Although Jason Reitman has earned rave reviews for his depiction of the 90 minutes leading up to the first Saturday Night Live, some critiques sting a bit more than others.
The Saturday Night co-writer and director revealed original SNL cast member Chevy Chase‘s reaction to the film, which fellow sketch comedy alum David Spade called “an exact Chevy thing” to say.
“So, Chevy comes in to watch the movie, and he is there with [wife] Jayni and they watch the film, and he’s in the group, and he comes up to me after and he pats me on the shoulder and goes, ‘Well, you should be embarrassed,’” he told Spade and Dana Carvey on their Fly on the Wall podcast.
Spade said of Chase’s response, “You couldn’t even write it better.” Carvey added that Chase “knows that’s funny, like that’s the roughest thing you could say to a director in the moment, or right up there.”
Reitman recounted of the conversation: “I’m trying to balance it, because, in my head, I know, ‘Alright, I’m getting my own Chevy Chase moment that’s 1,000 percent only for me right now.’ And from a comedy point-of-view that’s really pure, and that’s kind of cool. But also, I just spent like two years of my life recreating this moment and trying to capture Chevy perfectly, and also even in the ego, find the humanity and give him a moment to be loved — no, none of that shit played. He’s not talking about that stuff.”
Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, Kaia Gerber as Jacqueline Carlin and Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase in Saturday Night (2024) (Hopper Stone/Sony Pictures Releasing/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Explaining his decision to cast Cory Michael Smith as Chase, Reitman said he “tried to identify one thing” about each character, which for Chase was “an ego that needs to be humbled.”
Although Smith previously admitted he “didn’t have the privilege of talking to Chevy” before crafting his portrayal, he’d gotten word the 2x Golden Globe nominee had seen the film.
“I do hope that he saw a younger version of himself, which maybe that’s a joyful experience or not,” Smith told People. “But this man played such a huge part in me wanting to be a performer and loving movies, so it was an honor to play him.”
Saturday Night takes place on Oct. 11, 1975, as a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers change television forever. Formerly titled SNL 1975, the film tells the true story of what happened behind the scenes that night in the 90 minutes leading up to the first-ever broadcast of SNL.
The film also stars Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster, Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner, Emily Fairn as Laraine Newman, Matt Wood as John Belushi, Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris, Kim Matula as Jane Curtin, Nicholas Braun as Andy Kaufman/Jim Henson, Cooper Hoffman as Dick Ebersol, Kaia Gerber as Jacqueline Carlin and Willem Dafoe as David Tebet.