House of Cards star campaigns to play Trump aide Stephen Miller on SNL
Michael Kelly portrays Frank Underwood's infamous right-hand man, Doug Stamper, on Emmy contender House of Cards, but he's vying for another politically charged role these days: Stephen Miller. Even more specifically, Stephen Miller on Saturday Night Live.
As the Trump adviser's name came up in reports about a possible replacement for the White House communications director, Kelly tweeted at the late-night sketch comedy series about his hope for the upcoming season. "Oh please oh please I might finally get my shot at @nbcsnl #StephenMiller," the actor wrote.
David Giesbrecht/Netflix; Alex Wong/Getty Images
As it happens, Kelly planted the idea of portraying Miller when he tweeted to the official feed for "Weekend Update" back in February. "If you happen to need someone I'm around," he wrote next to a side-by-side comparison of Stamper and Miller. "Just sayin."
He also pitched the idea of channeling Trump superfan Gene Huber, a role he'd be "thrilled to play."
Kelly's not the only one taking a grassroots route. Zach Braff also made a plea to play Miller on social media, writing earlier this week, "Dear Lorne Michaels, I can do this. Put me in Coach."
SNL producer Lindsay Shookus explained to The Hollywood Reporter in a March story, "We've gotten a lot of pitches from people, big people, like, I can play this person on the Cabinet, or I can play this person. It's in the vein of Melissa and Alec [Baldwin] and Larry David, and it's never happened before. We got a lot of Kellyanne [Conway] and [Steve] Bannon pitches. But the casting has to make sense. You don't want to make a splash to make a splash. That's not what we do."
Since SNL went on hiatus after the season 42 finale, Sean Spicer, famously portrayed by Melissa McCarthy, departed his post as White House Press Secretary as President Trump ushered in Anthony Scaramucci. Mario Cantone filled a void on The President Show by portraying the newly minted and then quickly ousted communications director. Cantone's character recently made his goodbyes to Anthony Atamanuik's Trump by delivering a smooch from "The Mooch."