Welcome to WeeklyWilson.com, where author/film critic Connie (Corcoran) Wilson avoids totally losing her marbles in semi-retirement by writing about film (see the Chicago Film Festival reviews and SXSW), politics and books----her own books and those of other people. You'll also find her diverging frequently to share humorous (or not-so-humorous) anecdotes and concerns. Try it! You'll like it!

Tag: Jason Reitman

“Saturday Night” Lights Up the Screen at the Nashville Film Festival on 9/21/2024

 

Jason Reitman brought his newest film, “Saturday Night,” a re-enactment of the opening night (October 11, 1975) when “Saturday Night Live” went on the air “live” for the first time to the Nashville Film Festival on September 21, 2024. When “Saturday Night” played to a packed house at the Nashville Film Festival, Writer/Director Reitman brought casting director John Papsidera with him. That was a master stroke, because this re-enactment of the opening night of “Saturday Night Live,” boasts a star-studded cast. There are so many up-and-coming young talents (and established talents, like Willem Dafoe and J.K. Simmons) involved, that it is almost impossible to list them all.  But it’s worth trying, so you can keep an eye out for the identities of the over 80 speaking parts, figure out who that individual was (in historical terms), and marvel at the job that casting them all must have represented.

THE CAST

The plot is told through the eyes of the creator of “Saturday Night Live,” Lorne Michaels. Michaels is  played by Gabriel LaBelle, who was cast as young Steven Spielberg in “The Fabelmans” (2022).  Jon Batiste plays Billy Preston; Kaia Gerber (daughter of Cindy Crawford) is Jacqueline Carlin; Finn Wolfhard (“Stranger Things”) portrays an unnamed NBC page; Lamorne Morris (recent Emmy winner for “Fargo”) is Garrett Morris; Tommy Dewey (“Casual”) is head writer Michael O’Donoghue; Nicolas Braun (“Succession”) handles two roles, as Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman; Matthew Rhys (“The Americans”) is George Carlin; Cooper Hoffman (“Licorice Pizza”) plays Dick Ebersol; Andrew Barth Feldman (“No Hard Feelings”) is Neil Levy; Taylor Gray (“Star Wars: Rebels”) is Al Franken; Rachel Sennott (“Bottoms”) is Lorne Michaels’ first wife, Rosie Shuster, and Dylan O’Brien (“The Maze Runner,” 2014) is Dan Aykroyd. I’m certain I’ve failed to properly mention all of the up-and-coming stars of tomorrow in the film about 1975’s up-and-coming stars of tomorrow, but you’ll want to see how close the actors come, appearance-wise, to the real stars of “SNL.”

John Papsidera, Connie Wilson and Jason Reitman at the Nashville Film Festival.

(L to R) Casting Director John Papsidera, Connie Wilson, and Writer/Director Jason Reitman in Nashville at the Nashville Film Festival showing of “Saturday Night” on September 21, 2024.

 

There are over 80 speaking parts in the film. John Papsidera (a sometimes Nashville resident), who also worked on “Oppenheimer,” described that as a huge number. The most difficult cast member to decide upon turned out to be Dan Aykroyd,(said the duo in the Q&A after the screening). Finding the right actor to play Aykroyd took the longest and turned out to be the most difficult. With the others, they said, they “tried to find the essence of the person. The movie is about who they are.” The key was to find one main characteristic per character, so Chevy Chase was primarily portrayed as egotistical. Garrick Morris was trying to identify how he fit in amongst the cast. O’Donaghue displayed the ability to say the nastiest things but have them come from a place of humor. Gilda Radner was always taking care of others.

THE PERFECT DIRECTOR FOR THE FILM

Back in 2007, right after “Juno” had made waves for Reitman, garnering Best Director and Best Picture Oscar nominations, Jason was asked what he wanted to do next. He mentioned his desire to write for SNL (as well as continuing to direct.) Jason was given a one-night stand opportunity to participate in the behind-the-scenes goings on writing for one SNL episode. He shared that Ashton Kutcher was the host (and starred in the skit Reitman wrote, entitled “Death by Chocolate”) and Gnarls Barkley was the musical guest “which gives you an idea what decade it was,” laughed Reitman. The cast members were discouraged from interacting with their real-life counterparts during shooting—(assuming the original was still alive.)

SETS

Jason Reitman

Writer/Director Jason Reitman.

