Dan Aykroyd hails Jason Reitman's Saturday Night 'masterpiece'

Dan Aykroyd says Jason Reitman's 'Saturday Night' is a masterpiece.

The new movie tells the true story of the last 90 minutes leading up to sketch comedy show 'Saturday Night Live's first broadcast in 1975 and former cast member Aykroyd - who is portrayed by Dylan O'Brien in the film - is a huge fan.

He wrote on X: "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. A perfect window into the creative process at its highest level. Pretty accurate too.

“I was there that night and got to relive it wonderfully again. Congratulations Gil, Jason and Blumie. Don’t miss it whether you know the show or not. It is a stand-alone masterpiece and surefire candidate for Best Picture.”

Meanwhile, Dylan previously admitted he was "self-conscious" about playing Dan and said he did not meet the actor before shooting the film.

He told menshealth.com: "I was self-conscious that I didn’t look like him, that I didn’t sound like him, that I thought people wouldn’t think me—Dan Aykroyd. And I guess it was an insecurity that I would be skewered for being miscast or something.

"It might be the thing most open to interpretation I’ve ever done. By that, I mean it really was just leaping out of the nest. I’m playing this real person, but [director Jason Reitman] had no intention of just copying the person coming in. He really wanted everyone to have their own spin on the person, which, if you’re overthinking it, can be tough to do because it can be very easy to do. If you’re like, I’m just going to watch my guy’s interviews and sketches, then you can kind of fall into imitation. As far as I know, I was just doing what I thought he was like. But I don’t know. That instinct was that Jason was always telling me what to run with. He was big on not overpreparing, not overwatching things, and not impersonating. I’m curious to hear people’s take, because I don’t really know. I just went with my gut."