Two Troy University alumnus are side-by-side, making their way in the film industry, working through the successes and challenges that come with their biggest roles yet: “Saturday Night.”
During their undergrad years at Troy University, Emmie Phelps Thompson and Billy Matt Thompson met through the department of Theatre and Dance.
“I was involved in several of the theatre productions, ranging from ‘Guys and Dolls,’ ‘Smokey Joe's Cafe,’ and several dance shows,” Billy Thompson said.
“I stayed in the costume shop for my entire four years – worked every single show while I was there – and I am genuinely so grateful that the department let me do that because if I didn’t, I wouldn't be here,” Emmie Thompson said.
The pair dated during their undergraduate years, both receiving a Bachelor of Science in theatre. After graduating, they were engaged and married by the time Emmie Thompson completed her master's degree in costume design at Indiana University.
Post-grad, the pair moved to Atlanta. Emmie Thompson worked with surrounding theaters in their costume departments, while Billy Thompson worked as a stunt actor, moonlighting at Medieval Times as a knight. However, when Covid-19 hit in 2020, it was blessing in disguise for the two.
“I felt very lost, like I don't really have a passion about anything else but creating for entertainment,” Emmie Thompson said. “I know that's such a privileged thing because people don't often get to do what they're passionate about.
“I went whole hog on getting my degrees and that's what I was going to do. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“It was the last season of the ‘McGuyer’ TV show, in the middle of Covid, and it gave Emmie a shot to get in because she wasn't in the industry in any shape or form,” Billy Thompson said. “She got lucky in being available and all of a sudden kicks butt and hasn't stopped kicking since.”
After a few years in the industry, Emmie Thompson lands the role of Key Costumer – third in the hierarchy of the costume department – for “Saturday Night,” A biographic comedy about the first episode of “Saturday Night Live.”
With all of the costume ideas readily available with the first Saturday Night Live episode, Emmie Thompson and the costume department got to work bedazzling jackets, making bee costumes and checking in with the legal department to make sure it doesn't look too similar to its source material.
“That was part of what was hard about the job, is making sure that everything is perfect and ready to go on camera, but it’s worth the effort,” Emmie Thompson said. “Dan Henderson’s shirt is made up of six different textiles I had to source to make one textile that was right for the material of the shirt.
“It’s like finding the right kind of spring and ping pong ball combination for the bee antennas, it's so silly. Or ‘which yellow is the right yellow for the camera?’”
One week into filming, an incident occurred with actor Matt Wood, who was playing the role of John Belushi. After faceplanting onto the ice rink, producers were left with a body double stepping in for Wood and footage of the fall.
The producers wanted to use the footage left behind after the accident and rewrote the scenes to include a stunt double to get the fall from other angles. Thankfully, Emmie Thompson knew a stunt actor who would fit right in.
“[The costume department] put my name into the stunt coordinator, who asked if i was comfortable doing what was asked of me, which was ice skating and falling face first on the ice,” Billy Thompson said. “I proceeded to make sure I had as much time on the ice beforehand – I happen to live not far from the only ice rink in Atlanta that's open almost every day, so I would go and spend every free waking moment there.”
With only one day each in costumes, rehearsals and shooting, Billy Thompson got to work: being fitted into a brand-new bee costume and rehearsing with Wood to learn his mannerisms and way of skating to better imitate him for the scene.
With Emmie Thompson among the rest of the crew in attendance, it was time to shoot the scene. What no one expected was the director himself to lace up some skates as well.
“Someone made the joke “oh are you going to get on the ice?’ and the director Jason Reitman goes ‘oh I have my skates for this very reason,’” Billy Thompson said. “The director puts on his ice skates, skates with us to get a feel for it and says, ‘ok let's shoot this.’
“Usually, it's the director of cinematography or camera operator that does this, so having the actual director of the film do this – everyone was like ‘this is a moment.’”
“I thought it would be so fun to watch him, and I will never, ever, ever do that again,” Emmie Thompson said. ”He wasn't even doing anything [dangerous], he wasn't on fire, he wasn't falling from the building – he was just busting it on the ice, and it's scared to be-jeezus out of me.
“It was just so special to get to see my husband being filmed on handheld camera by Jason Reitman was awesome, and I've never been so proud in my life”
After the faceplants, stressful textile searches and long nights, their work was seen by hundreds of thousands of viewers in movie theaters across the US.
Finally, the pair got to see their work on the big screen, with their names in credit crawl together.
“I don't think I fully processed it as a movie on its own,” Emmie Thompson said. “I was just watching like, ‘all right, how did it turn out? Is Billy Preston sparkly enough?’”
“The biggest satisfaction of doing this gig was this was the first time my wife and I were in the credit crawl at the end together,” Billy Thompson said.
Students can still watch “Saturday Night” in theaters.
Comments