Billy Crystal gave “Saturday Night” an essential piece of “SNL” history

To prepare them Saturday Night Live Biopic Saturday eveningWriter/director Jason Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan went straight to the source.

The filmmaking duo interviewed every living cast and crew member present at the comedy show's premiere on October 11, 1975 – even those who seemed unreachable. “We talked to set painters, costume designers, the entire writing team and all the actors who were still there,” says Kenan Weekly entertainment.

Reitman, whose father Ivan ran in the same comedy circles as SNL's founders note that his existing relationships with the show's biggest personalities made the process smoother. “I grew up with Chevy Chase, I grew up with Dan Aykroyd and met others like Billy Crystal along the way,” says the director. “They're still giants of comedy, but I knew they were human, and I think that gave me a little bit of an edge in my writing and in our conversations. I already saw them as people.”

The Saturday evening The research process began with the show's original architect, who is still active SNL til today. “Lorne Michaels was the first conversation we had, which was really important because it opened the door for the rest of the conversations and we learned a lot of things that weren't written down anywhere,” Kenan explains. “I think Lorne managed to focus his stories and at the same time he was the first to admit that memories change and that it is not difficult for anyone to distinguish between the myths, the legends and the truth,” adds Reitman. “But the big thing for us was when he told us he was originally going to host Weekend Update, and Chevy confirmed that.”

Reitman sees Michaels' original intention to host the show's tentpole news segment – and his eventual resignation from it before the show went live – as the key to understanding the super-producer's personality. “That opened up a lot for us because there’s a moment when you realize you’re not the performer, you’re the producer,” he says. “You’re not the kid, you’re dad.”

He continues: “We recognized the moment when you want to be one of the children, but you have to be a dad and be a dad.” SNL That means you run the place and have to fire some people. You have to choose which sketches are left out and you have to be a different kind of parent for each child who needs a different kind of parenting. “So Lorne’s resignation from Weekend Update is a moment where he steps into the role of Lorne Michaels, the producer we all know.”

The duo later interviewed Rosie Shuster, an important figure SNL Writer who was married to Michaels and dated Aykroyd during her early years on the series. “After that first call, we both felt like she was the key to success,” Kenan says. “Her character felt so much like a voice of the show and she's one of the funniest people we've ever spoken to.” Reitman also notes, “And she was able to figure out who Lorne was at 29 years old.”

Important information and unexpected treasures came from a variety of sources SNL Sources. Longtime author Alan Zweibel provided extensive anecdotes about the premiere, while the late production designer Eugene Lee provided numerous drawings and his model of Studio 8H before his death last year. Another key contributor was Edie Baskin, the show's chief photographer, who helped the filmmakers with visualization SNLis the production evening. “Her visual imprint is still the hallmark of the show, and she gave us this incredible tour of her photo archive from that night,” says Kenan. “This helped us place people in the rooms they were in at specific times before the show went live.”

Ironically, one of the key figures in the duo's research was an actor who didn't make it into the lead role SNL Premiere. “Every time we asked someone for a copy of the premiere script, no one had it,” says Reitman. “One person had it, and it was Billy Crystal, the last person we expected to capture a memory of that night.”

Despite the fact that his act was ultimately cut from the episode, the When Harry met Sally Star was the only one who stuck to his script. “It happened so dramatically – we didn’t know he had it,” Kenan says. “It was one of the few face-to-face interviews we did, and we asked about the script as a sort of casual question, like we did with everyone else. And he said, 'Wait a minute,' and went into a study and came back out and just dropped it on the table in front of us.

Crystal didn't let the filmmakers forget his unfortunate fate on opening night. “He flipped through, pointed to a blank page and said, 'That's where I should be!'” Reitman recalls. “And he allowed us to scan it. Gil immediately scanned the whole thing into his iPhone. And the result is that every time the characters in our film hold a script of any kind, it’s Billy’s script.”

However, Reitman and Kenan never intended their extensive research to result in an accurate cinematic depiction of every detail that transpired on opening night; Rather, they tried to gather as much information as possible in order to accurately portray the atmosphere, interpersonal dynamics and intense emotions leading up to the first film SNL Episode “It was really interesting talking to journalists about the film this week, every journalist wants to know what Really “That’s what happened that night,” Reitman said. “And for us that was never the goal.” A film is not about what happened, but about the feelings it evokes in the audience. And what we wanted to capture was what it felt like right before the movie aired, when you were one of the people standing on the floor.”

Reitman continues: “Gil and I are both interested in what does it feel like in the room when a genius emerges? If you had sat in a room while Mozart was working, would you have felt something happen? Would the temperature change?” in the room, or would it just be like, “I’m with an Austrian guy who plays the piano”? SNL was a groundbreaking, life-changing cultural shift for both of us, so we always wondered what it was feels Like right before this show airs and everything we know as comedic television changes.”

And although Saturday evening portrays some of its characters in a fairly negative light – particularly NBC executives – and the filmmakers faced no pushback from the network or anyone currently working on it SNL. “One day we found a dead peacock in our bed, but other than that everything was fine,” Reitman jokes. “And that could have been something else. There are a lot of people who would do that.”

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The filmmakers also say that several of the SNL The graduates featured in the film have already seen it, including Chase, Zweibel, Crystal, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman and Howard Shore. “The response has been really positive,” says Reitman. “Everyone was very nice, that’s the honest truth. They were really cute.”

Kenan adds: “I hope they see that we have done this with a spirit of absolute love for the world of comedy that they helped create. It's really cool that there are so many of them that are still working and still doing stuff that we're interested in because we really owe a debt of gratitude to all of them.”

Saturday evening is playing in the cinema now.