TORONTO — Growing up, Jason Reitman found solace in sketch comedy. For the Montreal native, “Saturday Night Live” was more than just a show — it was a sanctuary for misfits like himself.
“As a comedy nerd, you always kind of feel like an outsider. You don't feel like a cool kid. I just remember watching ‘SNL’ for the first time and thinking, ‘They do this every week?’... There was going to be something to talk about at school every Monday morning,” the Canadian-American writer-director recalled at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.
“In the same way that ‘SNL’ is like an orphanage for wayward comedians, the show itself collects all the comedy nerds who feel like outsiders because it is not only making you laugh, but teaching you what can be funny on a weekly basis.”
After releasing his breakout dramedy “Juno” in 2007, Reitman told his agent that one of his dreams was to write for “SNL.” He got his chance that year with a weeklong writing stint on the show.
“Those minutes and seconds leading to it going live are like the Stanley Cup and the Super Bowl all rolled into one. The adrenalin of it is insane,” he said.
Reitman aimed to capture that turbocharged energy in “Saturday Night,” a dramatization of the shambolic 90 minutes leading up to the sketch-comedy institution’s very first episode in 1975. The film opens in Toronto on Friday, followed by a wide release on Oct. 11 — exactly 49 years to the day the show debuted on NBC.
Vancouver’s Gabriel LaBelle stars as an overwhelmed Lorne Michaels, the show's Canadian architect who faces myriad hurdles while guiding a troupe of untrained and untested comedians and writers. The cast includes Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase and Nicholas Braun as both Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson.
“I wanted the audience to feel not only what it was like for an episode to go live, but what is it like when culture changes in a moment?” said Reitman.
Reitman said his famous father Ivan, who made several films with "SNL" alums including John Belushi and Bill Murray, ran in the same circles as Canadian actors Aykroyd and Valri Bromfield, as well as musicians Howard Shore and Paul Shaffer, who were all involved in the early days of the show.
Despite whatever second-hand stories he might have absorbed growing up, Reitman said he went to painstaking lengths to ensure every detail in his film was accurate. He and writing partner Gil Kenan interviewed “every living person we could find who was in the building that night.”
Reitman said the many obstacles Michaels and his crew encounter in the film — from John Belushi refusing to sign his contract to Milton Berle exposing himself — are all based on true stories.
However, when Reitman interviewed Michaels himself, the Toronto native didn’t mention any personal anxiety about that debut show.
“Lorne doesn't communicate stress. Lorne is a river of cool and he also doesn't like to look in the rearview mirror,” he said.
Reitman said the most intriguing insight he learned was that Michaels was initially slated to host “Weekend Update,” the iconic segment known for its satirical take on current events and news.
“I think this was a moment when he had to realize, ‘I'm not the performer, I'm the producer, I'm dad. I'm not supposed to be on camera. I'm the person who's going to make it possible for all these great comedians to have a career,’” said Reitman.
He believes part of Michaels’ success can be attributed to both his outsider’s lens as a Canadian and his ability to recognize “overlooked talent.”
“He was able to look at someone like John Belushi, who didn't look like anybody on television, or Dan Aykroyd, who didn't sound like anyone on television, and know that they were stars. And that's continued through to Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell,” said Reitman.
“Lorne has constantly been able to evolve and understand, ‘What is the next stage of comedy? Where are we going from an evolutionary standpoint?' He’s done that for 50 years and I have to think that some of that has to do with his origin story of being from Toronto and having that Canadian perspective of the world.”
As for Michaels’ view on "Saturday Night"?
“Lorne’s a private guy, but I'll say that a couple weeks ago, I got a lovely congratulatory note from him,” said Reitman.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2024.
Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press
