Saturday Night (2024 film) explained

Director:Jason Reitman
Cinematography:Eric Steelberg
Editing:
Music:Jon Batiste
Studio:
Distributor:Sony Pictures Releasing
Runtime:109 minutes[1]
Country:United States
Language:English
Budget:$25–30 million[2] [3]
Gross:$9.8 million[4] [5]

Saturday Night is a 2024 American biographical comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman, about the night of the 1975 premiere of NBC's Saturday Night, later known as Saturday Night Live. The film stars an ensemble cast portraying the various Saturday Night cast and crew, led by Gabriel LaBelle as the show's creator and producer, Lorne Michaels. Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Ella Hunt, Dylan O'Brien, Emily Fairn, Matt Wood, Lamorne Morris, Kim Matula, Finn Wolfhard, Nicholas Braun, Cooper Hoffman, Andrew Barth Feldman, Kaia Gerber, Tommy Dewey, Willem Dafoe, Matthew Rhys, and J. K. Simmons also star.

Saturday Night had its world premiere at the 51st Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2024, and began a limited theatrical release in the United States on September 27, 2024, before its wide release by Sony Pictures Releasing on October 11, the 49th anniversary of the show's premiere. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed $9 million against its $25–30 million budget.

Plot

On October 11, 1975, Lorne Michaels arrives at the NBC building to prepare for the airing of the first episode of NBC's Saturday Night. The evening is fraught with accidents and dysfunctional cast and crew. Michaels's boss, Dick Ebersol, warns him that David Tebet has brought executives from across the country to come and view the broadcast. Despite Tebet giving encouraging words to Michaels, Ebersol makes it known that Tebet has no faith in the show and is ready to replay a taping of an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson to fill in for time.

Garrett Morris, who has a background in operatic theater, ponders his place among a cast of comedic performers; John Belushi remains detached from everyone and constantly initiates fights; Jim Henson complains over how he is being treated by the writers; the writers are at war with censor Joan Carbunkle and her demands; host George Carlin thinks the whole show is a sham; and everyone is trying to figure out what exactly the show is about. Chevy Chase confronts Milton Berle when he begins to hit on his girlfriend Jacqueline and gets told off and warned that he will become nothing. Michaels receives a call from Johnny Carson himself who gives a very unsupportive warning.

Despite Michaels warning him not to, Ebersol attempts to sell the idea of performing a sketch with a Polaroid camera for product placement purposes. Belushi becomes enraged and storms off the set, saying that he is quitting. As everyone looks for him, assistant Neil Levy is given a joint by Paul Shaffer and panics, locking himself in a closet. He is eventually coaxed out by the cast. Michaels goes to a bar to relax, where he comes across comedy writer Alan Zweibel and hires him on the spot to become a writer on the show. He, along with Gilda Radner, later find Belushi ice skating and convince him to return to the show and sign his contract. Michaels is further motivated to continue with the show after having a brief chat with Henson.

Tebet arrives, demanding that the show be shut down unless Michaels shows him exactly what it entails. Andy Kaufman performs his Mighty Mouse skit, which makes everyone laugh. Michaels then tells Chase to take over Weekend Update, which he had planned to host himself. Chase does an impromptu version of Weekend Update using Zweibel's newly written material, which lands. An audience arrives and fills the venue as cast and crew finish all the sets and get into place. Tebet allows the live show to proceed to air. Michael O'Donoghue and Belushi perform the Wolverine sketch, which is well received by the audience. Chase enters the scene and announces, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!"

Production

It was announced in May 2023 that Jason Reitman would be directing, co-writing, and producing a film about the creation of the series Saturday Night Live for Sony Pictures. He, alongside his (2021) and (2024) collaborator Gil Kenan, conducted interviews with the living cast and crew of the premiere season in order to better develop the screenplay.[6] According to Reitman, he came up with the idea for the film years earlier, but the “response was always the same: ‘That’s a great idea. But how the hell are you going to cast it?’”[7]

