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Saturday Night<\/em> is only the ninth feature that Cory Michael Smith<\/strong> has ever appeared in, yet he approached the task with the discipline of a pro. The ticking-clock film<\/a>, which dramatizes in real time the chaotic 90 minutes leading up to the first-ever broadcast of Saturday Night Live<\/em> in 1975, cast the 37-year-old as one of the sketch series\u2019 most iconic faces: Chevy Chase.<\/strong> He\u2019d have to spar with a young Lorne Michaels<\/strong> (played by Gabriel LaBelle<\/strong>). He\u2019d have to go on \u201cWeekend Update\u201d and deliver jokes as Chase actually did. Perhaps most dauntingly, he\u2019d need to reintroduce us to a complex, often controversial comedy legend and make him feel both real and fresh.<\/p>\n You could argue no one was better suited to the job. Smith\u2019s characterization is near uncanny from beginning to end, an impressive feat of transformation. But it\u2019s the prickly pathos he locates within a notoriously big ego that helps the performance stand out within such a big ensemble. Smith prepared by immersing himself in Chase\u2019s filmography and world, and figuring out his line of attack. He always works this way, from his acclaimed breakout role on HBO\u2019s Olive Kitteridge<\/em><\/a> to his popular turn as Gotham<\/em>\u2019s Riddler to his scene-stealing parts in Todd Haynes<\/strong>\u2019s Carol<\/em><\/a> and May December<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a tremendous actor and took on a really hard role,\u201d Saturday Night<\/em> director Jason Reitman<\/strong> tells me. \u201cWith Chevy, there\u2019s a tonality to his voice and even his eyes closed that you can recognize. With each one of them, I watched [him] navigate, Am I doing an impersonation of them as a real person, or am I doing an impersonation of them when they do sketches? He found that balance.\u201d<\/p>\n Following Saturday Night<\/em>\u2019s electric launch in Telluride at the end of August, Smith is in Toronto on the morning of the film\u2019s Canadian premiere. He hasn\u2019t seen the movie yet. \u201cI get to sit in a theater tonight and watch my first comedy for the first time with a large theater,\u201d he says as we get going. \u201cI\u2019m really very, very excited for this.\u201d<\/p>\n