Making a movie about the institution that is Saturday Night Live has to be challenging. For starters, the audience comes to the movie with its own preconceived notions about the show. Then, director Jason Reitman spent years trying to find the ideal actors to play legendary comedians Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Garrett Morris, and more. Does he worry if those cast members watched the movie? And is he concerned what they think of it? Well, when it comes to Chase, Reitman need not worry, because the Fletch and Vacation star told him exactly what the thought after watching the comedy… and he didn’t hold back.
Jason Reitman appeared as a guest on the excellent Fly on the Wall podcast, hosted by Saturday Night Live alums Dana Carvey and David Spade. The pod has become a great spot for former cast and guests to stop by and share memories of creating iconic moments on the sketch comedy show. Jason Reitman makes for an obvious guest, having spent several years working on the movie Saturday Night. But when they got around to Chevy Chase, Reitman told the hosts what the notoriously difficult Weekend Update comedian thought of the film. Said Reitman:
Chevy loves to say the thing you're not supposed to say — to the extreme. I have an example for you… So Chevy comes in to watch the movie, and he is there with [his wife] Jayni, and they watch the film, and he's in the group. And he comes up to me after, and he pats me on the shoulder and goes, ‘Well, you should be embarrassed.’
That dry reaction apparently made David Spade and Dana Carvey die laughing. Because Chevy Chase is known for being such a condescending jerk, it’s hard to tell if he was being serious – shooting Jason Reitman down immediately after a screening of Saturday Night – or if he knew that delivering a crushing blow is exactly what would be funniest in that moment.
If you are going to hang out with comedians, you need to have a thick skin.
While Carvey and Spade tried to assure Rietman that Chase probably was being funny in his own vicious way, the director still confessed:
I'm trying to balance it because, in my head, I know, 'Alright, I'm getting a Chevy Chase moment that's 1,000 percent only for me right now. And from a comedy point of view that's really pure, and that's kind of cool. But also, I just spent, like, two years of my life recreating this moment and trying to capture Chevy perfectly, and — even in the ego — find the humanity, and give him a moment to be loved. And no, none of that shit played. He's not talking about that stuff.
Perhaps that’s one way that a Hollywood legend like Chevy Chase can stay guarded, and protect his own image. He knows that he can’t do anything to control the way that he’s portrayed in Saturday Night by Cory Michael Smith. And truthfully, I thought Smith’s portrayal of Chase was one of the better turns in Reitman’s film. But what, am I going to argue with Chevy Chase about it? Not very likely.
Saturday Night is still a very fun watch, and a movie that was good enough to make CinemaBlend’s collective Best Movies of 2024 list. Catch up with it soon if you haven’t seen it yet.