In January 2024, Gabriel LaBelle was cast to portray Lorne Michaels, in his second major leading role following his performance as Sammy Fabelman in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans (2022), with Cooper Hoffman, Rachel Sennott, Ella Hunt, Emily Fairn, Kim Matula, Lamorne Morris, Dylan O'Brien, Cory Michael Smith, and Matt Wood cast as Dick Ebersol, Rosie Shuster, Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, and John Belushi respectively.[8] [9] [10] Nicholas Braun, Tommy Dewey, and Nicholas Podany were added in March to portray Jim Henson, Michael O'Donoghue, and Billy Crystal respectively.[11] Additionally, Braun ended up cast to play Andy Kaufman as well. That role was originally supposed to be portrayed by Benny Safdie, but he had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.[12] Andrew Barth Feldman, Kaia Gerber, Finn Wolfhard, J. K. Simmons, Billy Bryk, Joe Chrest, Taylor Gray, Mcabe Gregg, and Willem Dafoe joined the cast later that month.[13] [14] [15] Jon Batiste, who was hired to compose the score for the film, also appeared as Billy Preston.[16] In April, Naomi McPherson of the band Muna was cast to portray Janis Ian.[17] In June, it was reported that Leander Suleiman had been cast as writer Anne Beatts.[18]

Principal photography began in March 2024 in Atlanta and Fayetteville, Georgia, as locations, under the working title Wolverines, a reference to the very first sketch ever performed on the series.[19] [20] [21] Scenes were shot outside of Rockefeller Plaza on the weekend of March 9–10.[22] Filming had concluded by May.[23]

Music

See main article: article and Saturday Night (soundtrack).

Release

On July 30, it was announced the title was changed from the working title of SNL 1975 to Saturday Night, which was the original title of the show during its first season, since there was already a competing show at the time on ABC called Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell. It was also given the release date of October 11, 2024, 49 years to the day that SNL premiered on NBC.[24]

The film premiered at the 51st Telluride Film Festival and was selected to screen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.[25] [26] [27]

Shortly after its Telluride premiere, Sony Pictures decided to make some changes to the film's release schedule, pivoting to a limited theatrical release starting in Los Angeles, New York City, and Toronto on September 27, 2024, expanding to more cities on October 4, and then a nationwide release on October 11.[24]

Reception

Box office

In the United States, the film made $270,487 from five theaters in its opening weekend; its per-screen average of $54,097 was the second-best limited opening of the year, behind Kinds of Kindness.[28] [29] In its second weekend, it made $270,955 from 21 theaters.[30] In its third weekend, the film expanded to 2,304 theaters and made $3.4 million, finishing in seventh.[31] Anthony D'Alessandro of Deadline Hollywood argued that the film failed to find an audience despite positive reviews, similar to Sony's Dumb Money (which made $3.3 million when it expanded wide in 2023).[32] The following weekend the film made $1.8 million (a drop of 47%), finishing in ninth.[33]

Critical response

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it an 82% overall positive score, with 63% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Peter Debruge of Variety gave the film a positive review, stating that director Reitman "finds the right ensemble to capture the lunacy from which SNL was born" and calling the film "a rowdy, delectably profane backstage homage."[34] Gabriel LaBelle was singled out for praise by several outlets for his portrayal of a young Lorne Michaels, earning plaudits from Maureen Lee Lenker from Entertainment Weekly, for granting "Michaels a clarity of purpose, an unwavering conviction, and a harried sense that he's barely holding things together".[35] Gregory Ellwood from The Playlist lauded several cast members, including LaBelle for "masterfully carrying the film" and especially Dylan O'Brien for being "simply transformative" as Dan Aykroyd in "an eye-opening turn".[36]

Conversely, Benjamin Lee of The Guardian gave the film one out of five stars, calling the film an "unfunny misfire" and a "dull and self-indulgent mess".[37] David Ehrlich from IndieWire stated that the film "has a lot of business in lieu of a story, and there's so much going on that it quickly starts to feel like nothing".[38]

