Video Analysis: Deconstructing ‘Saturday Night’ in Anatomy of a Scene

Hey, this is Jason Reitman. I’m the co-writer and director of “Saturday Night.” “O.K, let’s see if we can get through one of these skits.” “Sketches! Davey, please.” So what you’re seeing here is a scene from very early in the film. We’re getting introduced to characters left and right. And what we really wanted from the very beginning was a completely immersive experience. You’re watching a movie that is 90 minutes of real time, the 90 minutes leading to the first episode of “Saturday Night Live.” The last line we knew from the beginning it was going to 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 seeing the rehearsal of a sketch with John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd and Garrett Morris. And we wanted to give the audience a pure adrenaline roller coaster ride of what it’s like to be there minute to minute as things are happening. And at the beginning, it’s going through the normal steps of trying to figure out blocking and camera work. And by the end, it’s obviously it’s a total catastrophe and it’s one of the many things that hopefully keeps you on the edge of your seat as you’re watching this film. And to do that, we needed to create a living, breathing set where every background actor was brought through a boot camp where they learned how to do their jobs, whether it was cable lighting, sound, and every actor was mic’d every single day. “I’m president of Trojan Horse Home Security.” “I’ve broken into your home tonight to illustrate to you and your family just how …” [LOUD CRASH] Boom! There goes the light boom. And this refers to something that’s actually happening that Lorne just kept requesting more and more lights. He was being demanding because he had never made television before. No one on that show had done television before. In order to create this kind of chaos on screen, what we found is that we actually had to choreograph this movie like a dance film. I’d have a giant white board like a football coach, and I would have to write plays for all the extras and background actors and crew just so everyone would know where to be. We were given this giant stage to create chaos every single day. And what continues to boggle my mind is that Lorne Michaels does this every Saturday. “I don’t guys. It was kind of exciting. Like, it’s probably good luck.”