Saturday Night just released on October 11 depicting the beginning of NBC’s Saturday Night Live. The show first began airing on October 11, 1975 and has since proven to be both funny and controversial. The Saterday Night Live show was created by comedy writer Lorne Michaels who has also worked on The Tonight Show, 30 Rock, and Mean Girls.
The film focuses on what occurred before the first episode and as director Jason Reitman said “It’s just about a group of people trying to totally revolutionize TV in 90 minutes.”
But how much of Saturday Night really happened? Director Reitman and stars Gabriel Labelle (Lorne Michaels) and Cory Michael Smith (Chevy Chase) answered this question and many more during an interview with USA TODAY.
They were asked about a few scenes in particular that seemed too far fetched. There is a scene where Chevy Chase and John Belushi (Matt Wood) start a brawl just before the show starts. It is so bad that they have to be pulled apart. Smith said that this in fact did not happen. “Jason fictionalized that as a manifestation of the tension that’s there, but it’s also a reference to the fight Chevy famously had with Bill Murray when Chevy, who’d left ‘SNL’ after the first year, came back to host in year two. It was an homage to that moment.”
When asked if a lighting rig came down on set, Reitman responded saying that that was also added to the movie. However, it is true that John Belushi signed his contract with NBC until the last second. “He was nowhere to be found and refused to sign it until the very end. But, continues Reitman, “the point of showing that in the movie wasn’t about highlighting a contract dispute but to show how afraid he was about becoming a big star. John was aware of his own genius, but he feared things would get out of control if he became popular on TV.”
It is also true that Billy Crystal was an original Saturday Night Live cast member. Johnny Carson also called Lorne Michaels to chastise him for taking his time slot.
The new film is made up of both real and new material, making for a fun and interesting watch. Saturday Night Live is in theaters now.
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