Accolades

AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryRecipient(s)Result
Middleburg Film FestivalOctober 20, 2024Variety Collaborators AwardEric Steelberg and Jason Reitman[39]
Denver Film FestivalNovember 1, 20245280 AwardGabriel LaBelle, Cory Michael Smith, Jason Reitman, Gil Kenan and Eric Steelberg[40]
Virginia Film FestivalNovember 3, 2024Virtuoso AwardLamorne Morris[41]
Hollywood Music in Media AwardsNovember 20, 2024Best Original Score – Independent FilmJon Batiste[42]
Astra Film and Creative Arts AwardsDecember 8, 2024Best Comedy or MusicalSaturday Night[43]
Best Cast Ensemble
Best Original ScreenplayGil Kenan and Jason Reitman
December 8, 2024Best CastingJohn Papsidera
Best EditingNathan Orloff and Shane Reid
SFFILM AwardsDecember 9, 2024Nion McEvoy & Leslie Berriman Award for StorytellingJason Reitman[44]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Saturday Night. TIFF. August 14, 2024. August 14, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240814004202/https://tiff.net/events/saturday-night. live.
  2. Web site: Malhotra . Rahul . 2024-09-29 . 'Saturday Night' Nearly Breaks a Domestic Box Office Record in Debut Weekend . 2024-09-30 . Collider . en.
  3. Web site: Deadline Hollywood. 'Terrifier 3' Looks To Slash 'Joker: Folie à Deux' At Weekend Box Office With $11M+ Opening – Preview. Anthony. D'Alessandro. October 9, 2024. October 9, 2024.
  4. Web site: Saturday Night . Box Office Mojo . November 25, 2024.
  5. Web site: Saturday Night – Financial Information . The Numbers . November 25, 2024 . September 30, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240930221734/https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Saturday-Night-(2024)#tab=summary . live .
  6. Web site: Kroll . Justin . May 1, 2023 . Jason Reitman To Direct Movie Based On Behind-The-Scenes Accounts Of 'Saturday Night Live's 1975 Opening Night For Sony; Gil Kenan Co-Writing With Reitman . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240119184528/https://deadline.com/2023/05/jason-reitman-saturday-night-live-sony-1235352606/ . January 19, 2024 . 19 January 2024 . Deadline Hollywood.
  7. Web site: Taylor . Drew . October 11, 2024 . How Jason Reitman Brought ‘Saturday Night’ to Life: ‘It’s the Fastest I’ve Ever Made a Movie’ . November 29, 2024 . Deadline.
  8. Web site: Kroll . Justin . The Fablemans Star Gabriel LaBelle To Play Lorne Michaels In Sony's SNL 1975, Cooper Hoffman And Rachel Sennott Also Join Ensemble . . 19 January 2024 . January 19, 2024 . January 19, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240119183050/https://deadline.com/2024/01/the-fablemans-gabriel-labelle-lorne-michaels-snl-1975-cooper-hoffman-rachel-sennott-1235797505/ . live .
  9. Web site: Kroll . Justin . 'SNL 1975' Movie Finds Its Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman & Gilda Radner . . January 26, 2024 . January 26, 2024 . January 26, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240126174147/https://deadline.com/2024/01/snl-1975-jane-curtain-laraine-newman-gilda-radner-1235805534/ . live .
  10. Web site: Kroll . Justin . D'Alessandro . Anthony . January 30, 2024 . 'SNL 1975' Finds Its Garrett Morris, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase And John Belushi . 2024-01-30 . . January 30, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240130180714/https://deadline.com/2024/01/snl-1975-garrett-morris-dan-aykroyd-chevy-chase-john-belushi-1235808188/ . live .
  11. Web site: Kroll . Justin . D'Alessandro . Anthony . SNL 1975 Origin Movie Finds Its Jim Henson, Michael O'Donoghue And Billy Crystal . . March 7, 2024 . March 7, 2024 . March 7, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240307183947/https://deadline.com/2024/03/snl-1975-jim-henson-billy-crystal-michael-odonoghue-1235848237/ . live .
  12. Web site: Riccardo . Nick . 2024-07-26 . Report: Nicholas Braun Is Playing Both Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman in 'SNL 1975' . 2024-08-09 . LateNighter . en-US . August 8, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240808200514/https://latenighter.com/news/nicholas-braun-snl-1975-jim-henson-vs-andy-kaufman/ . live .
