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The cast of the film “Saturday Night” ignored the director’s request

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The cast of the film “Saturday Night” ignored the director’s request

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Picture this: You're among a group of talented young actors who are asked to play the comedy icons behind one of television's most iconic shows, NBC's “Saturday Night Live.”

You know the names: Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Laraine Newman, Garrett Morris and Jane Curtin, as well as the late John Belushi and Gilda Radner.

So the first thing you do, of course, is try to reach those people so you can nail your performance in “Saturday Night” (in theaters nationwide Friday), director Jason Reitman's fictionalized version of the 90 minutes ago the very first television broadcast of “SNL” on October 11, 1975.

Except you'd be completely wrong: making contact was a Reitman no-go.

“Jason said we should stay away from the real people,” says Gabriel LaBelle, who plays “SNL” co-creator Lorne Michaels.

Cory Michael Smith, who plays Chevy Chase, said he really wanted to meet Chase if only “to have him say something snarky to me.” So he ignored the ban and reached out to Chase's daughters, although that outreach never led to a meeting.

And then there's Kim Matula, whose voice drops to a whisper when asked if she's tried to talk to Curtin. “I did,” she says. It was a simple call, but the time with the comedian was invaluable, she says.

Critic's opinion: “Saturday Night” review: Throwback comedy picks up on the fabulous hype surrounding the first “SNL.”

“She told me stories about being on set at the time and how she really had to fight to be seen,” says Matula. “Jane didn’t expect this. She thought, 'I got the job, people are going to write (parts) for me.' But that wasn't how things worked in a really big boys' club.

How did director Jason Reitman win over “SNL” producer Lorne Michaels?

Nearly half a century has passed since that first episode, which arguably redefined comedy on television and continues to influence the cultural zeitgeist on a weekly basis. (It also produced a number of stars, including Bill Murray, Dana Carvey, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Chris Farley and Adam Sandler.)

Despite this exciting story, Reitman said his mission on “Saturday Night” was simple: stay focused.

“Lorne told me that he had been approached for years by people who wanted to do this type of film, but I think what appealed to him here was that I wasn't trying to do the 'SNL' story ; “I just tried to show a moment before the first episode aired,” says Reitman, whose director father Ivan worked with Aykroyd and Murray on the first “Ghostbusters” film.

The demand that actors not meet their real-life counterparts was the result of another statement from Michaels. “He insisted that it was a long time ago and that people’s memories of things change over time,” Reitman says. “He said he even had conflicting memories of that first show.”

Instead, the cast relied primarily on footage from those early days and books like 2002's “Live From New York: The Complete Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers and Guests” by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller .

How 'Saturday Night' actors prepared to search for personality traits of 'SNL' legends

“I spent an incredible amount of time watching videos of Chevy Chase,” Smith says. “I was working from a place of paranoia because he's probably the most famous of the original cast. And while he has some mannerisms, he's basically just a good-looking leading man. So I had to find out who he was.”

Smith found these tics in small places. “There was the blinking, of course,” he says of Chase’s habit. “I would investigate when he did that and why he did that. When he did it because he was convinced by the joke or when he did it because he wanted to signal something to the audience.”

Chase's famous blunder, which he often made while playing President Gerald Ford, was a little easier to grasp, Smith says. “He’s tall, just like me. The further it goes, the funnier it gets,” he says. “He would just turn into (rubbery) Gumby.”

Matula says she channeled some of her own frustration as an actress in Hollywood to get into Curtin's psyche. While Curtin eventually became a popular Not Ready for Primetime player, best known for her deadpan delivery on the Weekend Update desk, her struggles stemmed in part from her background in the improv world.

“She immediately realized that she had to come forward because no one would do that for you, and I can relate to that,” she says, adding that her preparation involved paying close attention to the first season shows , which were constantly running in break areas on set.

For LaBelle, who went from playing young Steven Spielberg in “The Fablemans” to playing young Michaels in “Saturday Night,” the goal was to channel the fearless confidence that the young producer had in the face of grave doubts from some NBC executives. Manager needed. who couldn't wait to see him fail and fill his time slot again with reruns of Johnny Carson's wildly popular “Tonight Show.”

“Lorne was seen (by executives) as this hippie. They had no respect at all, but that was to be expected because as the film points out, this wasn't just another show on TV; it was ultimately about a big change from the “old ways of doing things in a new way,” says LaBelle, who adds that, like most of his castmates, he grew up on “SNL.” “Those early seasons have become mythical for many of us, so it was amazing to be immersed like that.”

And guess what? LaBelle did Meet Michaels just before filming began on Saturday Night. He, Reitman and Smith watched the show from Michael's office.

Did Michaels give LaBelle any insight or advice?

“He just said, 'Listen to Jason,'” LaBelle says.

When asked about that night, Smith just laughs: “As I recall, we all got in a cab afterwards and Gabe just said, 'That was useless.'”

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