Backstage at Saturday Night Live
First off, the casting. As a frustrated armchair wannabe casting director, I'm always curious of the process. Do they pick a Matt Wood who played John Belushi for his comic expressions or physical build? Or the chicks who played Jane Curtain, Gilda Radner and my favorite Laraine Newman...who, on a side note has a wonderful bit that explored her incredible improv talent in the film. Kim Matula, Ella Hunt, Emily Fairn (respectively) operated almost as a group effort which mirrored the history of some of our generations most endearing comedians and in their own ways, a voice for the womens' movement.
Some of my personal favorite characters portrayals - Nicholas Braun (Greg from Succession!) who played poor old Jim Henson caught wide-eyed off track in The Land of Gorch - another of my all time SNL favorites and reminiscent of my dog Junior who was Scred re-invented. And another favorite..here I come to save the day done so perfectly by Braun who also plays Andy Kaufman. The film, and I'll get into this later, knows when to shut up. Like Hemingway said, a good author knows what to leave off the page. They also, in film, know when to cut...more on this later.
Cory Michael Smith on the terror of taking on Chevy Chase and Gabriel Labelle as Lorne Michaels provide some of the meat of the show...which brings to mind Tommy Dewey as Michael O'Donoghue who once intimated to a lady writer that the reason males kinda rule in entertainment and otherwise is because they have a big old piece of meat swinging between their legs. I could go on and on about the casting which for me was like eating a great big bakery cake all by myself. Can't go away without mentioning J.K. Simmons' Uncle Miltie, speaking of swinging meat.
Due his own paragraph in a lush series of moments, Lamorne Morris (no relation to) Garrett Morris, another one of my all time favorite SNL actors. All I got to say is if Garrett Morris isn't yet one of your favorites, wait till the end. Lamorne winds it up just right. Another box, bigly ticked. Dylan O'Brien knocks it outta the park as Dan Ackroyd. And how about that Matthew Rhys from The Americans as George Carlin. Please don't forget the poignant (yeah I said poignant which I never use along with peruse) performance of Cooper Hoffman as Dick Ebersol. He was soooo great in Licorice Pizza and really brings it home with his embodiment of the guy who truly is responsible for getting this show its start. Especially (again with the writing left off the page business) considering the latter history when Ebersol tried to wrest control of SNL after a split with Lorne Michaels. Interesting bit for the other SNL-philes which Jean Doumanian took over producer duties, the cast and crew used to holler out "Woody's on the phone for ya'" when her friend Woody Allen would call under assumed names. Also Willem Dafoe (who I've always always loved ever since Off Limits) as NBC exec David Tebet who he plays with lip-smacking gusto. So many to mention here, but
from Al Franken and Tom Davis to Andrew Barth Feldman as Neil Levy,
everyone from the cast members to the crew seemed to have been selected
with meticulous and loving care. What evolved to the screen is a great
moment which transplants the viewer to another time and place. And Don
Pardo, oboy.
Special casting of SNL writer Rosie Shuster (also Lorne Michaels' wife) played by Rachel Sennott provides the steam that moves the film's story forward with a great editing scene between the two sliced into the film. Josh Brenner as Alan Zweibel getting his big break with a great Everybody Loves Raymond Brad Garrett accidental push. Leander Suleiman as comedy writer Ann Beatts who had a very long intense relationship with my fave Mr. Mike. I think it was Ann who later when things got rough and Herb Sargent (played by Tracy Letts in the film) quit, she ran down the hallway yelling out, "Shane...come back, Shane." This film realizes and celebrates the writer. A lot is said about the "pages" both by characters and execs. Even though writers are historically treated with disrespect in the industry, SNL the movie gets the joke..and who wrote the joke.
So, all in all, this film really does its job. Not a wasted instant. Choice bits spliced intricately throughout work to bring you backstage to a very special moment in time, that hour and a half before SNL tore up broadcasting. I remember as a very young girl watching from our little living room tv with my mom. That same tv I'd later watch things like David Bowie in quite excellent drag with Klaus Nomi. It scared me in a good way. I didn't know what to think, all those weird people and their weird thoughts somewhat like my own in a weird way. What I knew was there was a great big world outside of Beaumont out there. Something that defines everything in your life in a good way. And it was funny.
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