Emile Hirsch Cast as John Belushi in Upcoming Biopic

October 28th, 2013

Kevin Blumeyer

Variety reports Emile Hirsch has been chosen to star as John Belushi in an untitled biopic about the legendary comedian. The film will begin filming in New York City in the spring, with Steve Conrad directing his own screenplay adapted from the 2005 biography Belushi.

Conrad’s writing credits are rather impressive and include The Weather Man, The Pursuit of Happyness and Ben Stiller’s upcoming The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. His directorial output? Not so much. The Seann William Scott and John C. Reilly comedy The Promotion as the only theatrical release on his resume.

Emile Hirsch is an interesting choice for the role and the variety of his work from comedies like The Girl Next Door and Taking Woodstock to more dramatic fare like Into the Wild give me confidence he will do the late comedian justice. He’ll soon be seen alongside Mark Wahlberg in Peter Berg’s military feature Lone Survivor.

With Belushi’s friend Dan Aykroyd on board as an executive producer, the film will cover everything from Belushi’s success as a huge star on Saturday Night Live and the star of films like Animal House and The Blues Brothers to his death by heroin and cocaine overdose at the age of 33.