'Saturday night' | Anatomy of a scene

Hi, I'm Jason Reitman. I'm the co-writer and director of “Saturday Night.” “Okay, let's see if we can finish one of these skits.” “Sketches! Davey, please.” So what you're seeing here is a scene from the beginning of the movie. We are introduced to characters from the left and the right. And what we really wanted from the beginning was a completely immersive experience. You're watching a 90-minute movie in real time, the 90 minutes leading up to the first episode of “Saturday Night Live.” The last line we knew from the beginning would be: “Live from New York, it's Saturday night.” “What's the problem?” “What's going on, Dan?” “It's a little lodged.” And we're watching a sketch rehearsal with John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd and Garrett Morris. And we wanted to give the audience a pure adrenaline rollercoaster of what it's like to be there minute by minute while things happen. And at first, you follow the normal steps to try to figure out the blocking and the camera work. And in the end, it's obviously a total catastrophe and it's one of the many things that will hopefully keep you on the edge of your seat while watching this movie. And to do that, we needed to create a live set where every background actor went through a training camp where they learned how to do their job, whether it was wired lighting, sound, and every actor had a microphone at all times. day. “I'm president of Trojan Horse Home Security.” “I have broken into your house tonight to illustrate to you and your family how…” [LOUD CRASH] Boom! There goes the boom of light. And this refers to something that is really happening and that Lorne kept asking for more and more lights. I was being picky because I had never done television before. No one on that show had done television before. To create this kind of chaos on screen, we found that we had to choreograph this film as if it were a dance film. I would have a giant whiteboard like a football coach and I would have to write skits for all the extras, background actors and crew so everyone knew where to be. They gave us this giant stage to create chaos every day. And what continues to baffle me is that Lorne Michaels does this every Saturday. “Not me, guys. It was something exciting. “It’s probably good luck.”