Reitman shared this,  “We rebuilt the 8th and 9th floors of Rockefeller Center from the original floor plans. We lived on that set for 2 months.” Various catastrophes present themselves in the hour leading up to the first broadcast. As the press notes say: “The writers are stoned.  The sound system is f*****. The actors are physically assaulting each other. The crew is in open revolt. They have 90 minutes to get their shit together or the network is pulling the plug.” It’s just a good thing that Lorne Michaels “believes in his vision and he doesn’t really bend.” Many wonder if the fabled creator of “SNL” will bend after this season and pass the torch to a new generation. After all, it’s been a good year for creative visionaries who believe in their visions to step back from power and hand off the baton to their subordinates.

THE SCORE

Jason Reitman & John Papsidera

Jason Reitman and John Papsidera in Nashville on September 21, 2024.

Jason Reitman:  “Jon Batiste is a genius unlike anyone I’ve ever met in my life.  He has a photographic memory of sound.  We decided we should try to do the sound track the way they did SNL: live. There is music in the movie that would never have been there if Jon hadn’t been giving it to me like that.” Batiste’s rendition of “Nothin’ from Nothin” that kicks off the first show is electric. Batiste’s interpretation of the Afro-haired musician Billy Preston (who actually wore wigs for his gigs) was spot-on. Steven Colbert had Batiste for a short time as his band leader; he seems destined for much more greatness. Another recommendation for those who love great documentaries would be the new one by Paris Barclay about Billy Preston’s life, entitled “That’s the Way God Planned It.” There’s an entire feature film in  there, for sure.

SCRIPT

The writing shows Reitman’s award-winning touch (Gil Kenan is co-writer.) Reitman’s film “Juno” won a nomination for Best Screenplay based on Diablo Cody’s collaboration on the script in 2007. “Up in the Air” won the Golden Globe in 2010 for Best Screenplay (based on the Sheldon Turner book). The script was also Oscar-nominated for an Oscar (2009) while winning the BAFTA that year. The script for “Saturday Night” has more zingers and one-liners than any film released this year.

Here’s just one quick example: “Let me know when my expectations exceed your capabilities” (to the light crew, after lights nearly fall on the performers.) Another good one, aimed at a meddling middle-aged female censor  (Catherine Curtin as Joan Carbunkle; no relation to Jane Curtin):  “I’ve heard that love is blind, and now I know why.” A continuing joke involves the cast trying to sneak sexual references into their scripts by misleading Carbunkle, the censor, as to what the phrases actually mean.

AWARDS

Jason Reitman

Writer/Director Jason Reitman of “Saturday Night” in Nashville on 9/21/2024.

Jason Reitman (born in 1977)  was on the set of “Animal House,” which his father directed, in 1978 He has been involved in making movies ever since, beginning with 6 short films submitted to  Sundance” in 1998. Reitman actually won the BAFTA in 2009 for Best Screenplay and has continued turning out truly enjoyable films like “Tully” (2018) and “The Front Runner,”(also 2018)  a story about the ill-fated Senatorial campaign of Gary Hart of Colorado which starred Hugh Jackman. If I see it is a Jason Reitman film, I’m in.

When I spoke with Reitman  and mentioned meeting him previously in Chicago the year of “The Front Runner” he suggested (ruefully) that I might be one of the few at tonight’s screening who had seen the film. (While I’m not sure about that, I have been reviewing since 1970, and that is 7 years before Reitman was born.) When I mentioned “The Front Runner” (Hugh Jackman starred) Reitman said, “It turns out that people were less interested in Gary Hart’s Senate campaign than in Saturday Night Live.” It’s a shame, as “The Front Runner” and “Up In the Air,” “Tully,” “Thank You for Smoking” and “Jennifer’s Body” are among my favorite films by any director working today.

More recently, Reitman directed “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” (released on November 11, 2021) and “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024), which co-writer and collaborator Gil Kenan went on to direct solo. Reitman also produced (but did not write or direct) the DuPlass Brothers comedy “Jeff, Who Lives At Home” with Susan Sarandon, Jason Seigel, and Ed Helms starring, an early film (2011) with a lesbian subplot (also remembered from the Chicago International Film Festival in 2011).

STYLE

John Papsidera and Jason Reitman at the Nashville Film Festival on 9/21/2024.

John Papsidera and Jason Reitman during the Nashville Q&A following the screening of “Saturday Night” on 9/21/2024 at the Nashville Film Festival.

