James Franco filmed a documentary about the inner-workings of "Saturday Night Live" back in 2008. The show gave him unprecedented, behind-the-scenes access and audiences will finally see his finished project this Friday.
Hulu will host the premiere of Franco's film "Saturday Night" on Sept. 26. The movie follows the making of one episode, from the Monday pitch meeting to the Saturday goodnights. The filmmaker shot his footage the week John Malkovich hosted with musical guest T.I.
"The SNL DOCUMENTARY is finally coming out!!! On HULU! This FRIDAY!" Franco captioned an Instagram photo of him mid-yell.
Cast members at the time included Fred Armisen, Will Forte, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis and Kenan Thompson. The episode also marked the return of Amy Poehler from her maternity leave. Thompson and Bobby Moynihan are the only cast members still on the show who appear in the documentary.
Franco shot the documentary while attending New York University as a graduate student. The film made its debut at the TriBeCa Film Festival in 2010 and South By Southwest had to add extra screenings due to its popularity, Franco told the Huffington Post last year.
"It's something I'm very proud of and it got a great response at the festivals we took it to," Franco said. "It's one of those projects that I had to be... not sneaky, but the way I got that access, I had to go and shoot before I had everything signed off."
NBC proved toughest for final sign-off due to "some big turnover of executives," according to Franco. He was most likely referring to the departure of former NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker in 2010.
Franco has hosted SNL twice and credited his "good relationship" with creator Lorne Michaels for granting him permission to shoot the documentary, he told Huffington Post.
