Revisiting Jason Reitman’s 4 Oscar nominations in honor of ‘Saturday Night’
Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night” has hit theaters nationwide, chronicling the chaotic 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of “Saturday Night Live” in 1975, releasing on the 49th anniversary of the long-running sketch comedy on October 11. With this movie expected to be a contender at the upcoming 2025 Academy Awards, let’s take a closer look at the filmmaker’s previous four Oscar nominations in three different categories for just two of his films.
After Reitman’s directorial debut in 2005 for “Thank You For Smoking,” he achieved commercial and critical success for his coming-of-age film “Juno” in 2007, starring Elliot Page as the titular teenage character who deals with her unexpected pregnancy and wants to give it up for adoption. While the comedy was praised for its screenplay by Diablo Cody and lead performance, Reitman’s direction was not recognized at any of the major precursor award ceremonies, which is why it came as a total stunner when he was nominated at the Oscars for Best Director, besting contender Joe Wright for “Atonement,” which was considered a frontrunner for Best Picture after having won the Golden Globe and BAFTA.
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The directing category was all but decided, as Reitman lost the Oscar to the brother duo of Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for “No Country for Old Men,” in what was their second Best Director victory to couple with the movie also taking home Best Picture. “Juno” also received its anticipated Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress for Page, and won for Cody in Best Original Screenplay.
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But that would get the ball rolling for Reitman’s next dramedy “Up in the Air” (2009), which he also co-wrote the film adaptation with Sheldon Turner, based on the Walter Kirn novel. Starring George Clooney as a businessman who travels to terminate company employees, it received all the above-the-line Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Clooney, Best Supporting Actress for Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Reitman and Turner were expected to win the screenplay category at the Oscars after having swept all the major precursors, including the Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, BAFTA, Writers’ Guild of America, USC Scripter, and the National Board of Review. But in an unprecedented upset, they came up short to Geoffrey Fletcher for “Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.” As for Reitman’s other bids in Best Picture and his solo nom in Best Director, they were claimed by “The Hurt Locker” and director Kathryn Bigelow in a historic triumph as the first woman to win the latter category.
Now Reitman has a chance to rebound with “Saturday Night,” a movie told in real time and arguably one of the biggest ensemble casts assembled this year portraying prominent “SNL” figures including Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase, Cooper Hoffman as Dick Ebersol, Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, and Nicholas Braun in dual roles as Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson. As with “Up in the Air” and his latest movies, Reitman scripts the comedy biopic, this time co-writing with Gil Kenan, along with being behind the camera. With the biopic already in theaters, if it turns out to be a crowd pleaser and commercial hit, Reitman can find himself invited to the Oscars once again 15 years later after his last nominations.
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