Jason Reitman Recalls the ‘Nearly Impossible’ Task of Finding the Right Actor to Play Dan Aykroyd on ‘Saturday Night’

Plus, star Gabriel LaBelle reveals whether it was more intimidating to play “SNL” boss Lorne Michaels or Steven Spielberg’s version in his film “The Fabelmans.”

Jason Reitman is fully aware of the risk involved in making his new film Saturday night — about the crazy 90 minutes leading up to the first episode Saturday Night Live in 1975 – mainly because of one key aspect… what many consider to be the most important element in the making of any film.

“Casting was the scariest part of the process,” the two-time Oscar-nominated director Juno AND In the air (plus another two for writing and producing this last one), he says in the latest episode Rewarder podcast. “The moment I told people we were making a movie was on opening night Saturday Night Livepeople would say, “Oh, great idea.” How the hell are you going to quit that thing? And I was really intimidated.”

He credits casting director John Papsidera with “a special gift for finding talent.” (The two first worked together in the 2014 films Men, women and children“where we put Timothée Chalamet in his first movie and worked with Ansel Elgort and Kaitlyn Dever before people really knew who they were,” Reitman recalls.) Reitman, co-writer Saturday night with Gil Kenan says finding his Lorne Michaels was easy: “I remember seeing (Gabriel LaBelle) for the first time (and thinking), ‘Okay, this guy is perfect.'” It was “obvious” that Lamorne Morris should play Garrett Morris.

Related: SNL veterinarian Dan Aykroyd praises the new biopic Saturday night: “A standalone masterpiece”

Among many others: Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase; Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner; Kim Matula as Jane Curtin; Matt Wood as John Belushi; and Emily Fairn as Laraine Newman. However, one cast member from this inaugural season proved to be particularly difficult.

“(Dan) Aykroyd was almost impossible,” Reitman admits. “Dylan (O’Brien) came in very late in the stage and that was, thank God. It was an important moment. It was the final seven and I thought, ‘Okay, let’s throw ours.'”

“Dylan is so good in this movie. “He brings something so subtle and layered,” LaBelle interjects, sitting next to Reitman during an interview conducted two days before the film premiered last month at the Toronto International Film Festival. “I remember the first time I heard his voice at the table reading and just saying, ‘Mother… hmm.'”

For his part, LaBelle, who rose to fame playing a version of Steven Spielberg in the director’s semi-autobiographical film The Fabelman familyadopted another famous creator and storyteller. LaBelle, a Jewish Canadian like himself, says he interacted with Michaels, a “true powerhouse” and “an outsider looking at the world (from) a unique perspective.”

Related: Why Saturday nightLorne Michaels is unlike any of those famous songs you’ve heard

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However, he admits that one role was more daunting than the other.

“Playing Steven was a lot scarier physically, physically, emotionally and spiritually because I had been acting since I was 11, being on set and all that, but it was the biggest and most important feeling job I’ve had in my career. life. And he’s there – he’s there, watching you. You don’t want to ruin his life,” LaBelle recalls her fears while working on the 2022 film. “I haven’t been validated yet as an artist or as an adult. I had just graduated from college and spent a year in Covid, so I thought, ‘What am I getting myself into?’ But then I worked on many things after the posts (-Fabelmans) before SNLand it turns out that people liked my work in The Fabelman family and I didn’t have to jump off a bridge. I spent more time developing as an actor and an artist… I think I came to this film more relaxed than any other job in my life.

Listen to Reitman and LaBelle’s full interview on the website Rewarder podcast, below.

Saturday night is in theaters now.

Read the original article at Entertainment Weekly.