Interview: Spending ‘Saturday Night’ with Filmmaker Jason Reitman

I’m a huge Jason Reitman fan, which is no secret if you’ve seen my prior articles about the man. For example, my rankings of his films (the most recent one is here). For me, he’s yet to make a bad one, but his latest movie, Saturday Night, is among his best. Ever since I saw it at the Telluride Film Festival, I’ve been singing its praises. So, it was a pleasure to get to do so recently with Reitman himself. We spoke a few years back for The Front Runner and I’ve been eager to get more time with him since then. Well, it happened, and today you can hear it. I recently spoke to Gabriel LaBelle about the film here, as well as Matt Wood here and Dylan O’Brien here, but today, it’s Reitman’s turn. 

Back at Telluride, my rave review here included the following praise for Reitman:

Jason Reitman pours every ounce of his filmmaking bravura into this flick. The script he wrote with Gil Kenan is sharp, hysterical, and absolutely crackles with energy. Reitman’s direction leans into that brilliantly, from the score from Jon Batiste to in particular the cinematography from Eric Steelberg. The film is made up of long takes and shots where the camera follows around the cast throughout the set, making for what had to be an incredibly complicated production. That Reitman and company pull it off so spectacularly shouldn’t be surprising, but is a terrific testament to the talents of all involved. Visually and technically, this is Reitman’s most accomplished movie, as well as his funniest.

Below, you can hear my chat with Reitman. It’s a very casual one, befitting a filmmaker who I think is always inviting a conversation with his audience. Before we began, we were chatting about a brief encounter at the most recent Toronto International Film Festival. Then, we turn our attention to Saturday Night, one of his best movies. Towards the end of our discussion, he says this flick is the one that the final result most resembles what was in his head at conception, which speaks to how well realized it is. As another reminder, Saturday Night is currently available to buy or rent digitally, while the Blu-ray and DVD are hitting shelves on January 7th, 2025. Don’t miss it…

Here now is my interview with Saturday Night director/co-writer Jason Reitman. Enjoy:

Saturday Night is currently available to watch!