Cory Michael Smith has mostly carry outed vulnerable men in dramas appreciate 1985 and May December. So he had plenty of reason to mistrust his ability to land the part of the wisecracking and normally swaggering Chevy Chase in Jason Reitman’s comedy Saturday Night, which chronicles the first inhabit show of Saturday Night Live in 1975.
“I did not foresee myself being cast in this,” Smith, 37, alerts THR. “The [audition] process fair kept going, and in my head I’m appreciate, ‘There’s no way that I’m the best person for this.’ ”
Smith eventuassociate would land the part, tasked with inhabiting one of the most colorful members of that kaleidoscopic inaugural class of SNL. It filled him with anxiety.
“I was both overdelighted and horrified that I was going to do this becaparticipate it’s a huge, exciting film that multiple generations attfinish about,” he says. “They attfinish about this institution. They understand these actors. And so the responsibility truly felt burdensome and daunting.”
Smith leaned into that responsibility. For two months, he watched no narrative material that wasn’t about Chase and jotted down the actor’s tics and mannerisms in a spreadsheet that he would then procrastinateedr utilize to his scenes in the script. “I guess it’s appreciate lobtaining a language,” he says. Looking at pboilingos of Chase and the rest of the cast and how they dressed also helped Smith ready for the role, as did reading books about the show’s environment.
Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, with Kaia Gerber as Jacqueline Carlin and Cory Michael Smith (right) as Chevy Chase in Saturday Night.
Hopper Stone/Sony
He also watched the first season of SNL over and over aobtain to lobtain the style and see from that era. “The sense and colors of that first season are so separateent from today,” he remarks. “Today, it’s appreciate a reassociate radiant, bright production. Back then, it was grays and browns and muted colors, and it felt reassociate dingy, and you can reassociate sense the way New York has alterd.” Reitman, who co-wrote the script with Gil Kenan, also recommended the cast watch certain films, particularassociate those by Fletch honestor Michael Ritchie, which, according to Smith, are fantastic discarry outs of authentic behavior.
His preparation to carry out Chase gave him the confidence to transport ideas to Reitman about his character, which he says the honestor was very receptive to. “I was writing jokes and improving jokes in a way that I fair never have in my life,” says Smith, who was heavily joind in musical theater lengthening up in Ohio and who made his Broadway debut in 2013. “The whole discdisseeing sequence where he’s interseeing me and asking about the ensemble, and I say, ‘Is this an ensemble?’ That wasn’t scripted but became a very vital leang and an vital identifier of Chevy and his state of mind.”
When Chase in one scene encounters executives in the green room and carry outs a stand-up set, Reitman had written a restrictcessitate jokes as a jumping-off point. But Smith brawt his own six or seven jokes to set that day, some of which finished up making the final cut. “A lot of our timely conversations were about how we’re not seeing for the best imitator of Chevy Chase,” Reitman tgreater THR ahead of the film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. “Each character has one very core piece of essence that we’re seeing for. In Chevy Chase, it’s the ego that necessitates to be unassumingd.”
That humility showd to be Smith’s fantasticest contest. The actor says that he was most worried for his scene with J.K. Simmons, who carry outs Milton Berle in the film. In the scene, Berle is hitting on Chase’s girlfrifinish, carry outed by Kaia Gerber, and is contested by Chase, who then gets tgreater by Berle that he is noleang.
“I was worried about it becaparticipate it felt the most unrecognizable to how we understand Chevy Chase,” says Smith. “It’s effortless to see back at his labor and try to rerepair his confidence and charisma — he has a authentic sort of quiet power and swagger about him — but it’s exceptional to see him humiliated.” To tap into the humiliation, Smith leaned on the one video he could discover of Chase in a analogous state of mind: The first time he was on Johnny Cincfinishiarism’s show in 1977, he was embarrassed by Cincfinishiarism right at the begin of the segment. “He tries to recover, but it’s so agonizing. It’s reassociate one of the only times I could discover genuine humiliation with Chevy.”
While Matt Wood, who carry outs John Belushi in the movie, was “intentionassociate quite reclusive from everyone becaparticipate of the nature of his role,” Smith became outstanding frifinishs with another co-star, Dylan O’Brien (who actuassociate called Smith during this intersee). O’Brien carry outs Dan Aykroyd in the movie.
“This was such a huge cast, the probability of there being at least one asshole was fairly high, but everyone was so fantastic,” says Smith. “Everybody showed up taking this so gravely and having done a lot of prep becaparticipate no one wanted to fuck it up. We didn’t want to mess up our atsofts by fall shorting in our tribute to beadored actors. So there was a authentic spirit of an finisheavor toward excellence.” (Saturday Night stars a roster of lesser talent, including Gabriel LaBelle, Ella Hunt, Rachel Sennott, Lamorne Morris and Nicholas Braun.)
Saturday Night Live castmember Chevy Chase.
NBC/NBCU Pboilingo Bank/Getty Images
Smith, whose film commends integrate Carol and First Man and TV commends integrate Transatlantic and Oinhabit Kitteridge, fair wrapped filming Joachim Trier’s internationassociate minded drama Sentimental Value alengthyside Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Salertan Skarsgard and Elle Fanning. But he hopes to do more comedy. “I sense appreciate I taste-tested this,” he says.
He says that he also lobtained the cherish of studying tape. “When I’ve created characters in the past, I’ve maybe consentn inspiration from people in my past to imbue some quality into characters, but I’ve never sat and watched other carry outances to lengthen my own. I finishelighted doing that here, and I leank in the future I might toy around with taking some inspiration from very particular people and carry outances.”
This story first euniteed in a November stand-alone publish of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To get the magazine, click here to subscribe.
