Next year marks two anniversaries: the (more or less) 130th of cinema and 50th of Saturday Night Live. Perhaps, thus, some fitting convergence that no idea in the history of cinema has been less-compelling than Jason Reitman doing a one-two Birdman / Sorkin pastiche about the ticking-clock tension of whether or not Saturday Night Live‘s first episode will make it to air while, I’ll go ahead and presume, telling us a thing or two about how the culture forever changed because some (make no mistake, talented) comedians did a few skits. (Or sketches, if you prefer.)
Yet the bell tolls for thee, and Saturday Night will have its theatrical debut on October 11, the 49th anniversary of SNL‘s premiere––kind of an odd discrepancy, and it would’ve admittedly been neat to release the film on the same Saturday 50 years later, but why do I care about this. Gabrielle LaBelle (Sammy Fabelman himself!) plays Lorne Michaels, whose argument with Cooper Hoffman’s Dick Ebersol structures a trailer zeroing in on mishaps plaguing the show as it prepares an inaugural broadcast. Along the way are Willem Dafoe, J.K. Simmons, Rachel Sennott, Nicholas Braun, Finn Wolfhard, and others doing a bit of dress-up. I am stunned this isn’t a TIFF Gala premiere.
Here’s the official synopsis: “At 11:30pm on October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television – and culture – forever. Directed by Jason Reitman and written by Gil Kenan & Reitman, Saturday Night is based on the true story of what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live. Full of humor, chaos, and the magic of a revolution that almost wasn’t, we count down the minutes in real time until we hear those famous words…”
Watch it below: