Chevy Chase Told Jason Reitman He “Should Be Embarrassed” About ‘Saturday Night’

deadline.com:

Although Jason Reitman has earned rave reviews for his depiction of the 90 minutes leading up to the first Saturday Night Live, some critiques sting a bit more than others.

The Saturday Night co-writer and director revealed original SNL cast member Chevy Chase‘s reaction to the film, which fellow sketch comedy alum David Spade called “an exact Chevy thing” to say. “So, Chevy comes in to watch the movie, and he is there with [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,'” he told Spade and Dana Carvey on their Fly on the Wall podcast.

Spade said of Chase’s response, “You couldn’t even write it better.” Carvey added that Chase “knows that’s funny, like that’s the roughest thing you could say to a director in the moment, or right up there.” Reitman recounted of the conversation: “I’m trying to balance it, because, in my head, I know, ‘Alright, I’m getting my own 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 also even in the ego, find the humanity and give him a moment to be loved — no, none of that shit played.