Jason Reitman is ready to go live from New York.
On Thursday, Sony Pictures released the first trailer for Reitman’s upcoming drama “Saturday Night,” Reitman’s new film about the chaos and creativity that went into getting the venerable sketch comedy series “Saturday Night Live” on the air for the first time. “Saturday Night” debuts in theaters on October 11, 49 years to the day “SNL” debuted on NBC.
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Here’s the synopsis of the film, provided by Sony:
At 11:30 pm on October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television – and culture – forever. Directed by Jason Reitman and written by Gil Kenan & 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 humor, chaos, and the magic of a revolution that almost wasn’t, we count down the minutes in real time until we hear those famous words…
“It’s a thriller-comedy, if you can call that a genre,” Reitman told Vanity Fair in an interview published this week. “I always describe this movie as a shuttle launch, and the question was, ‘Would they break orbit?’”
The teaser highlights the tension and the stakes at hand, with NBC executive Dick Ebersol (played by “Licorice Pizza” breakout Cooper Hoffman) telling “SNL” boss Lorne Michaels (played by “The Fabelmans” breakout Gabriel LaBelle) in no uncertain terms that NBC wants the show to fail.
Reitman and Kenan’s script is not based on previously published material. Instead, the collaborators interviewed more than 30 people involved with the first-ever “SNL” broadcast. “We interviewed everyone we could find that was alive from opening night,” Reitman explained to Vanity Fair. “Every living cast member, every living writer, people from the art department, costumes, hair and makeup, NBC pages, members of Billy Preston’s band—I mean, anyone we could find.”
In addition to LaBelle and Hoffman, the real-time thriller stars Rachel Sennott as writer Rosie Shuster (who was married to Michaels at the time), “Succession” Emmy nominee Nicholas Braun as both Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman, Oscar winner and frequent Reitman costar J.K. Simmons as Milton Berle, Matthew Rhys as George Carlin, and Willem Dafoe as NBC executive David Tebet. The original Not Ready for Primetime Players are played by “May December” standout Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase, “Fargo” Emmy nominee Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris (no relation), “Black Mirror” actress Emily Fairn as Larraine Newman, Broadway actor Matt Wood as John Belushi, “Dickenson” star Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner, “The Bold and the Beautiful” actress Kim Matula as Jane Curtin, and “Teen Wolf” star Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd.
“Saturday Night” arrives in theaters on October 11. The 50th anniversary season of “Saturday Night Live” begins this fall.
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