  13. Web site: Kroll . Justin . 'SNL 1975' Origin Movie Adds Andrew Barth Feldman, Kaia Gerber And Finn Wolfhard To Cast . . March 12, 2024 . March 12, 2024 . March 12, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240312172508/https://deadline.com/2024/03/snl-1975-movie-andrew-barth-feldman-kaia-gerber-finn-wolfhard-1235856070/ . live .
  14. Web site: Kroll . Justin . J.K. Simmons, Billy Bryk & Joe Chrest Among Final Additions To Jason Reitman's 'SNL 1975' . . March 25, 2024 . March 25, 2024 . March 25, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240325225313/https://deadline.com/2024/03/snl-1975-casts-jk-simmons-billy-bryk-joe-chrest-more-1235868013/ . live .
  15. Web site: Kroll . Justin . SNL 1975: Willem Dafoe To Play David Tebet In Origin Movie . . 29 March 2024 . March 29, 2024 . March 29, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240329171020/https://deadline.com/2024/03/snl-1975-willem-dafoe-david-tebet-1235871593/ . live .
  16. Web site: Gajewski . Ryan . Jon Batiste to Score, Appear in Jason Reitman Film SNL 1975 (Exclusive) . . 28 March 2024 . March 28, 2024 . March 28, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240328180419/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/snl-1975-jon-batiste-score-billy-preston-jason-reitman-1235861871/ . live .
  17. Web site: Gajewski . Ryan . SNL 1975: Muna's Naomi McPherson to Make Acting Debut With Jason Reitman Film (Exclusive) . . 12 April 2024 . April 12, 2024 . April 12, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240412182706/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/snl-1975-muna-naomi-mcpherson-jason-reitman-movie-1235872505/ . live .
  18. Web site: Grobar . Matt . 2024-06-14 . Leander Suleiman Joins 'SNL 1975' As Comedy Writer Anne Beatts . 2024-06-15 . . en-US . June 15, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240615070118/https://deadline.com/2024/06/snl-1975-casts-leander-suleiman-anne-beatts-1235973875/ . live .
  19. Web site: Seeking Core Background for Sony Pictures Feature Film SNL 1975 . Lead Casting Call . 30 January 2024 . January 28, 2024 . January 30, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240130052141/https://www.leadcastingcall.com/seeking-core-background-for-sony-pictures-feature-film-snl-1975/ . live .
  20. Web site: . February 29, 2024 . Production Weekly – Issue 1391 – Thursday, February 29, 2024 / 178 Listings – 38 Pages . subscription . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240302190800/https://www.productionweekly.com/production-weekly-issue-1391-thursday-february-29-2024-178-listings-38-pages/ . March 2, 2024 . March 2, 2024 . Production Weekly.
  21. Web site: Now Filming In Georgia. www.georgia.org. March 7, 2024. November 22, 2020. https://archive.today/20201122210456/https://www.georgia.org/industries/film-entertainment/georgia-film-tv-production/now-filming-georgia. live.
  22. Web site: Davids . Brian . Finn Wolfhard Talks Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, The Grandeur of Stranger Things 5 and SNL 1975 . . 13 March 2024 . March 13, 2024 . March 13, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240313194551/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/finn-wolfhard-talks-ghostbusters-stranger-things-5-1235851626/ . live .
  23. C6qv_HiOQBW . jasonreitman . That's a wrap! SNL1975 . Jason . Reitman . Jason Reitman . 2024-05-07 . 2024-10-11.
  24. Web site: Jason Reitman's 'Saturday Night' Will Go Platform Before Wide Fall Expansion – Update. Anthony. D'Alessandro. Deadline. July 30, 2024. July 30, 2024. July 31, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240731002648/https://deadline.com/2024/07/snl-movie-jason-reitman-release-date-1236027230/. live.
  25. Web site: TIFF Adds 20 More Movies To Lineup With 'Saturday Night', Jacob Elordi & Daisy Edgar-Jones' 'On Swift Horses', Max Minghella's 'Shell', 'Megalopolis' & More. Deadline Hollywood. Anthony. D'Alessandro. 13 August 2024. 13 August 2024. August 13, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240813152414/https://deadline.com/2024/08/toronto-film-festival-lineup-additions-2024-1236038779/. live.
