In 1992 the comedian directed his first movie, about an abrasive, 73-year-old washed-up comic. Now, thirty years later, Crystal has turned the film into a musical – and the 74-year-old finally gets to act his age.
When the film « Mr. Saturday Night » hit the big screen in 1992, it seemed to have everything: There was Billy Crystal as the abrasive stand-up comedian Buddy Young, Jr., and a top-notch cast as his long-suffering family. It was Crystal’s first shot at directing, and he played Buddy from a young star to a washed-up has-been. For Crystal, the film was a personal victory. But a hit, it was not. Correspondent Tracy Smith asked, « We talked about ‘Mr. Saturday Night,’ and I asked you, was ‘Mr. Saturday Night’ a hiccup or a career killer? And you said, ‘Oh, I thought it was a career killer.' » « I did, yeah, » Crystal replied. « And this was, I thought, for me, my best work. And the fact that it didn’t perform as well at the box office as we wanted was, like, uh-oh, it’s the first time you get punched in the face, basically. » And what made it sting even more, Crystal said, was that it came on the heels of some pretty huge career milestones, like 1989’s « When Harry Met Sally, » and 1991’s « City Slickers, » which was a whole new level of box office success. But even though the Buddy Young Jr. story didn’t shine as brightly, Crystal never gave up on it: « So, you get up, you put it back together again, you go, ‘All right, what’s next?' » « So, let me ask you, though, if it’s like getting punched in the face, why revisit it? What is it about this guy? » « Because I thought there was something else to be said with him, » he replied. « There was more to do with him. And what we learned from the film that didn’t work as well as it could. we found works in the show. » The show is « Mr. Saturday Night » – the musical. It’s a lot more than a re-work of the movie, because as any Broadway fan knows, you can sometimes say a lot more with a song. Another difference is Crystal himself, who turned 74 last month. When he played Buddy on film, he was only 43, and needed hours of makeup to play a 73-year-old.
