Now that the awards season is getting behind us, it’s time to focus our full attention on possible future nominees and other upcoming titles. Today, director Jason Reitman (Ghostbusters: Afterlife) took to Instagram to reveal that cameras have finally started rolling on the already anticipated movie SNL 1975. The filmmaker celebrated the start of production with a photo of a clapperboard that also showcases the movie’s stylized title — which appropriately resembles the art of the 70s.
SNL 1975 will center around the excitement and anticipation of coming up with a comedy sketch show that forever changed the history of NBC. Back when the famous words “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night” were first uttered, mega-producer Lorne Michaels had no idea that he’d be embarking on a journey that would last for over forty years and launch the career of comedians like Eddie Murphy (Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F), Adam Sandler (Spaceman), and Kate McKinnon (Barbie).
An All-Star Cast Takes on ‘SNL’s Founding Members
Now, however, Saturday Night Live is intrinsic to American culture and it’s hard to think of the NBC network without it in the programming schedule. Since the movie will cover the very first night of the long-running show, we’ll get to see actors playing original cast members like Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O’Brien), Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott), Garret Morris (Lamorne Morris), Jim Henson (Nicholas Braun), John Belushi (Matt Wood) and Billy Crystal (Nicholas Podany).
One particular character in SNL 1975 is making fans of the show wonder how director Jason Reitman will approach his behavior. Chevy Chase is one of the most famous comedians to kick off his career on the show, and his younger self will be played by Cory Michael Smith (May December). In the past decade or so, Chase‘s on-set behavior has been heavily called out by his former colleagues, especially Community cast members. So, it’s possible that Chase‘s character becomes the “genius with toxic personality” type that we’ve grown used to seeing on TV and movies in recent years.
Another interesting aspect of SNL 1975 is that Reitman decided to cast actors who are not necessarily known as comedians to play famous comedy actors, which not only suggests their talents will be put to the test but also that the movie may have a dramatic element to it — and it would be easy to understand it, since tensions must have hit an all-time high when the time came to do the live show for the first night ever.
SNL 1975 is yet to get a release date, but with filming starting this week we’re bound to get new information rolling sooner rather than later.
via Collider