By Steven Weintraub & Jake Weisman
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The Big Picture
- Collider's Steve Weintraub speaks with Saturday Night's Lamorne Morris, Ella Hunt, and Cory Michael Smith.
- Jason Reitman's Saturday Night recreates the chaotic premiere of Saturday Night Live in 1975 with a large ensemble cast.
- During this interview, Morris, Hunt, and Smith discuss improvising on set, working with Reitman, and all the WTF moments throughout production.
Saturday Night is co-writer and director Jason Reitman's real-time, narrative recreation of the chaotic premiere of Saturday Night Live in 1975. At the center is young Lorne Michaels, played by The Fabelman’s Gabriel LaBelle, as he excitedly corrals messy writers, a wild studio set, and up-and-coming talent Garret Morris , played by Lamorne Morris, Gilda Radner, played by Ella Hunt, and Chevy Chase, played by Cory Michael Smith, in addition to a lively and epically large cast.
Morris won audiences' hearts as the prank-loving Winston Bishop on New Girl, but this year, the actor earned his first Primetime Emmy for his role as Trooper Witt Farr on the acclaimed series Fargo. Next, he’ll be slinging monochromatic justice with Nicolas Cage in the upcoming Spider-Noir. Cult audiences the world over know Hunt as Anna, the voice-belting, zombie-slaying heroine from Anna and the Apocalypse. Since then, Hunt has starred in Apple TV+’s Dickenson alongside Hailee Steinfeld. Smith cut his teeth on Broadway against Emilia Clark in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. He’s also been cast by esteemed director Todd Haynes twice, first in Carol, next in May/December. He’s known to television audiences as the Riddler, Edward Nygma on FOX’s Gotham. Now, Morris, Hunt, and Smith star in Saturday Night, the new roller coaster SNL biopic.
In this interview, Morris, Smith, and Hunt sat down with Collider’s Steve Weintraub to discuss all the moments during shooting that made them ask “WTF?” They also talk about the details of improvising as their famous counterparts and their implicit creative trust in director, Reitman.
‘Saturday Night’ Director Jason Reitman Has It All Under Control
COLLIDER: How are you all doing?
ELLA HUNT: We’re just admiring your T-shirt.
Thank you. I'm admiring your work in this. At what point of the shoot did you guys realize, “Oh shit, this is gonna be good.”?
CORY MICHAEL SMITH: Great question.
LAMORNE MORRIS: I'd probably say, just hanging out with Jason [Reitman] before the shoot. The attention to detail before we even get to town. He's giving us movies to watch, he's having these movie nights, he's really breaking down the blocking. He's sending us photos of the set from the blueprints, to the wood being up, to the paint being applied. Every step of the way. I said to myself, “Well, he's got it under control.” When he's paying attention to that much, all I have to do is worry about the things that I need to worry about and getting along with everybody else. So, even before we got there, the name Jason Reitman told me that we were going to be just fine.
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HUNT: I think most of us got a very similar email when we each got the role saying that his goal with the movie was to capture the essence of these people and the spirit of this moment in time. That there is a tendency, with a film like this and with characters like these, to want to understand every single moment of their life, but that he was going to beg us not to feel like we needed to do that. That we could just jump with him and trust that the reason we each had been cast is that he felt like we each held some element of these amazing people. That to me was a symbol that this was gonna be a special movie. What a lovely vision for something that just could have been a tricky thing to tackle. I mean, SNL is such an institution.
SMITH: More ways for this to go sideways than forwards, for sure.
HUNT: Yeah, that’s a good way of putting it. [Laughs]
SMITH: I think for me, it was about halfway through the shoot, and we were recreating the screen tests for these characters, which is how the film begins. You sort of get introduced to our faces as these characters. Because unlike these two, who had the pleasure of working together, we didn't all work with each other. There were a lot of people, I didn't see their performances.
HUNT: Funny!
The Cast of ‘Saturday Night’ Existed As Their Famous Counterparts
SMITH: The first time I was really seeing a lot of the Not Ready For Primetime Players was when we recreated the screen tests. Jason was like, “We're gonna do two takes of the screen test. In between that, you need to stay in character, and everyone else, in character, can ask you whatever questions they want." So everyone had to improv as these legends, and I was blown away because every single person was existing as their character. It was the moment where I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is like the Varsity team.” It was unbelievable, and I felt very confident after that.
