinnon’s ‘SNL’ Impression

    Among Saturday Night Live,” her feisty impression of Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a highlight. And it turns out that the real RBG is big fan of her small screen portrayal — and equally fond of the term “Gins-burn.”

    The justice offered her thoughts on the subject during an interview with Nina Totenberg at the Sundance Film Festival this weekend, where she was promoting the upcoming documentary about her life, “RBG.” Talk eventually turned to “SNL,” and Totenberg asked Ginsburg for her thoughts on McKinnon’s impression, which the justice had not seen until the “RBG” documentary crew played her footage from the sketch series.

    “I liked the actress who played me,” Ginsburg told Totenberg, before trying her hand at her small screen alter ego’s signature catchphrase. “And I would like to say ‘Gins-Burn!’ sometimes to my colleagues.”

    We have to imagine that somewhere, McKinnon is squealing with delight. And we’re pretty impressed with Ginsburg’s “Gins-burn” delivery. Fingers crossed that “SNL” producers are already frantically trying to book the justice for an appearance alongside McKinnon during a future Weekend Update segment.

    [via: Kate McKinnon News/Twitter, h/t HuffPost Entertainment]

  • Watch Jessica Chastain, Kate McKinnon Feud in New ‘SNL’ Promo

    It’s an actress-versus-actress showdown in the latest “Saturday Night Live” promo.

    Two-time Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain is set to host this week’s upcoming Season 43 episode, so she got ready by rumbling with “SNL” cast member Kate McKinnon. In the short video, the two actresses circled one another and flexed their comedy muscles. Each warned that they’d been busy learning the other’s work, which meant nailing impersonations of Hillary Clinton, Kellyanne Conway, and Jeff Sessions for Chastain and being able to do the titular character from the crime drama film “Molly’s Game” for McKinnon.

    The two continued to try to intimidate other until their silly (but also funny) feud came to an abrupt end — and a new one began. Watch the promo below.

    In addition to starring Chastain as host, this week’s episode will feature Troye Sivan as the musical guest.

    “SNL” airs live Saturdays on both coasts at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Watch Kate McKinnon Demonstrate Her Fantastic Gal Gadot Impression

    “Saturday Night Live” star can do. The comedian showed off a new impersonation on Tuesday that was just as good.

    As a guest on “The Tonight Show,” McKinnon talked to host Jimmy Fallon about recent “SNL” hosts, including Gal Gadot. After joking that the “Wonder Woman” star is “not that special,” McKinnon shared what an “impact” Gadot really made during her time on the show.

    “Everything she says is like a prophecy. … Everything she said was magic,” McKinnon said.

    She gave Fallon some examples of what they talked about, impersonating Gadot to show what she meant. There were some gems — on topics as varied as the beach and personal finance — and they were made all the better by McKinnon’s spot-on impression.

    Watch below.

    “The Tonight Show” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on NBC, and “SNL” airs live on both coasts on Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET, also on NBC.