Jason Priestley to direct biopic about late ‘SNL’ star Phil Hartman biopic

TORONTO – Jason Priestley has been tapped to direct a biopic about late comedian Phil Hartman.

The movie is tentatively titled “Nice Guy Phil” and will feature actor Daran Norris as the “Saturday Night Live” star.

Producer Tyler Levine says Norris’s similarity to Hartman is “uncanny.”

Priestley adds that he met Hartman, a Brantford, Ont.-native, when he hosted “SNL” in 1995.

He called the comic “a hero of mine.”

The screenplay comes from actor Jonas Chernick and the film will be shot in Canada and the United States with production slated for next summer.

“Knowing I was a Canadian like him, Phil treated me differently. He was a hero of mine. Still is. I’m excited to tell his story,” Priestley said Thursday in a release.