(The movie, of course, wasAnimal House, and the show wasSaturday Night Live.)
How are you, man?Hey, listen, the eyes winked open.
Life is a blessing every day.
“John Belushi was one of these just magnetic individuals that you just wanted to be around, on the scale of an Elvis or a Hendrix,” says Dan Aykroyd.Steve Kagan/Getty Images
I am so thankful.
We lost a lot and Im still here, so Im happy, fine and very grateful.
It taught me that I hadnt processed a lot of it completely.
Its funny to remember that your original idea for the band was a little more narrow.
Although Ive always loved jump swing Cab Calloway, Winona Harris, Jimmie Lunceford and then Bobby Bland.
So I was always thinking about that.
And so when we started out, youre absolutely right.
You should have a soul song on there.
You should have an R&B song on there.
You should recut Soul Man.
We presented ourselves as these ludic front men.
Steve Jordan, he drove that record.
He made that party sound for us.
I havent seen the recent Stones tour, but Ive got to get to it.
I think theyre coming across Canada soon.
And boy, we were really honored and privileged to have Steve Jordan as a Blues Brother.
So the Stones are going to enjoy that.
And hes a great hang too, like one of the greatest hangs.
Do They Have a Future?
Do They Have a Future?
He was a big fan of King Bee.
And we willingly did that.
Although John didnt like the Bee sketch, because he had to wear the costume.
And I saw the musical talent and the moves.
Plus he could do anything.
John at Second City was legendary.
His moves were legendary there.
From the first moment I met him, I had no doubts we could pull it off.
Even in the Seventies, you faced criticism for cultural appropriation.
And we did it by elevating it up to the cinematic level.
So, preservation for sure.
And, well, just the fun of doing it all.
And then you’re able to own it.
And we did not do that with any of the songs.
We left the publishing where it was.
We were all surprised and shocked.
Thats the attitude in 1980?
And I didnt know how to write a screenplay.
I really just did it.
And Bob said, What are you working on?
He came back and told me, and I said, Were going to be OK.
Especially with the draft that John Landis and I generated for shooting.
Now, the reason it became a movie, solely I would say.
is because Landis is a master director, a cinephile.
He knows structure and writing and pace and is a true filmmaker.
So he did a masterful job of distilling down the 350 pages.
And of course, my partner was Harold Ramis.
And, obviously, on the set John probably had good days and bad days.
He was in the throes of addiction.
And so, handled him very carefully.
Tried to meter the control there, which is very hard when someone likes cocaine.
Or see to it there are days when its not done, nights when its not done.
I dont remember any serious episodes where he was impaired.
There was one morning I came to work and he had a fun night the night before doing whatever.
Hey, you on the motorcycle that scene.
He was a little rocked then.
So I stopped the car.
And he brings out a portrait of W. B. Yeats, the Irish poet.
And in this particular portrait, it looks like me as a young man in my twenties.
Its a very similar.
He said, Its you!
I said, No, its W.B.
Johns brilliant in thatBlues Brothersmovie.
Some of his scenes are just great.
Because there was really no formal budget when we went to Chicago and started work.
They were very patient.
In the end, the movie cost 28 million, which today is a stone bargain.
But you got a lot of movie, and Universal owns a classic, forever.
They got their moneys worth.
You had a certain amount of cultural power at that point, and you used it brilliantly.
You got your sort of wildest ideas on the screen.
You love blues, you love the paranormal, and you made huge movies out of those things.
Did you have the sense of, Well, I know this kind of heat doesnt last forever.
Conscious of whether all this is fleeting and I better get it in fast?
No, because at the time we were doing it, we were actually accomplishing these things.
Oh, for sure.Then when it ended, its pretty much wound down now.
Although I just was in aGhostbustersfeature film on the big screen!
Im still up there.
Im hanging around too long, Im telling you.
Its the younger people writing things now.
The torch has been handed, but now I see how it was fleeting.
I see how it went in retrospect.
Did you enjoy that time at the center of pop culture?Quite a lot.
I enjoyed these collaborations with people that I worked with.
God, and I enjoyed doing films with the best in the industry.
And getting my writing made and having three children with a beautiful partner and wife.
And then opening House of Blues, where we got to do these spectacular concerts.
I got to jam with Little Richard!
I got to jam with James Brown five times.
I didnt take any of it for granted then, and dont now.
But we didnt have a second [Blues Brothers] story in mind.
No, not at the time.
Now, the second movies a small-g good accompaniment to the first.
Erykah Badus song was worth the price of admission.
James Belushi says youre always hitting him up with ideas for a new one.Not really.
ButGhostbusters 2, just since you mentioned it no, we all wanted to make it.
It was just finding the right story.
And then getting [Bill] Murray to agree.
The river of slime!
Her family was wonderful, too.
Debbie Reynolds was almost my mother-in-law there.
