“Saturday Night Fever ”Director Says Film’s Iconic Disco Set Was Incredibly ‘Low Budget’ and Looked ‘Dreadful’ with the Lights on

The disco’s reflective atmosphere was largely achieved through aluminum foil and Christmas lights, John Badham said

NEED TO KNOW

• Saturday Night Fever director John Badham revealed the film’s disco set looked “dreadful” in the light of day
• “But when you had the night, it was a fantasy wet dream,” he said of the iconic club setting
• The disco’s technicolor dance floor cost $15,000 and was inspired by a design Badham admired in his youth, he said

The iconic disco set in Saturday Night Fever brought vibrant nights to life — but by day, it was far less glamorous, director John Badham revealed.

Badham reflected on the lively, funky nightclub at the center of the classic disco drama, which was carefully pieced together to create that quintessentially hip atmosphere the film is so widely known for, while speaking with The Hollywood Reporter.

Badham shared that despite all its glory on screen, the Saturday Night Fever disco set left much to be desired in the light of day.

“You turned the lights on, the place looked dreadful,” he told the outlet. “But when you had the night, it was a fantasy wet dream.”

The walls of the club — a rundown Brooklyn disco called 2001 Odyssey — were painted black for the film, Badham said. Then came the aluminum foil and Christmas tree lights, which together created that reflective, psychedelic vibe.

The whole set was exceptionally “low budget,” Badham noted — except the disco’s technicolor floor, which cost a “great price” of $15,000. The floor was actually modeled after one Badham had seen in his youth. “I always love[d] the colors coming from underneath,” Badham said.

“The whole floor was plugged into the music system so that it would vibrate and change colors depending on what the music was doing,” Badham said.

Saturday Night Fever, which made its debut in 1977, follows a 19-year-old Italian-American boy who, amidst his anxieties about post-high school life, “tries to escape the harsh reality of his bleak family life by dominating the dance floor at the local disco,” per the film’s synopsis.

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The classic film starred John Travolta, Karen Lynn Gorney, Donna Pescow and Fran Drescher, to name a few.