Dan Aykroyd Praises ‘Saturday Night’ as a ‘Pretty Accurate’ Best Picture Contender
The comedian was one of the original cast members when “Saturday Night Live” premiered on NBC in 1975
Dan Aykroyd praised Jason Reitman’s film about the launch of “Saturday Night Live,” calling it “pretty accurate” and a “surefire candidate for Best Picture.”
The comedian was one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch show and he’s played by Dylan O’Brien in “Saturday Night.”
“Cracking a head to applaud Jason Reitman’s triumphant ‘SNL’ film. Wow! What a propulsive, engaging, funny, beautifully cast and acted, suspenseful, adventurous, music-filled ride,” Aykroyd tweeted on Friday.
He gushed that the film, which unfolds as the “SNL” cast prepared to go live for the first time in 1975, is a “perfect window into the creative process at its highest level.”
“Pretty accurate too,” Aykroyd added. “I was there that night and got to relive it wonderfully again … Don’t miss it whether you know the show or not. It is a stand-alone masterpiece and surefire candidate for Best Picture.”
The comedian and the Reitmans, of course, go way back: Aykroyd starred in the two original “Ghostbusters” films, directed by the late Ivan Reitman, and appeared in the 2021 sequel “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” which was directed by Jason Reitman (Gil Kenan directed the most recent film in the franchise, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire”). Aykroyd gets a writing nod on all the films, having co-written the first with Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis.
“Saturday Night” is now playing in theaters.