It's Saturday Night Live like we've never seen it before.
The trailer for the NBC comedy sketch show released on August 8. The movie focuses on the 90 minutes of chaos that ensued before SNL's very first broadcast. Jason Reitman directed the film and also wrote the screenplay with Gil Kenan. The film is based on a true story as Jason and Gil interviewed anyone who "was alive from opening night," per Vanity Fair .
Saturday Night follows the story of determined creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle), frantically working to get the first show underway on October 11, 1975. However, things don't go as planned, and there are obstacles in his way such as SNL cast members and studio executives.
READ MORE: Steve Martin REJECTS playing Tim Walz on SNL as he delivers four-word justification
READ MORE: Saturday Night Live want comic icon Steve M artin to play Democratic VP running mate Tim Walz
In the trailer, Lorne enters 30 Rock as they are getting prepared. In the midst of the edits of disorder from cast members yelling profanities, fire sparking on set, executives pointing out the show isn't ready, Lorne yells to SNL co-creator Dick Ebersol played by Cooper Hoffman: "NBC is lucky enough to have something as relevant as this show!"
Dick hit back in another array of shots of chaos on the set: "You ever stop and wonder why they said yes to a counter-culture show starring total unknowns with zero narrative and even less structure. They want you to fail."
The ensemble cast includes Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Matt Wood as John Belushi, Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase, Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster, Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris, Nicholas Braun doing double duty as Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman, Finn Wolfhard as an unnamed NBC page, Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner, Andrew Barth Feldman as Neil Levy, Emily Fairn as Laraine Newman, Willem Dafoe as David Tebet, J.K. Simmons as Milton Berle, Nicholas Podany as Billy Crystal and Kaia Gerber as Jacqueline Carlin, among many more.
READ MORE: General Hospital replaces writer after only 8 months following fan threats to stop watching the show
READ MORE: Simone Biles reveals Snoop Dogg's sweet gift for her father's 75th birthday at Paris Olympics
The first broadcast was hosted by comedian George Carlin (Matthew Rhys) and included musical guests Billy Preston (Jon Batiste) and Janis Ian (Naomi McPherson). Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin, John Belushi, Laraine Newman, Michael O'Donoghue and George Coe (he only appeared in the show's first episode), also known as The Not Ready for Prime Time Players, were featured as the cast.
Fans on social media were so excited for the high-energy, nail biting tale of SNL's origin story. One fan on X formerly Twitter made an interesting comparison from the trailer: "This is Saturday Night Live meets The Bear! Saturday Night is about all the chaos behind the scenes before the first taping of the first live show! How SNL almost never aired on NBC! The network nearly backed out last minute! Great way to celebrate SNL 50th anniversary next year!"
A second fan said: "Very promising trailer Excited for #SaturdayNightMovie portraying the inaugural 1975 season of SNL" Another said: "This looks wildly entertaining. I'm in." A fourth fan said: "This all comes down to the cast; recreating those famous names and faces. So far it looks like they nailed it"
The film is set to come out fittingly this October 11 and SNL's 50th season will premiere on September 28.
Most Popular
Comments / 0