To prep theirSaturday Night LivebiopicSaturday Night, writer/directorJason Reitmanand co-writer Gil Kenan went straight to the source.
I already saw ‘em as people."
“You’re not the kid, you’re dad.”
Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan at TIFF in 2024.Eric Charbonneau/Sony Pictures via Getty
Vital information and unexpected gems came from a multitude ofSNLsources.
“It happened so dramatically we didn’t know he had it,” Kenan says.
Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
Crystal didn’t let the filmmakers forget about his unfortunate fate on premiere night.
Lorne Michaels in 1979.Fred Hermansky/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Gett
“And he allowed us to scan it.
Gil immediately scanned the whole thing into his iPhone.
“And for us, that was never the goal.
Billy Crystal in 1979.Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
A movie is not about what happened, a movie is how it makes the audience feel.
If you could have sat in a room with Mozart working, would you feel something happening?
“And that could have been something else.
There’s a lot of people who would do that.”
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“The response has been genuinely favorable,” Reitman says.
“Everyone’s been lovely, it’s the honest to God truth.
They’ve been really sweet.”
Saturday Nightis now playing in theaters.
