Saturday Night: The new trailer showcases all the behind-the-scenes perils of getting the SNL pilot episode to air

Jason Reitman has described Saturday Night as a “comedy thriller” and said that the villain of the movie is time itself. It’s easy to see what he means in the new trailer for the film that depicts the chaotic premiere night of the comedy institution Saturday Night Live. The trailer, newly released by Sony, showcases more of the incredible recreations at Studio 8H, housed at the famous 30 Rockefeller Plaza, along with the cast of the film emulating that ragtag group of soon-to-be over-the-night comedy sensations.

In the new Saturday Night trailer, LaBelle’s Lorne Michaels scrambles to get his show on the road in the face of impending failure. Between battling Rockafella Center security, being at odds with MBC programming higher-up David Tebet (Willem Dafoe), and trying to keep his cast from killing each other, Michaels faces an uphill battle of wills to launch what eventually becomes an institution among television programming.

Saturday Night explores the evening of October 11, 1975, when “a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. SNL 1975 is the true story of what happened behind the scenes that night in the moments leading up to the first broadcast of NBC‘s Saturday Night Live. It depicts the chaos and magic of a revolution that almost wasn’t, counting down the minutes in real-time to the infamous words, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”

Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan’s script is inspired by interviews they recorded with living members of the SNL cast, writers, and crew. Anyone who knows anything about Saturday Night Live knows how chaotic and unpredictable the show can be, including breaks in character, last-minute script changes, inexperienced guests, and technical snafus.

Reitman’s Saturday Night trailer features a parade of talent portraying the first batch of SNL cast members, with Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris, Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase, Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner, Emily Fairn as Laraine Newman, Kim Matula as Jane Curtin, Matt Wood as John Belushi, and Nicolas Braun as Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson. Other stars include Cooper Hoffman as Dick Ebersol, Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster, Matthew Rhys as George Carlin, Jon Batiste as Billy Preston, Finn Wolfhard as an NBC page, Taylor Gray as Al Franken, Nicolas Podany as Billy Crystal, and more.