It looks like a major biopic on late funnyman John Belushi is finally, actually going to happen. Just a few days ago word emerged that Adam Levine, Joaquin Phoenix, and Emile Hirsch were contenders to play Belushi in the long-developing film now being helmed by writer Steve Conrad, and it didn't take long for a decision to be made. A press release has confirmed today that it will be Hirsch in the Belushi role, which should be interesting to say the least.
In the works for at least three years, Conrad was initially set to merely pen the script but he's on the up 'n up after writing Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. So now he's directing, and apparently he sees something in Hirsch that I'm missing because he seems like an odd choice. Hirsch has never quite lived up to how good he was in Into the Wild but playing Belushi should do the trick. The film is produced by Belushi's friend Dan Akroyd and widow Judy Pisano, based in part on her 2005 book. Here's the official synopsis:
On the day he turned thirty, John starred in America's number-one movie ("Animal House"), starred in the number-one late-night show ("Saturday Night Live") and had recorded the number-one album ("Briefcase Full of Blues"). All from a guy who was never supposed to make it out from behind the cash register of his family's Chicago diner.
How did this Albanian immigrant's son capture a nation's imagination and come to embody all the glory and tragedy of the American dream? It was one high-price, high-speed, short-lived wild ride.
Filming is set to start next spring.
