![\"Steve](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/8fd1bb86609ff9e381e3c812b59dad56cac62879.jpeg\")
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Steve Martin, Randy Newman and Chevy Chase rehearse a musical number in 1986.Credit: AP<\/p>\n
The movie has the endorsement of a tough critic: Chase, himself. \u201cIt\u2019s just like a massage. I think of it that way: I love the massage. Sometimes it hurts, but the massage is so lovely,\u201d the comedian tells The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
The key is childhood<\/p>\n
Chase is just the latest profile by two-time Emmy-winner Zenovich, whose previous documentary subjects have included Roman Polanski, Richard Pryor, Robin Williams and Lance Armstrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cI make films about these complicated men,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m just fascinated by humans and their behaviour, and Chevy just seems to fit in my oeuvre.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zenovich points to Chase\u2019s early years to help explain how he became who he became. Chase, as a boy, was locked in the basement for days, hit across the face and shut in a closet as punishment at the hands of his stepfather and mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the whole key to Chevy is his childhood. I hate to use the word trauma, but I think he\u2019s traumatised,\u201d she says. \u201cHumour is his way of dealing with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chase famously feuded with many comedians, including Community co-star Joel McHale, SNL castmates John Belushi and Bill Murray, who had replaced him at SNL. He left Community following reports he\u2019d used a racist slur and directed insults at co-star Donald Glover. He had also quarrelled with the show\u2019s creator, Dan Harmon, who was pushed out for a time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe old Chevy could make you laugh putting you down and there was a little bit of a wink there, so you were in on the joke,\u201d writer and actor Alan Zweibel says in the film. \u201cNow it just comes off as mean.\u201d<\/p>\n
The film argues that Chase\u2019s darkness was amplified by his drug use. \u201cIn his mind, he doesn\u2019t think he\u2019s mean,\u201d says Zenovich, who interviewed Chase twice and then followed him around for a few days.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was really interesting about Chevy is that he really wants to try to figure himself out. He wanted to go there, but then something stops him,\u201d she says. \u201cHe goes to a certain point, and then something stops him.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2018Hollywood stuff\u2019<\/p>\n
Chase, now 82, says he\u2019s aware that there\u2019s a long list of people who consider him contemptible, but insists he doesn\u2019t care. \u201cIt\u2019s just Hollywood stuff,\u201d he says. \u201cIt never really bothered me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The movie digs into his short-lived TV talk show and his eye-opening first and only season at Saturday Night Live. He concedes leaving SNL was a mistake and shows how hurt he was not to be invited on stage when the show celebrated its 50th anniversary earlier this year.<\/p>\n
The documentary also shows him basking in the applause of fans as he attends a recent screening of National Lampoon\u2019s Christmas Vacation, and it also reveals that his three daughters are insightful, funny and sweet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the one thing he really did was he was able to break that generational trauma,\u201d says Zenovich. \u201cThere I go again, using the word. But that\u2019s quite a feat, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Martin, Randy Newman and Chevy Chase rehearse a musical number in 1986.Credit: AP The movie has the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,134,344],"class_list":{"0":"post-383886","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}