This expertly cast film captures the rehearsals and the logistics that lead up to opening night. Saturday Night is a nonstop joy ride — and a testament to the adage that the show must go on.
DAVE DAVIES, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. Today a new film called “Saturday Night,” already available in a few cities, is released nationwide. It’s the story of the very first episode of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” And we turned to our TV critic David Bianculli for a review of this new movie about an old television show.
DAVID BIANCULLI, BYLINE: It’s perfectly, deliciously appropriate that the release date for the new movie “Saturday Night” was selected as October 11, because that was the exact date back in 1975 that the pioneering, still-running late-night variety series premiered on NBC. The idea of a 90-minute live variety show featuring a guest host, musical guests and a repertory cast of comics already had been done very successfully by NBC. But that was in prime time at the start of the 1950s, when Sid Caesar headlined “Your Show Of Shows.” This was a generation later, aimed at and produced, written and performed by a new generation. And it was scheduled for late night in a time slot formerly occupied by reruns of Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show.”
Fifty years later, Jason Reitman, whose movies include “Juno,” “Whiplash” and the recent “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” has directed and co-written the “Saturday Night” film. It takes us back to the storm before the storm, the frantic 90 minutes leading up to the moment when that first “Saturday Night Live” went live. To succeed, this new movie has to serve and please two audiences at once – those who remember that first episode and the original cast members of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players and the much larger, much younger audience to whom such names as John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Chevy Chase may be only distantly familiar, if not entirely unknown.
But what this “Saturday Night” film does superbly is feed on the energy and insanity. Jon Batiste plays one of the opening show’s musical guests, Billy Preston. But offscreen, he also provides the movie’s percussive, energetic musical score, which he composed and recorded nightly with his band after each day’s filming. Reitman built a working set replicating the entirety of the show’s Studio 8H so his cameras could swoop through hallways and control rooms in long, breathless takes, as in the movie “Birdman” or the TV series “The West Wing.”
And from the moment the movie begins, there’s a ticking clock, counting down nervously to the inevitable 11:30 p.m. live-to-air premiere. It’s like an episode of “24,” with similar intensity, except it’s a comedy. And that 11:30 start was not as inevitable as you might think. A senior NBC executive, played by William Dafoe, ordered that a videotape of an old “Tonight Show” be cued up to play in case he scrubbed the live show just before launch. He grabs the show’s producer, Lorne Michaels – played by Gabriel LaBelle – to express his support and his doubts. He asks about some problems, which are punctuated by the briefest of flashbacks but also are punctuated by Batiste’s propulsive music.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “SATURDAY NIGHT”)
WILLEM DAFOE: (As David Tebet) I can only imagine what must be running through your mind – the thought, no matter how improbable, that you might not make it to air.
GABRIEL LABELLE: (As Lorne Michaels) Hadn’t even occurred to me.
DAFOE: (As David Tebet) Really? I heard that you were having some technical difficulties.
LABELLE: (As Lorne Michaels) Not that I know of.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) What the…
DAFOE: (As David Tebet) I just heard that your writers were stoned. Your actors were physically assaulting each other.
(CROSSTALK)
DAFOE: (As David Tebet) The sound system was down.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) What the hell is happening? What…
DAFOE: (As David Tebet) And a fire broke out earlier.
(SOUNDBITE OF WATER SPLASHING)
BIANCULLI: At one point, Lorne gets on the same elevator as another NBC executive, Dick Ebersol – played by Cooper Hoffman – and one of the opening show’s comedy acts, an unknown comic named Andy Kaufman. Kaufman, played by Nicholas Braun, already is in character, listening politely as Ebersol presses Lorne for details about the show.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “SATURDAY NIGHT”)
COOPER HOFFMAN: (As Dick Ebersol) So big night. That being said, I am getting calls from the CEOs (ph) about a final script. You know, they’re wondering what the hell the show is, Lorne.
LABELLE: (As Lorne Michaels) It’s fine. They’ll know when they see it.
HOFFMAN: (As Dick Ebersol) Do you know what the show is?
LABELLE: (As Lorne Michaels) Don’t be ridiculous, Dick. Of course I do. Have you had dinner, Andy?
NICHOLAS BRAUN: (As Andy Kaufman) Yes, I have ice cream.
LABELLE: (As Lorne Michaels) Terrific.
BRAUN: (As Andy Kaufman) And pancake.
LABELLE: (As Lorne Michaels) Terrific.
BIANCULLI: One reason this new movie, “Saturday Night,” works so well is because it’s so wonderfully cast. Gabriel LaBelle, who played another young showbiz talent as the lead in Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans,” is a delightful stand-in for the baby-faced Lorne Michaels. The actors cast as Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and the rest of the repertory company are all believable and entertaining. Lamorne Morris, who was a standout as the persistent deputy in the most recent installment of FX’s “Fargo,” is a delight as original SNL cast member Garrett Morris.
And, oh, my, the actors playing the opening night guests. Nicholas Braun, who played the hapless Greg in “Succession,” not only plays Andy Kaufman perfectly but does double duty by also nailing an impersonation of Muppet creator Jim Henson. Musician Naomi McPherson looks and sounds eerily like Janis Ian. And the crucial role of George Carlin, the guest host of that first show, is embodied flawlessly and hilariously by a virtually unrecognizable Matthew Rhys, once the star of FX’s “The Americans.” We see all these characters in rehearsal and in chaos as Lorne tries to nail down the contents and logistics of the opening show. It’s a nonstop joyride and thrill ride and a testament of the showbiz adage that the show must go on. In the case of “Saturday Night Live,” it did, and it has.
DAVIES: David Bianculli is a professor of television studies at Rowan University. He reviewed the new movie “Saturday Night,” which is about the first episode of “Saturday Night Live.” The show has entered its 50th season. On Monday’s show, actress and producer Riley Keough joins us to talk about the memoir she co-authored with her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, who, before her unexpected death, chronicled her childhood, her marriage to Michael Jackson, memories of her father, Elvis, and growing up in his shadow. I hope you can join us.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “DON’T BE CRUEL”)
ELVIS PRESLEY: (Singing) You know I can be found sitting home all alone. If you can’t come around, at least please telephone. Don’t be cruel to a heart that’s true.
DAVIES: To keep up with what’s on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram at @NPRFreshAir. FRESH AIR’s executive producer is Danny Miller. Our senior producer today is Roberta Shorrock. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham, with additional engineering support from Joyce Lieberman, Julian Herzfeld and Deanna Martinez (ph). Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producers are Molly Seavy-Nesper and Sabrina Siewert. For Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, I’m Dave Davies.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “DON’T BE CRUEL”)
PRESLEY: (Singing) To a heart that’s true. Why should we be apart…
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