Bill Hader is leaving Saturday Night Live after eight wonderful seasons.  In all those years, Hader’s signature recurring character Stefon somehow never grew tired.  Hader and co-creator John Mulaney consistently kept the formula fresh, coming up with inspired club names, passwords, and characters for each new Weekend Update appearance.

In last night’s season finale—hosted by Ben Affleck, who also hosted when Stefon debuted—the writers of course had to bring back Stefon for a farewell appearance.  It puts a nice button on the romantic tension between Stefon and Update host Seth Meyers, and in doing so, assembles all the crazy characters (most of them midgets) Stefon has mentioned in his guide to New York nightlife.  Watch it after the jump.

Bittersweet news, folks.  After eight years on Saturday Night Live, castmember Bill Hader has announced that he will exit the series after the end of this current season.  Speaking with the New York Times, Hader explained, “It was a hard decision, but it has to happen at some point. It got to a point where I said, ‘Maybe it’s just time to go.’ ”  The actor has been a standout on the show since his first appearance in 2005, solidifying himself as one of the best impressionists in SNL history with dead-on portrayals of everyone from Alan Arkin to Vincent Price.  His original characters are highlights as well, with Stefon appearances on Weekend Update eliciting squeals from both the live audience and folks watching at home.  Hit the jump for more.

We’ve got a few casting stories to share this evening.  Briefly:

• The very funny Bill Hader is in talks to star in the indie comedy Lawless, produced by Mike White and David Bernad.
• Hailee Steinfeld has been tapped to star opposite Sam Worthington in director Phillip Noyce’s thriller For the Dogs.
• Billy Crystal will lead the retirement community sex comedy Winter’s Discontent for director Frank Oz.
• Shameless star Jeremy Allen White has landed the lead in DreamWorks’ found-footage time travel film Glimmer.

Hit the jump for more on all of the aforementioned films.

If I had to bet on a sleeper hit this summer, I’d put my money on The To Do List.  A sex comedy with an outstanding cast can really do well at the end of the summer (e.g. Superbad), and other than This Is the End, it’s hard to find a better group of comic actors in a movie this year.  The film stars Aubrey Plaza as a sexually inexperienced teenager with a type-A personality who decides to engage in numerous sex acts before she goes to college.  This clip highlights the benefits of drinking pineapple juice in order to improve the taste of semen.  In a missed opportunity, Dole did not provide product placement.

Hit the jump to check out the clip and a few images.  The terrific cast also includes Donald Glover, Rachel Bilson, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Alia Shawkat, Mae Whitman, Johnny Simmons, Connie Britton, Clark Gregg, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Scott Porter.  The To Do List opens August 16th.

A new trailer and poster have been released for DreamWorks Animation’s Turbo.  The story follows a snail (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) who dreams of being able to go fast, and gets his wish after a freak accident.  He then goes to pursue his dream of racing in the Indy 500.  The trailer looks cute, but I’m not sure if the movie has an antagonist.  I hope it’s salt.

Hit he jump to check out the trailer and poster.  The film also features the voices of Paul Giamatti, Michael Pena, Luis Guzmán, Bill Hader, Richard Jenkins, Ken Jeong, Michelle Rodriguez, Maya Rudolph, Ben Schwartz, Kurtwood Smith, Snoop Dogg, and Samuel L. Jackson.  Turbo opens in 3D on July 19th.

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby has an intriguing premise.  It is a double feature that explores “how a married couple in New York City deals with an emotional, life-altering experience, from two different perspectives.”  The perspective of the husband (James McAvoy), a restaurateur, is seen in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him, while the story of the wife (Jessica Chastain), who is going back to school, is told in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her.  The first images from the film have been released, and we can see one of the ways writer/director Ned Benson has chosen to approach the project.

Hit the jump for more.  The film also stars Viola Davis, Bill Hader, William Hurt, Isabelle Huppert, Ciarin Hinds, and Jess Weixler. [Update: We've taken down the images at the request of the production company.]

Sony Pictures has released the first trailer for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.  The plot revolves around Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) and Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) returning to Swallow Falls to clean up the mess created by the FLDSMDFR, only to find that food is now taking on the form of mutant beasts.  I laughed a lot during this trailer, but keep in mind that I love puns, so I crack up when the beasts are called “Mosquitoast” and “Shrimpanzees”.  The trailer also shows off the strange, offbeat humor that made the first film such a delight.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also features the voices of Andy Samberg, Benjamin Bratt, Terry Crews, and Neil Patrick Harris.  Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 opens in 3D on September 27th.

Earlier today, The Wrap reported Bill Hader was going to star in Paramount’s Baywatch movie that’s being directed by Reno 911! co-creator and star Robert Ben Garant.  They said he would be playing the role David Hasselhoff played on the long running TV series.  However, when I reached out to confirm the story, Hader’s rep (who also reps Garant)  told me it wasn’t true and the script isn’t even finished yet.  According to The Wrap, the Baywatch movie will “follow lifeguards exploring an oil rig of the Malibu coast that turns out to be a meth lab. Jeremy Garelick and Peter Tolan both wrote drafts of the script, which Garant has revisited.”

