How ‘SNL’ pulled off Jenna’s exorcism sketch without visual effects.
What does it take for the Emmy-nominated crew behind “Saturday Night Live” to build sets from start to finish? Thirty-six hours, plus “dedication and expertise,” according to production designer Andrea Purcigliotti.
By the time Purcigliotti and fellow production designers Leo Yoshimura and Keith Raywood receive their script, it’s often late on a Wednesday night after the cast has gone through a table read. Then it’s off to the races. The sets need to be ready for shooting by 8 a.m. on Friday.
For a spoof on the famous levitation scene in “The Exorcist,” the team had to figure out how to get Jenna Ortega to rise from a bed without special effects. The solution was hydraulics, but they had little time to properly outfit the bed.
“We built the lift with hydraulic motors that went under the bed and lifted up a small portion,” says Yoshimura. “So, it’s a little platform for her to be laying on.”
They sent it to a studio, where it was built and then brought in for the Friday run-through. It was the first time they had seen the set, and Raywood says, “We weren’t really aware of whether anything was going to work.”
Fortunately, it did. As for Kenan Thompson, whose head spins in the scene, that was done via special effects.
