Vanity Fair has just published a feature piece on Saturday Night, the comedy that depicts the goings on at Studio 8H before the very first broadcast of Saturday Night Live on Oct. 11, 1975.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife director Jason Reitman called the shots on what he calls a “thriller comedy,” which takes place in real time starting at 10 p.m. that historic night, and runs through the first show’s open.
Amid the clashes of ego, there is the volatile comedy cocktail of various comedy styles, from Chevy Chase to Dan Aykroyd, as well as drugs and an 11:30 deadline: “This is a movie where the villain is time,” Reitman says. “It’s like our Sauron. Our Darth Vader is a clock, and you feel its presence at all times.”
Also glimpsed in the feature is the rest of the cast in costume, including Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, Matt Wood as John Belushi, Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner and Cory Michael Smith as Chase.
Incidentally, ABC Audio recently caught up with Aykroyd to confirm the legend that he still watches every episode of SNL. Turns out, that’s not exactly the case.
“No, not every night,” he says.
Akyroyd continues, “I go to bed earlier than I have been [in the past]. I watch it from time to time. And I think the writing is spectacular. And there’s a great new cast on there, and I enjoy it when I watch it.”
He continues, “I like to watch it live, so I have to stay up till 11:30 to do that.” (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1)
Saturday Night hits theaters 49 years to the day Saturday Night Live debuted: Oct. 11.