MORRIS: Do you remember the moment we had our table read? And prior to the table read, we're all discussing, like, "How deep into the dialect are you getting? How deep into the “-isms” are you getting?" We're asking those questions, and then we all start reading because we're feeling it out still. We all start reading, and then Nicholas Podany — he plays Billy Crystal in the movie — he starts speaking, and then everybody looked over and went, “What the fuck?” [Laughs]
SMITH: That voice is Crystal clear if you will.
MORRIS: That was another moment where I went, “Oohoo!”
Singing in 'Saturday Night' Had Lamorne Morris Shaking In His Boots
You see the shooting schedule in front of you. What day do you have circled in terms of, “I cannot wait to film this,” and what day is circled in terms of, “How the F are we gonna film this?”
MORRIS: For me, it was “Get Me A Shotgun.” That moment. Because on camera, in a serious manner, I've never been asked to sing. This was the first time. I was extremely nervous. This cast is filled with performers and singers. They have amazing voices, and they have processes of how to warm up and do all these things. When I tell you, I was shaking in my boots — I was shaking in my boots. That I had circled just so I could prepare for it, get the nerves out, and not fuck the scene up.
SMITH: With John Batiste’s band behind you. [Laughs]
HUNT: And everyone watching!
MORRIS: I was like, “Jason, why do you have to block it this way? Why do you have to have the entire cast staring at me? Half of which are Broadway singers!"
SMITH: The scene that I was most nervous about? The second time you see Chevy, he's talking to these affiliates — I remember reading this scene. At the end of the scene, I end up meeting Dave Tebbit, who's an NBC executive played by Willem Dafoe. He basically says to Chevy, “You're the next Johnny Carson.” It really launches Chevy's arc for this film. It's a really important moment because it's the thing that sends his ego, which is the thing that later has to be smashed to the ground. It's a really important moment. So I'm like, “Wow, I have to earn that compliment.” I said to Jason, “I feel like there needs to be more in this space to really earn that. I just kept feeling this instinct. There has to be more, there has to be more. So, at this point, I started to improv a little bit as Chevy around set and make jokes, and ask questions–
HUNT: Oh, it was uncanny what he was doing in terms of Chevy improv. Like, it was Chevy Chase.
SMITH: I had never done this before. I'm certainly not a comedian, and I'm not really a writer, but I started writing out jokes that I could add to the beginning of the scene. When I showed up that day, I said to Jason, “Hey, I have some ideas, some jokes to try out. Do you want me to read them to you or show them to you?” He was like, “No. You have to do the first line because that's how I pan to you, then get up there and do whatever you want.” So I got up on the stage, and without rehearsing or telling him or anything, I just started a stand-up set as Chevy with these jokes that I had written. Some of them are in the beginning of that scene, so he kept them!
Ella Hunt Wanted To Capture The Vivaciousness of Gilda Radner
“Honestly, you sound like a Spanish man.”
HUNT: For me, there were two, but I'll keep it short. The Construction Workers Sketch, where the ladies of SNL have a wonderful time objectifying Dan Aykroyd in a pair of short shorts. I had thought that I was gonna pay tribute to Roseanne Rosanadana in that sketch. I was like, “I'm gonna do a little nod to that voice.”I presented it to my dialect coach, the amazing Liz Hummelstein. She was like, “Ella, your Gilda voice is great, but honestly, you sound like a Spanish man." [Laughs] So I did what Jason had suggested I do and did a brassy Brooklyn man's accent, which was so much fun. We had too much fun. It just, to me, encapsulates the vivacious spirit of Gilda. I wanted to feel rooted in my body and to trust that I could be funny.
MORRIS: Oh, it's funny. We've all said to her face and behind her back that she does, indeed, sound like a Spanish man.
HUNT: That’s me. That’s who I am.
I'm just gonna say congrats seriously on the movie, and have fun working with Nic Cage in Spider-Noir, which I cannot wait for.
MORRIS: Thank you very much. Me either!
Saturday Night is now in theaters.
Saturday Night (2024)
Biography
Comedy
Drama
At 11:30pm on October 11th, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. Find out what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live.
- Release Date
- October 11, 2024
- Director
- Jason Reitman
- Cast
- Finn Wolfhard , Willem Dafoe , Dylan O'Brien , J.K. Simmons , Ella Hunt , Rachel Sennott , Matthew Rhys , Lamorne Morris
- Writers
- Gil Kenan , Jason Reitman
- Character(s)
- NBC Page , David Tebet , Dan Aykroyd , Milton Berle , Gilda Radner , Rosie Shuster
- Interviews
- Movie
- Jason Reitman
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