For his Emmy-winning performance as Deputy Witt Farr in “Fargo,” Lamorne Morris underwent a complete physical transformation. In his latest role, he is much closer to himself.
The Chicago-born actor plays Garrett Morris (no relation) in “Saturday Night,” the Jason Reitman-directed feature film about the birth of “Saturday Night Live,” released Oct. 11. The elder Morris was the first black cast member on the legendary comedy show, an experience the younger Morris identified with.
While playing the only black lead on the sitcom “New Girl,” she told the Washington Post in an interview published Tuesday, fans often told her, “Oh, I know that show. You’re the black guy.”
Lamorne Morris joined the cast of “New Girl” shortly after Damon Wayans Jr., who played the coach in the show's pilot, exited due to scheduling conflicts. Early in production, the newcomer was often frustrated by the writers' blurred view of his character, Winston Bishop, which he found difficult to believe was not personal.
“The first two years of 'New Girl,'” he told the Post, “I was like, 'What am I doing?'”
The “Woke” star said he imagines his character on “Saturday Night” asking himself the same question half a century ago, the night “SNL” debuted. Garrett Morris, then a 37-year-old playwright and singer, was decades older than most of his castmates and the only black member of the show's creative team.
“With 'Saturday Night Live,' all of a sudden I was representing Black,” Garrett told Lamorne in a Variety interview published on Saturday. The conversation was not the couple's first, because despite the wishes of “Saturday Night” director Jason Reitman, they were in contact before filming even began.
“Jason didn't want us to contact the real actors. His thing was that you are an actor. You know what to do,” Lamorne Morris said. “But I called Garrett anyway.”
During several subsequent phone and Zoom calls, the two learned that “they shared a very, very similar walk,” he said.
In the words of Reitman, the “Fargo” actor “was born to play this role.”
“Lamorne just inherently understood that search for identity that Garrett was going through,” the director told the Post, adding that Morris brought a sincerity to his performance that makes for one of the film's most compelling character arcs.
Luckily for the actor, who as a child admired Garrett Morris so much that I used to tell people that they were relatedhis performance also landed on the “SNL” alum himself.
Watching the film, Garrett Morris said, was “a very cathartic experience.”
