Directed and co-written by Jason Reitman, "Saturday Night" is based on the true story of what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live.
Full of laughs and chaos, the film counts down the minutes in real time until 11:30pm on October 11, 1975 when a troupe of young comedians and writers changed television – and culture – forever with those famous words…“Live From New York, it’s Saturday Night!”
Cory Michael Smith, who plays Chevy Chase, loved recreating Chase’s physical comedy. “He’s exquisite at pratfalls,” Smith says.
“When I watched his pratfalls, I found a few examples I really liked and tried to emulate those.” However, Smith was also mindful of Chase’s emotional journey. “This is a time in Chevy’s life when he became an overnight sensation,” he says. “So this film captures the moment before this man’s life changes in an extraordinary way. His story is about a man who dreams of being a superstar, but that brushes up against the reality of where he actually is in his career. His story is one of ego, I think.”
“I had two dreams as a kid,” says co-writer and director Jason Reitman. “To direct movies, and to be a writer for Saturday Night Live.” Reitman achieved his first dream when he directed Thank You For Smoking and Juno, but his second dream didn’t come true until 2008, when he spent a week at SNL as a guest writer and director. “It was everything I ever dreamed,” he says. “Writing till four in the morning. Wandering the halls of 30 Rock in the middle of the night. Hearing my sketch at the table read, and of course getting something on air. It was one of the most thrilling weeks of my life,” he continues.
“Any time I’ve tried to explain to someone what it was like to be there in the minutes leading up to air and watch it go live, I fail to find the words. Every department is working until the final minutes. Sets are being painted, clothes are being hemmed, wigs are being pinned, jokes are being rewritten. The stage and the cast and crew are quite intimate, but in the back of your head, you know that when the countdown reaches zero, this rag-tag show that came together in days will be broadcast to the entire country.”