There were discussions of trying to shoot the film in one long scene (as Hitchcock attempted with “Rope”). It didn’t work for Hitchcock in 1948, either.  Instead “Rope” is made up of several 8 minute continuous shots. This was the length of film that fit onto one reel then. That ambitious idea had to be shelved in 2024 as well.

“Saturday Night” is shot using 16 millimeter film. The pace of the film is the pace of the production that night, as the cast struggles to make the project gel before 11:30 p.m. on Saturday night.  That was a great idea to assist the pacing, which is frenetic. As we learn, Johnny Carson was NOT supportive of SNL (originally called just “Saturday Night”).  It represented the network (NBC) manipulating him during contract negotiations. The great (and oft-nominated Willem Dafoe) portrays David Tebet, the Chief Suit who will decide if “Saturday Night” goes on the air live or if canned re-runs of Carson’s “Tonight” show,  will bump it. Like “Apollo 13,” even though we know how that  plays out, it adds pacing and tension to the plot’s story and the show’s dilemma. (*I don’t know if that is true or creative license; it was a great idea and helps build the sense of confrontation.) Referencing the frenetic and often chaotic pace of the show on that night (and any Saturday night), the comment was made, jokingly, that the Michael Ritchie style was like “Robert Altman on amphetamines.”

KUDOS

Jason Reitman and John Papsidera

Jason Reitman and casting director John Papsidera.

This is such an ambitious project. Hats off to all involved.  “Saturday Night” is documenting the passing of the torch from one comedic generation to another. With the current political situation in the United States, movies about passing the torch from one generation to another are a hot commodity. With Jean Smart (“Hacks”) set to hostess the opening program of the 50th year of “Saturday Night Live” on October 11th, this edge-of-your-seat attempt to show who the original “Saturday Night Live” not-ready-for-prime-time players were yields  a great movie that makes you feel something.  As Reitman said, “It requires so much control to pull off the chaos.” He also pointed out “the distinction between simply telling a story and feeling something.” Paying tribute to his profession, he marveled, “It (filmmaking) draws on the talents of people in so many different disciplines.”

The film is “the prism that captures the light of an emerging generation.” The 50th season of “SNL” is upon us; the release date of October 11th is an homage to the television show’s debut date. Let the comedy begin

Does “Saturday Night” work?

Yes, it does. “Saturday Night” is hugely entertaining and never flags. Check it out at the theater on October 11, 2024,

“Up in the Air” is a Clooney/Reitman Triumph

up-in-the-air“Up in the Air,” a Jason Reitman-directed (and written, with assistance from Sheldon Turner) film stands a great chance of being named this year’s Best Film of the Year. It’s definitely a front-runner and will (no doubt) duke it out with the likes of “Precious,” “The Hurt Locker,”  and “Up in the Air.”

I had the feeling, as I watched the movie, that without George Clooney in the pivotal role of the commitment-phobic Ryan Bingham, who travels the United States terminating people from their jobs and accumulating frequent flyer miles (his goal is 10 million miles), this movie would not be nearly as strong. Clooney’s reputation as a ladies’ man helps us to accept him in the role and aids the film immensely.  I also had the feeling that Clooney’s expert light comedy touch might go unrewarded, again, just as Woody Allen’s comic film masterpieces did for so many years, (until “Annie Hall.”) [Personally, I would have given Clooney the Oscar for his performance in 2007’s “Michael Clayton,” portraying the title character.]

While “Precious” has Oprah in its corner, and “Invictus” has Clint Eastwood in its, Jason Reitman’s film, based on the novel by Walter Kirn, has both Clooney (a formidable asset), and the fact that unemployment in this country has reached levels not seen since the Great Depression. Lay-offs are as common as crab grass, but far more devastating. With the horrible economic conditions abroad in the land and unemployment rates of 10% becoming routine, the film capitalizes on the nation’s preoccupation with losing one’s job.

Everyone knows someone who has either been fired or fears he soon will be fired. The ability to empathize with the illiterate black teen-ager of “Precious” may not be as universal an empathetic emotion, so let’s give the edge to “Up in the Air” in that department, Oprah effect or no Oprah effect.  Plus, this is a fun and lightweight film, while no one would ever characterize “Precious” as that, nor “Avatar,” nor “The Hurt Locker.” I’ve already declared “Invictus” to be only mediocre entertainment, despite the best efforts of its fine stars, and the rest of the race (“The Hurt Locker?” “Up?”) is wide open at this point in time.