I’m a huge Bill Hader fan and would love to see him take the lead in a big Hollywood movie.  However, I’m not convinced this is the right project.  More as we hear it.

The first teaser trailer and poster for DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming racing movie Turbo have been released.  The story centers on a snail who, after miraculously attaining the power of super-speed, decides to fulfill his dream of racing in the Indy 500.  I got a kick out of the fact that The Chromatics’ “Tick of the Clock,” which was memorably used in last year’s decidedly violent Drive, opens this trailer, followed by another appropriately titled song from Cake.  This is very much a teaser trailer so we don’t see much by way of plot, but the brief bit of racing sequences look pretty impressive and Ryan Reynolds does a fine job with the snail’s comedy.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer, and click here to read Dave’s recap of the recent DreamWorks Animation presentation which included footage from Turbo.  The film also features the voices of Paul Giamatti, Michael Pena, Luis Guzmán, Bill Hader, Richard Jenkins, Ken Jeong, Michelle Rodriguez, Maya Rudolph, Ben Schwartz, Kurtwood Smith, Snoop Dogg, and Samuel L. Jackson.  Turbo opens in 3D on July 19, 2013.

One of the best comedic creations from Saturday Night Live’s recent years has to be Bill Hader’s City Correspondent, Stefon. Guesting on the Weekend Update segments, Stefon gives viewers info on the hottest clubs in New York, where to find them, how to get in and what you can expect to see there. For example: “New York’s hottest club is Ounce. Located in the middle of the East River, this place has everything: cholos, puke people, [and] a sheepdog that looks like Bruce Vilanch.” If you’re interested in hearing about how Hader and the SNL creative team write for Stefon, hit the jump to watch his recent interview.

Saturday Night Live alumni Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids) and Bill Hader (Superbad) are set to reunite in The Skeleton Twins. The indie comedy, produced in part by Jay and Mark Duplass of Duplass Brothers Productions, will co-star Luke Wilson (Old School); Craig Johnson (True Adolescents) will direct from a script he co-wrote with BAFTA-nominated screenwriter, Mark Heyman (Black Swan).  The Skeleton Twins will team up the Adventureland duo as two estranged twins who reunite after cheating death and are forced to confront their pasts.  Hit the jump for more.

It looks like Larry David’s comedy feature set up to debut on HBO finally has a name: Clear History.  More important than that oddly ambiguous title is the all-star cast that David and director Greg Mottola (Superbad) have lined up.  We previously reported that Jon Hamm (Mad Men) and Michael Keaton (Batman) were attached to star, but a slew of others have joined the production.  Clear History will also feature Kate Hudson, Bill Hader, Amy Ryan, Eva Mendes, JB Smoove, Danny McBride and Phillip Michael Hall.  Hit the jump for more on Clear History.

The debut red-band trailer for the R-rated comedy The To Do List (previously titled The Hand Job) has landed online, and it’s wonderfully filthy.  The film stars Aubrey Plaza as a sexually inexperienced teenager with a type-A personality who decides to engage in numerous sex acts before she goes to college.  The trailer is very explicit about said acts, but never veers into “too awkward to watch” territory.  Plaza is spot-on as the lead, and she’s buoyed by a ridiculously amazing supporting cast that includes Donald Glover, Rachel Bilson, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Alia Shawkat, Mae Whitman, Johnny Simmons, Connie Britton, Clark Gregg, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Scott Porter.  Seriously, this ensemble is stacked and they all look to be bringing their A-game.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer, then make your Valentine’s Day plans accordingly.  Written and directed by Maggie Carey, the film opens on February 14th, 2013.

I love Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and I have high expectations for the upcoming sequel, Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers.  Details on the film have been scarce, but now EW is reporting that the plot revolves around Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) and Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) returning to Swallow Falls to clean up the mess created by the FLDSMDFR only to find that food is now taking on the form of mutant beasts.  “Magically, every creature is a combination of a food item and an animal that results in just a cringeworthy pun,” says producer Kirk Bodyfelt.  As a fan of cringeworthy puns, this makes me even more excited for the flick.

Hit the jump for more.  Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers opens in 3D on February 7, 2014.

Earlier this year, we reported on Ned Benson‘s fascinating double-feature The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby.  The film show how a married couple in New York City deals with an emotional, life-altering experience, from two different perspectives. The perspective of the husband (James McAvoy) is seen in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him, while the story of the wife (Jessica Chastain) is told in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her.  The conflict arises when the wife tells her New York restaurateur husband that she wants to go back to college.  I assume her studies will examine the origins of isolated people.

Today, Screen Daily [via The Playlist] is reporting that Viola Davis, Bill Hader, William Hurt, Isabelle Huppert, Ciarin Hinds, and Jess Weixler have joined the cast.  There’s currently no word on who these actors will play or if they’ll appear in one or both movies, but Eleanor Rigby definitely has a terrific line-up.  Filming is currently underway in New York.