Just Doing Comedy!Fun facts, wild true stories, and cringey ego-driven tea-spilling from behind the scenes of some of history's most beloved and infamous comedy movies.
It's possible the Blues Brothers duo really was "on a mission from God," considering everyone involved walked away from the 1980 movie alive. In addition to its music and comedy, The Blues Brothers will long be remembered for epic car chases inside shopping malls and a pileup of cop cars that once set a world record. Considering it's one of John Belushi's greatest films, it's not surprising the Blues Brothers behind the scenes were just as crazy as what audiences see on the screen.
Elwood and Jake Blues were created by Saturday Night Live alums Dan Aykroyd and Belushi, and after scoring a record contract, they decided to turn their characters' story into a movie. Comedy guru John Landis was asked to direct and big name music stars such as Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin were cast as characters in the film.
Despite all it had going for it, Belushi's drug problems and expensive non-CGI special effects almost sunk the film. It's remained one of the most beloved movies of the 1980s, inspired a sequel, and is responsible for House of Blues, but what filming The Blues Brothers was like was almost as horrifying as 300-car pileup.
Belushi Was Always So High, He Frequently Wandered Off Set And Once Passed Out In A Random Home Nearby
John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd together made for a zany (if not frustrating) team, even going so far as stealing Nazi SS officer uniforms from the wardrobe department and taking a joyride down the freeway. However, it was Belushi's crazy, drug-fueled behavior that almost destroyed TheBlues Brothers. He was known to frequently wander away from the set, and disappeared one night while filming in rural Illinois. Aykroyd set out to find him and noticed a nearby house with a light on. After knocking on the door, he was told Belushi had shown up at the house, raided the fridge, and then passed out on the couch. Aykroyd woke Belushi up and they returned to work as if nothing had happened.
John Landis Flushed Belushi's 'Scarface'-Sized Cocaine Stash And A Fight Broke Out
According to Dan Aykroyd, there was "budget in the movie for cocaine for night shoots." Although he admitted to partaking occasionally, John Belushi's drug habit was one of the movie's biggest problems and it was inevitable that he and director John Landis would eventually come into conflict over it. Upon entering Belushi's trailer, Landis discovered a mound of cocaine on a table that rivaled the amounts seen in Scarface.
Realizing it would cost Belushi a lot of money, Landis flushed it and was about to leave when the actor returned and freaked out. After a short scuffle, Belushi broke down and the two hugged and cried together. This acted as a turning point during Blues Brothers' production since although they couldn't shut down the movie so Belushi could go to rehab and replacing him wasn't an option, filming went more smoothly after the confrontation.
During Filming, Aykroyd Saved Carrie Fisher's Life With The Heimlich Maneuver
Dan Aykroyd met Carrie Fisher on the set of Saturday Night Live when she appeared as a guest host in 1978, and they were reunited on the set of The Blues Brothers a few years later. She played the role of John Belushi's crazy girlfriend and he set her up in real life with Aykroyd. They began dating while they were filming and later Aykroyd saved Fisher's life when she was choking on a Brussels sprout. "He thought I was laughing, and then he saw that I was dying, and he did the Heimlich maneuver, and then like 10 minutes later he asked me to marry him, and I thought, 'I better marry him. What if that happens again?'" Fisher said. She and Aykroyd were engaged briefly until she decided to return to her former lover Paul Simon, whom she eventually married.
Belushi Hired A 'Bodyguard' To Help Keep Him Clean
As big a drug problem as he had, John Belushi was aware it would kill him if he didn't do something to stop it. Most of his friends tried to help, such as Dan Aykroyd who once smashed a wristwatch as a violent metaphor for Belushi's downward spiral. Carrie Fisher was told by John Landis, "For God’s sake, if you see John doing drugs, stop him." Belushi was reluctant to enter rehab before the movie was finished and due to the unfortunate plentifulness of cocaine at the time, fans and unconcerned co-workers acted as suppliers.
"Every one of those guys wants to tell his friends, 'I did blow with Belushi,'" recalled Smokey Wendell, whom Belushi hired as a bodyguard of sorts to keep him away from drugs. Wendell was a former agent in the Secret Service and had helped The Eagles's Joe Walsh sober up. Having to watch Belushi like a hawk took a toll on Wendell and he eventually resigned. Although he was re-hired about a year later, Belushi died of an overdose before he was back on the job.
The first cut of the movie ended up more than two hours long and had to be edited down, but the finished film had other problems that kept it from a big opening. Ted Mann, owner of a large chain of theaters across the country, refused to show the movie in his venues comprised of mostly rich, white audiences, "Because I don’t want any blacks in Westwood," he claimed. Mann also reasoned white people wouldn't want to see a "black movie," "Mainly because of the musical artists you have. Not only are they black. They are out of fashion." Although most big budget Hollywood films open in about 1,400 theaters, The Blues Brothers debuted in only 600. Luckily, it turned out to be a hit.
Aykroyd And Belushi 'Borrowed' Cars To Smoke Weed On The Lot During Pre-Production
As Ackroyd worked on finishing the script from the Universal studio lot, he and Belushi naturally spent a lot of time getting high, even "borrowing" cars from the studio at night to go on pot runs and reflect.
For Belushi, this was the tamest of his indulgences. Besides a burning coke addiction, he was reportedly perpetually jacked on everything else too, including "Quaaludes, mescaline, LSD, and amphetamines."
