Garrett Morris Reveals the Advice He Gave Actor Who Will Play Him in Upcoming “SNL ”Film (Exclusive)

"He has to be a guy who's dealing with some young people," the star told PEOPLE about Lamorne Morris' portrayal of him

Lamorne Morris has some big shoes to fill — but he's ready.

At the American Black Film Festival Honors in Los Angeles on Sunday, original Saturday Night Live cast member Garrett Morris told PEOPLE about the advice he gave New Girl alum Lamorne (no relation) about playing him in the upcoming SNL film, titled 1975.

"We talked about it. He has to be a guy who's dealing with some young people," said Garrett, 87, who was one of the honorees at the Sunday evening event. "When I was inside in that life, I was 39 years old and the rest [of the cast], they had just come out of high school and college."

"The Black thing is you take longer to do what the younger White people do, and you usually have to do it two or three times as good," he continued, adding of his conversation with the "wonderful" Lamorne, 40, "We talked about that and he already told me he's going to play it like that — an older Black guy who's dealing with these younger guys. I said, 'Wow, man.' "

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories.

Related: The Cast of 'Saturday Night Live': Everything to Know

Asked about his early days as a player on SNL, Garrett told PEOPLE that what he remembers most is "fighting to get somebody to write for me," adding that "it was very hard" and "took me a long time to get a couple of people to actually write for me."

"Chevy Chase did, a guy named Alan Zweibel did," he continued. "But it took a little time to make that happen, because some of the writers were — strangely enough, in the show that was advanced and most people got it on the racial level, some of the writers were not as progressive as they should be."

Of being honored at Sunday's event, Garrett said he feels "full" and that it's "great that the ABFF has done this for me."

"And the fact that I'm on stage with Jeffrey Wright, Taraji Henson and [Mara Brock] Akil. People have watched their careers, so I'm just happy to be here," he added.

Related: Catch Up on Every Host and Musical Guest of SNL Season 49 — So Far

Garrett was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Feb. 1 — his 87th birthday! — and joked to PEOPLE at the ceremony that despite not receiving the honor until he was 87 years old, "Whenever it comes is all right. I'm grateful."

He also opened up in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE published two days later about his 40-year cocaine addiction, surviving a 1994 gunshot wound and more, including his feelings about being portrayed onscreen in the upcoming 1975 movie, directed by Jason Reitman.

"Michael B. Jordan could play me," Garrett joked before the casting news was announced.

Nearly 50 years after he rose to fame on SNL, Garrett told PEOPLE he's nothing but grateful for everything, and hopes to tell his full story in an autobiography.

"I'm working on it now," he said, adding, "There's a lot more to talk about!"

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.