Hey, that is Jason Reitman. I co-wrote and directed “Saturday Night.” “OK, let's see if we can get through one of these sketches.” “Sketches! Davey, please.” What you see here is a scene from the beginning of the film. We get to know the characters left and right. And what we really wanted from the start was a completely immersive experience. You're watching a movie that runs for 90 minutes in real time, the 90 minutes leading up to the first episode of “Saturday Night Live.” The last line, which we knew from the start would be: “Live from New York, it's Saturday night.” “What's the issue?” “What's mistaken, Dan?” “It's somewhat jammed. And we see a rehearsal of a sketch with John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd and Garrett Morris. And we wanted to present the audience an adrenaline rollercoaster ride and show what it's prefer to be there minute by minute as something happens. And in the beginning it goes through the traditional steps of attempting to work out the blocking and the camera work. And ultimately, it's obviously a complete disaster and it's considered one of the various things that can hopefully keep you on the sting of your seat when you watch this film. And so as to achieve that, we needed to create a living, respiratory set where every background actor was put through a boot camp where they learned tips on how to do their jobs, be it cable lighting, sound, and every actor was mic'd individually on a day-to-day basis . “I am the president of Trojan Horse Home Security.” “I broke into your home tonight to show you and your family how…” [LOUD CRASH] Boom! There goes the sunshine boom. And this refers to something that really happened, that Lorne kept asking for more lights. He was demanding because he had never done television before. No one on this show had worked in television before. To create such chaos on screen, we actually needed to choreograph this film like a dance film. I might have an enormous white board like a football coach and have to put in writing plays for all of the extras, background actors and crew so everyone knows where to be. We've been given this huge stage to cause chaos every single day. And what still amazes me is that Lorne Michaels does this every Saturday. “Not me, guys. It was kind of exciting. It’s probably luck.”
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