These five words may not seem to go together at first glance, but they perfectly sum up the rollercoaster ride that is the new film Saturday Night. Told in real time, the film takes us back to 1975 when a determined Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) wrangles a motley crew of young comedians to change comedy television for the next 50 seasons – and beyond. I sat down with writers Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan to find out how they managed to put together such a turbulent, riotous movie about this beloved NBC institution.
Saturday Night takes place in the 90 minutes before the show Saturday Night Live is set to go live on air for the very first time. For director and co-writer Reitman, the decision to tell the story came from his own personal experience when he was a guest writer on SNL back in 2008.
“That week was just one of the most extraordinary weeks of my life where I got to experience a show coming together. I felt that adrenaline on the night of – which was unlike anything I’d ever felt – and I knew that I wanted to capture that feeling of the countdown,” says Reitman. But surprisingly, there was another layer of difficulty he wanted to add to the movie.
“Just as important to me, and I think probably Gil, too, was this obsession with real time movies. There was a part of me that’s always wanted to do a movie that happens in real time, whether it’s Victoria or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. And eventually it kind of hit me. Oh, I think the location for this movie is Saturday Night Live.”
Kenan agrees, adding, “Building on that same instinct is that there was a moment in our careers as storytellers that we felt like we were ready to tell a story about what it’s like to tell a story. What it’s like to put a group of people together and push them up against the edge and watch them have to invent and create and go up against an entire system. Because we know – having made movies now for a chunk of our lives – that the universe doesn’t want new things to get created. It’s predisposed to keep them from happening. So, it was a moment to celebrate when you can get one past the universe.”
Though Lorne Michaels stands out as the ringleader and hero in the story, there are dozens of other characters including the famous cast that includes Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt), John Belushi (Matt Wood), Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris), Jane Curtin (Kim Matula), Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O’Brien), Laraine Newman (Emily Fairn), and Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith), to name a few. Giving everyone a moment to establish themselves or even a bit of a storyline is a lot like herding cats. And I haven’t even mentioned the characters who portray the powers-that-be backstage in the studio or at the network. The moment-by-moment architecture in this script is truly impressive. So what techniques did they use to map it all out?
“I mean, a map is actually a really good way to get into some of our process on this film, because we really did much more structural and geographical planning on this film than either of us have done in our writing careers before,” says Kenan, adding, “Our approach to the research on this film was very journalistic, and both of us are used to creating with a blank slate in front of us without boundaries. But here there were real stories, a real environment, and the more we learned, the drama, the tension just became so inherent in the narrative. We just kept sort of building this out, and it felt like there was obstacle after obstacle presenting itself.”
There are several scenes in the film where we get a glimpse into the stale world of vaudeville icon Milton Berle (J.K. Simmons). We see him dancing with showgirls in his cheesy television show and carrying on the tired comedic status quo of the time period. It soon becomes clear that the world is ready for a change and the old guard of comedy must give way to the new guard – but it won’t be painless. Kenan and Reitman both see this conflict as the dawn of a new era.
“It’s interesting. We talk a lot about how ephemeral music is. But rarely do we talk about how ephemeral comedy is, and it is. In the late sixties you have the Woodstock moment, where music decidedly changes, and right after that you have the same thing happen in film with The Graduate, Five Easy Pieces and Easy Rider. Within five years, movies just shift.”
“Now, by the mid 1970s – and we tried to articulate in this film – television is a representation of the evolution of vaudeville, radio comedy and variety shows and yet there’s this percolating form of comedy that is happening in Toronto and Chicago as represented by Second City and the National Lampoon Show. Lorne Michaels and my father [Ivan Reitman] are right at the center of both. They recognize this new voice of absurdist comedy. That it’s an American version of Monty Python, and it’s ready to be seen. It’s ready to be heard, and be on television,” says Reitman.
People in network television have always hated change, but Reitman credits Lorne Michaels as being a sheer force of will to force that change.
“What does that look like when, all of a sudden, Lorne has the keys to the building? There’s a reason why throughout the entire movie Lorne keeps on arriving at locked doors and he eventually just smashes one with the peacock-shaped stanchion. He won’t take no for an answer, and he creates this orphanage for wayward comedians. The evidence is in how quickly the show was recognized because within four weeks of the show going live, Rolling Stone magazine does an article articulating not only what Saturday Night Live is, but culturally, it’s a revolution,” says Reitman.
Both Kenan and Reitman say they are excited for audiences to see Saturday Night because it’s about a group of misfits must overcome the impossible to achieve their shared dream.
“I think that type of story works in any walk of life. I think it gives you a sense of hope that, if you believe in something enough and you fight against whatever the obstacles are, there’s a way to get that idea off the ground, and that’s something very relatable and human,” says Reitman.
Kenan agrees, adding, “It’s a good time at the movies. It’s an immersive ride that is tense and joyful and reminds you what it feels like when all the odds are against you. Anyone who’s ever done live television or a high school play, knows what it feels like when everything comes together at the last second. This is meant to be an immersive recreation of what it feels like to be in the hands of the greatest comedians of the last 50 years.”
Saturday Night is currently playing in theaters in limited release and will open wide on Oct. 11.