Saturday Night hasn’t hit theaters just yet, but Jason Reitman’s SNL biopic is already making a splash. The film, which centers on the frenzied 90 minutes leading up to the iconic NBC show’s very first episode in 1975, opened at the Telluride Film Festival on September 1st to largely positive reviews.
Speaking with TheWrap at the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend, Reitman and the cast reflected on the lengths they went to in order to recreate that historic night—and how they captured the chaotic atmosphere erupting behind the scenes. One surprising detail that came to light: Reitman actually shot the entire film twice.
“We shot the movie first with stand-ins,” the four-time Oscar nominee explained. “In the two months leading up to shoot, we did the entire thing with stand-ins to figure out the choreography, because it’s a movie that’s shot in order.”
When Lamorne Morris (who plays Garrett Morris; no relation) jokingly asked Reitman if he thought any of the stand-in actors were “dope” while filming, the director revealed that the majority of them ended up landing small parts in the movie.
“They almost all ended up getting aligned in the movie,” Reitman said. “They have little beats, because they were your stand-ins.”
Reitman went on to say that the actor who stood in for Gabriel LaBelle, who stars as Lorne Michaels, “has a lovely beat where he delivers The Johnny Carson Show right at the top of the movie.”
Cory Michael Smith, who plays Chevy Chase, praised Reitman’s skills as a director and his ability to think ahead.
“It was truly controlled chaos,” Smith said of filming Saturday Night. “It always felt like Jason’s game plan was so solid… We were just unleashed animals on set, because we always knew that Jason knew exactly where the camera was going to be and what it was catching.”
Like Reitman, Sony Pictures Entertainment seems to be staying ahead of the game. Amid mounting awards buzz, the studio announced over the weekend that it would be moving up the release date of Saturday Night, which was initially scheduled to hit theaters on October 11.
The film will now see a platform release, debuting in New York City, Los Angeles, and Toronto on September 27 (one night before SNL’s 50th season premiere). The movie will then have a limited theatrical release on October 4, followed by a wide release on October 11 (exactly 49 years to the day since SNL broadcast its very first episode).
In addition to LaBelle, Morris, and Smith, the film’s stacked ensemble cast includes Rachel Sennott, Dylan O’Brien, Nicholas Braun, Ella Hunt, Willem Dafoe, J.K. Simmons, Kaia Gerber, Jon Batiste, Cooper Hoffman, Tommy Dewey, Matthew Rhys, Finn Wolfhard, and more. Gil Kenan co-wrote the script with Reitman.
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