It seems that Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild, Killer Joe, Lone Survivor) has beaten off competition from Joaquin Phoenix (The Master) and Adam Devine (Workaholics) for the lead role in writer-director Steve Conrad’s long-gestating John Belushi biopic, with Film 360 announcing today that Hirsch has secured the part of the influential comic actor.
Conrad, whose screenwriting credits include The Weather Man, The Pursuit of Happyness and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, will base his film on the book Belushi by Judith Belushi Pisano and Tanner Colby. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the biopic will tackle “the iconic comedian’s life as an allegory about the glory and tragedy of the American dream [and] will explore his rise to fame in the late ’70s as an original cast member on Saturday Night Live and star of such films as The Blues Brothers and Animal House, through to his shocking fatal drug overdose at age 33 at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.”
The Belushi biopic is currently without a release date, but cameras are expected to roll in the Spring.
Originally published October 29, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
