NBC/Frank Ockenfels(NEW YORK) — Looking forward to seeing Alec Baldwin play Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live‘s season premiere this weekend? You can thank Tina Fey.
In a wide-ranging interview about the 42-season-old sketch show, creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels told The Hollywood Reporter, “We were talking about who should do it. And she said, ‘Well, the person that should really play it is Alec.’ And I went, ‘Yeah!’ A light went on.”
Fey and Baldwin of course co-starred in Fey’s sitcom 30 Rock for seven seasons.
Michaels explained, “There were a lot of obstacles in the way to working it out,” noting Baldwin’s schedule and that of his then-pregnant wife, Hilaria. “But I just thought he’d be brilliant doing it and I thought he and Kate [McKinnon] would be a match.”
Just-released cast member Taran Killam previously played the reality star-turned presidential hopeful, though former cast member-turned SNL announcer Darryl Hammond has also played The Donald.
As a preview earlier this week hinted, Baldwin’s Trump will face off against McKinnon’s Hillary Clintonin a mock-up about the pair’s presidential debate. Michaels says fans won’t be disappointed.
“[T]he read-through was really funny. Whether it’s Bush-Gore or Ford-Carter, it’s getting a take. It’s much more in the writing than almost anything else. You have to stand back enough from the actual event and find a take on it that you think is funny and smart…Hopefully we did.”
Saturday Night Live returns at 11:30 p.m. Eastern on NBC.
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