  26. Web site: Telluride Film Festival Lineup Includes 'Saturday Night', 'The Piano Lesson', 'Conclave' & 'Nickel Boys' World Premieres. Deadline Hollywood. Pete. Hammond. 29 August 2024. 29 August 2024. August 29, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240829150953/https://deadline.com/2024/08/telluride-film-festival-2024-lineup-1236071936/. live.
  27. News: Saturday Night Premiere: Red Carpet Photos Of The SNL Movie's Cast . Tapp . Tom . 2024-09-10 . 2024-09-19 . . . September 19, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240919063341/https://deadline.com/gallery/saturday-night-movie-cast-snl-red-carpet-photos/ . live .
  28. Web site: Domestic 2024 Weekend 39. Box Office Mojo. October 1, 2024. October 1, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20241001182108/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/2024W39/. live.
  29. Web site: Jason Reitman's Saturday Night Pops In Limited Opening That's Best In Months, In Top Two For Year – Specialty Box Office. September 29, 2024. Jill. Goldsmith. Deadline Hollywood. October 1, 2024. October 1, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20241001005208/https://deadline.com/2024/09/indie-film-box-office-jason-reitman-saturday-night-1236102980/. live.
  30. Web site: Domestic 2024 Weekend 40. Box Office Mojo. October 7, 2024.
  31. Web site: Domestic 2024 Weekend 41. Box Office Mojo. October 14, 2024.
  32. Web site: Deadline Hollywood. Clown Vs. Clown: Terrifier 3 Shows Teeth With $18M+ As Joker 2 Posts Record Drop For DC Character Pic; Awards Season Darlings Shriek – Sunday Box Office. Anthony. D'Alessandro. October 13, 2024. October 13, 2024.
  33. Web site: Smile 2 Happier With $23M Opening; A24's We Live In Time Making Dime With $4M+, Anora Wows With Massive $90K Theater Average – Sunday Box Officee . October 20, 2024. Anthony. D'Alessandro. Deadline Hollywood. October 20, 2024.
  34. Debruge . Peter . 2024-09-01 . Saturday Night Review: Jason Reitman Finds the Right Ensemble to Capture the Lunacy From Which SNL Was Born . 2024-09-06 . . 60626328 . 0042-2738 . en-US . September 7, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240907003652/https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/saturday-night-review-jason-reitman-snl-1236126420/ . live .
  35. 2024-09-03 . Saturday Night is an adrenaline-fueled nostalgia trip with pitch-perfect casting . . Lenker . Maureen Lee . 2024-11-12 . 1049-0434 . 21114137 . Gomez . Patrick . The entire ensemble understands the assignment, but if the movie belongs to anyone it's Gabriel LaBelle as SNL creator and producer Lorne Michaels..
  36. Web site: Saturday Night Review: Jason Reitman's Fascinating Countdown To The Launch Of A Cultural Institution [Telluride] ]. Ellwood . Gregory . 2024-09-01 . 2024-11-13 . The Playlist . Shockingly, O'Brien is simply transformative as Aykroyd. An eye-opening turn based on his previous work..
  37. News: Lee . Benjamin . 2024-09-12 . Saturday Night review – tedious SNL origins tale is an unfunny misfire . 2024-10-20 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  38. News: Saturday Night Review: A Brilliant Ensemble Cast Is Wasted on 109 Minutes of Tedious 'SNL' Cosplay . Ehrlich . David . 2024-09-01 . 2024-11-12 . . Cobbled together from a 100 contradicting stories of what happened that night, Reitman's film spins further and further out of control as it goes along,….
  39. Web site: Bergeson . Samantha . 2024-09-26 . Middleburg 2024 Honoree Lineup: Danielle Deadwyler, Colman Domingo, and Ed Lachman . 2024-11-17 . IndieWire . en-US.
  40. Web site: Jones . Marcus . 2024-10-17 . Joan Chen, 'Saturday Night' Stars, and More Join Lineup of Denver Film Festival 2024 Award Winners . 2024-11-17 . IndieWire . en-US.
  41. Web site: 2018-05-09 . Award Winners . 2024-11-17 . Virginia Film Festival . en-US.
  42. Web site: Willman. Chris. Hollywood Music in Media Awards Noms Led by 'Emilia Pérez' and 'Blitz,' With Elton John, Hans Zimmer and Scores More Among the Nominees. Hollywood Music in Media Awards. November 6, 2024. November 6, 2024.
  43. Web site: 'Wicked' Leads Nominations for Astra Film Awards . Pond . Steve . . November 25, 2024 . November 26, 2024.
  44. Web site: 2024-11-14 . SFFILM Awards Night to Honor Denis Villeneuve, Demi Moore, Malcolm Washington, and Jason Reitman . 2024-11-17 . SFFILM . en-US.

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