This SNL sketch earned Chloe Fineman a blockbuster role

Chloe Fineman is part of the current Saturday Night Live roster. She's proven herself to be one of the most notable cast members, through both her excellent timing and the surprisingly stacked list of films and shows that she's booked outside of the show.

One of her most notable roles to date is in the upcoming historical epic Megalopolis. Fineman will be part of a star-studded ensemble that boasts Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Shia LaBeouf, Aubrey Plaza and Jon Voight among countless others. And Fineman would have never got it had the film's director, Francis Ford Coppola, not seen her in a random SNL sketch.

Chloe Fineman was cast after a 2019 sketch

Fineman recounted the sketch, and the subsequent offer during a recent interview with Variety. She told the outlet that the sketch in question aired in 2019, and was based around her impression of the first lady, Melania Trump. Apparently, Coppola was impressed:

"It was 2019. I was [performing a sketch of] Ivana Trump and Melania FaceTiming. And I guess Francis was there, and he offered it from my weird Melania thing."

Fineman was thrilled by the offer, and noted that career breaks can often come at unexpected times. "Sometimes people go to weird shows that you don’t expect," she explained. "You just never know who’s there."

The actress prefers doing drama to comedy

While Fineman has made her name as a comedian and SNL standout, she told the outlet that she actually prefers acting in dramatic films like Megaloplis and 2022's Babylon. It is her primary passion as a performer (say that five times fast):

"I weirdly feel more at home in the acting stuff, because I’m really late in life to comedy. I didn’t get ‘SNL’ until 30. So for me, it was back to what I love."

While it may have be tonally different from SNL, Fineman's experience on the sketch show was a huge benefit on the set of Megalopolis. Cast members like Aubrey Plaza revealed that Coppola pushed for lots of improvisation during scenes, which proved difficult given the machinations of the plot.

Megalopolis will be released in theaters on September 27.