There are numerous vignettes of people being fired, since, in the film (if not the book) the company that is responsible for doing the dirty work of actually terminating employees is considering moving away from the use of real people to do the dirty work and is moving towards the use of long-distance technology (computers). Some of those getting the bad news are actors we recognize (J.K. Simmons, the father in “Juno,” as Bob and comedian/actor Zach Galifiakanas as Steve). Some are not

So, how does the movie measure up to the book?

In the book, Clooney’s character is obsessed with using big words and expanding his vocabulary. In the book, there are more women (other than Vera Farmigia, the female lead, as Alex Goran), more sex, and implications of drug abuse. In the book, Vera Farmigia’s character is desperate for Clooney’s character (Ryan Bingham) to return the affection she feels for him, but he remains indifferent and emotionally aloof. In the book, Ryan Bingham, the traveling terminator, talks about the physical toll of his constant travel, and there is no subplot involving using technology to replace face-to-face termination(s).  But who’s keeping track of such minor details?

The film based on the book is great fun! It is a lightweight soufflé that, ultimately, both entertains and enriches, with a message that relationships do matter and, without them, you may end up “up in the air” with choices drifting by you and floating all around, as an original song by Kevin Renick, (a fan who sent the song to Director Jason Reitman), puts it. I was taken with the use of the song by an unknown over the closing credits, because the daughter’s Nashville mentor, Rick Clark, was the person responsible for selecting the songs used in the film and this one seemed very apropos.  The music in the film opens with “This Land Is Your Land”, sung by Sharon Jones, a soulful rendition, as a plane flies above a variety of midwestern cities.

Much of the film was shot in St. Louis, although other Midwestern cities (Omaha, Des Moines, Dubuque) are also mentioned onscreen, as well as locations such as Miami and San Francisco.

Clooney’s terminator du jour takes up with Vera Farmigia’s character of Alex because they have much in common in terms of constant travel. Only a fellow frequent flier would find the prospect of becoming only the 7th member to reach the 10 million mile club “sexy,” Lines like “To know me is to fly with me” resonate as the film progresses, and Ryan’s side-job as a motivational speaker who encourages others to “unload their backpacks” of responsibility serves as a nice counterpoint to allow Clooney’s character to express certain key philosophies in his life. Example:  “We weigh ourselves down until you can’t even move. And moving is living.”

As a woman of a certain age, I laughed out loud at Clooney’s young sidekick Natalie Keener, well played by Anna Kendrick. Anna is young and inexperienced. She has never actually fired anyone, so she is sent out on the road with Clooney by boss Jason Bateman (Craig Gregory) to learn what the process is really like, up close and personal. When she says, to Vera Farmigia’s character, “I really appreciate everything that your generation did for me,” and tells her that she hopes she looks as good as Vera does “in 15 years,” you have to smile. (Either that or cry.)

There is a telling scene in the film with dialogue that pretty well snaps into focus the idea that it is immature to shirk responsibilities and work so hard to remain unattached, footloose and fancy-free. The women in the film drive it home the most directly, declaring that they are  “grown-ups” who consider Clooney’s character’s approach to life immature. As he declares to rooms of rapt seminar listeners, “The slower we move, the faster we die.  We’re not swans, we’re sharks.” As they say, “You are an escape. A break from our normal lives. A parenthesis.”

Clooney tells his soon-to-be brother-in-law (who is experiencing a bad case of double approach-avoidance response, otherwise known as cold feet, on the day of his wedding to Clooney’s sister (played by Amy Morton, better-known from her continuing appearances as the neighbor on television’s “Two and One-Half Men”): “Life’s better with company. Everybody needs a co-pilot.” The prospective brother-in-law, played by Danny McBride as Jim Miller, has shut himself away reading “The Velveteen Rabbit” and is undergoing a moment of existential angst. He asks Clooney (who is sent in to convince him to go through with the wedding), “What is the point?” Clooney’s answer? “There is no point.”

Another great exchange has Clooney saying to his sister Julie Bingham, (Melanie Lynskey) “I tell people how to avoid commitment.” She responds, “What kind of f*****-up message is that?”

By film’s end, you’ll have your answer, and so will Clooney’s character of Ryan Bingham.

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