Jason Reitman’s ‘Saturday Night’ to release on this date

Washington [US], July 31 (ANI): Canadian-American filmmaker Jason Reitman’s film, which is about the inaugural broadcast of ‘Saturday Night Live’, will be hitting the theatres on October 11, reported Variety.

The release date is especially noteworthy because October 11 is the same date of the iconic comedy show’s initial broadcast, which will begin its 50th season this autumn.

The film’s official synopsis explains, “a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever.” The Sony movie, officially titled “Saturday Night,” is based on the true story of what happened behind the scene in the 90 minutes leading up to broadcast. “Full of humor, chaos, and the magic of a revolution that almost wasn’t, we count down the minutes in real time to the famous words: ‘Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!’

“Saturday Night” is directed by Reitman from a script he penned with his “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” co-writer Gil Kenan, drawing from the pair’s series of interviews with living cast, writers and crew members from the historic production.

George Carlin hosted the first 1975 edition of ‘SNL’ on NBC, which included musical guests Billy Preston and Janis Ian. The episode featured Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Michael O’Donoghue, and Gilda Radner, as well as George Coe, who would not return as a cast member. The show also featured a performance by comedian Andy Kaufman. Dick Ebersol created the variety program and hired Lorne Michaels as showrunner, who now oversees the long-running series.

The film’s ensemble cast includes Gabriel LaBelle (as Michaels), Dylan O’Brien (Aykroyd), Cory Michael Smith (Chase), Rachel Sennott (Rosie Shuster), Lamorne Morris (Morris), Nicholas Braun (Jim Henson), Finn Wolfhard (an NBC page), Jon Batiste (Preston), Ella Hunt (Radnor), Cooper Hoffman (Ebersol), Andrew Barth Feldman (Neil Levy), Naomi McPherson (Ian), Willem Dafoe (David Tebet), J.K. Simmons (Milton Berle) and Kaia Gerber (Jacqueline Carlin), among others.

Reitman and Kenan (whose overall production partnership with Sony has previously produced the popular “Ghostbusters” sequels “Afterlife” and “Frozen Empire”) co-produce the film with Jason Blumenfeld and Peter Rice. Executive producers include Erica Mills and JoAnn Perritano, reported Variety.