One of the most intriguing biopics ever made just got an exciting first look ahead of the film’s release later this year. A new report from Vanity Fair unveiled the first images from Saturday Night, the SNL biographical drama starring Nicholas Braun, Willem Dafoe, J.K. Simmons, and Dylan O’Brien. The film follows the 90 minutes of chaos leading up to the first Saturday Night Live show ever in 1975, which changed the world of television forever. In addition to the aforementioned cast, Saturday Night also stars Finn Wolfhard, Lamorne Morris, Ella Hunt, Rachel Sennott, Matthew Rhys, and Kaia Gerber, and comes from the mind of Jason Reitman, who is best known for directing Thank You for Smoking and Juno, and most recently helmed the 2021 film Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Reitman talked about the creator of Saturday Night Live, Lorne Michaels (who will be played by Gabrielle Labelle), and his role in Saturday Night:
“We met Lorne and he’s still forming. He is a genius, and he has a vision beyond anyone else there — and anyone his age. It’s a lot for an actor to carry. In this movie, everyone gets to kind of screw around except for Gabe, who has to be the metronome.”
While not an impervious business model, it usually bodes well for any biopic or adaptation when the new writers and directors consult the original creators. Reitman also penned the script for Saturday Night along with Gil Kenan, who previously worked with Reitman on Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Kenan also wrote the screenplay for the most recent Ghostbusters film, Frozen Empire, and also the Maggie Smith-led holiday drama A Boy Called Christmas. Their experience working together should surely come in handy on Saturday Night.
The ‘Saturday Night’ Crew Talked to Anyone They Could Find
First look at the cast of Jason Reitman’s #SaturdayNight.
Starring Gabriel LaBelle, Dylan O’Brien, Cory Michael Smith, Lamorne Morris, Rachel Sennott, Ella Hunt, Kaia Gerber, Kim Matula, and Matt Wood.
via Vanity Fair pic.twitter.com/zuDGeeo18H
— Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) August 7, 2024
While talking to Michaels about what actually happened on October 11, 1975, is an undeniably useful strategy to have, it simply isn’t enough to accurately represent everything that happened that night. Reitman and crew were well aware of this, and made sure to bring in much more than just the show’s creator and producer for some insight on how everything unfolded:
“We interviewed everyone we could find that was alive from opening night. 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.”
There’s no better way to ensure the story isn’t one-sided than by going to different people for different accountings of what actually happened. Saturday Night Live has been around for nearly 50 years now in its 49th season, but there’s no better way to tell the true story of the show than by going back to where it all began.
Saturday Night premieres in theaters on October 11, 49 years after the premiere of the first show on which the film is based. Check out the first images from the movie above and stream Saturday Night Live on Peacock.
via Collider