WI: John Belushi lives

Lets say John Belushi was able to clean up his act before his tragic end. What roles could you see him playing throughout the 80s and beyond? For some reason i can see him in the clark griswold role in national lampoon's vacation, and i can also see him trying some dramatic roles as well.
 
Hard to say since he wrote most of the movies he was in. Having him lives means that most roles would have to be made up whole cloth.
 
In Ghostbusters, Bill Murray's part was originally written for Belushi. A joke after he died is that Slimer is actually the ghost of John Belushi.

Keep in mind that the earlier version of the Ghostbuster concept are different in various ways from the final, and there's no knowing (at least I don't know enough to say) how likely the final product was to always be what it was, so Belushi could be in a much different Ghostbusters from the OTL one. I do know the original concept only involved three Ghostbusters, I believe the third (after Belushi and Akroyd) being offered to Eddie Murphy.
 
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I can see him playing Danny DeVito's role in Throw Mama From The Train and John Candy's role in Uncle Buck.
 
I can see him playing Danny DeVito's role in Throw Mama From The Train and John Candy's role in Uncle Buck.

I don't know about that. The actors in those roles were perfect, especially Candy as Uncle Buck.

As for an Animal House sequel, wasn't there supposed to be one centered on Boon getting married to Karen Allen's character or something?
 

Sandman396

Banned
Probably most of the roles his brother had in that period.

To my mind John Belushi's reputation is greater than his ability.

The best career move he made was dying. Much like James Dean.
 
The man had a drug problem. Everyone in the Entertainment Industry knew he had a drug problem.

So does he avoid dieing in 1982 but continues his roller coaster ride with heroin, coke, et al? Some probability he dies at a later date. Good chance he has an up and down sort of career based on combinations of: a) his need to get work for money (for drugs), b) his ability to identify good scripts/parts, c) his ability to stay somewhat sober during filming, d) the quality of scripts/parts sent his way, e) his ability over time as he continues drug use to maintain his comedic talent at some sort of level of quality, and f) the willingness of the guys with the $$$$ to risk a production that depends in large or small parts on having a functioning Belushi on set.

Maybe I'm being too harsh on how hard core drug usage might reduce his ability to perform comedically. Lots of long term sucessful actors and comedians who are/were alcoholics and dabbled (or more) in coke.

I can't think off the top of my head of any shooting star actors who started out brilliantly, but burned out fairly quickly do to drug use without dieing. I'm sure there must be. (Child actors need not apply to this question)


A mostly sober Belushi probably has a career path resembling in quality some combination of his SNL companions: Chevy Chase (highs and lows), Dan Ackroyd (very solid, but needs an ensemble), and Bill Murray (mostly highs).
 
When Belushi died, he was trying to clean up his act - how hard he was trying is the question.

Like it was pointed out, Belushi created a lot of his own characters and was insturmental on the movies scripts. With that we would've probably had a few more memorable movies. Besides the ones he would write/co-write; I can see Belushi in the following roles:

National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) - Cousin Eddie
Uncle Buck (1989) - Buck Russell
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) - Cousin Eddie
Home Alone (1990) - Marv
Dutch (1991) - Dutch Dooley
Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992) - Marv
Vegas Vacation (1997) - Cousin Eddie

I could see Belushi having a role major or minor role or a cameo in:

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1986)
Coneheads (1993)
Tommy Boy (1995)
Beverly Hills Ninja (1997)
 
John Belushi won't work right for Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters. He makes just as much of a mysogynist letch as Bill Murray, but for example, the early scene investigating Dana's apartment would have become much more of a gross-out fest. And his attempt at playing the Only Sane Man in the aftermath of getting shut down by the EPA probably won't work as well. Plus, I'm certain his onscreen chemistry with Sigourney Weaver won't be as good.

If he can stay sober, he could help keep Chris Farley clean and sober, which in turn means that everybody and his uncle won't keep turning just to John Goodman and Jack Black when they want a funny fat man after John Candy dies.

Other movies I can see Belushi in:

The Great Outdoors and/or Summer Rental, in the John Candy roles.

The Three Amigos: Taking the place of Martin Short

Pocahontas: as the talking turkey John Candy was cast as, assuming this butterflies the part from being cut out like in OTL

Blues Brothers 2000: No need for Cab Calloway, Mighty Mack McTir, or the Brother Z part that was cut out at Jim Belushi's insistance.

High Fidelity

School of Rock

Nacho Libre

Tropic Thunder: Some part will be written just for him.

Flight: as the John Goodman character
 
It'll likely be a different film, and different in ways that accommodate him. That's how creative things work. It's not going to be how the film was with Bill Murray, pluck him out, and shove John Belushi in there.
 

Stolengood

Banned
Actually... Belushi was going to play Max in Once Upon a Time in America; he was going to lose 40 pounds for the part. This was his chance at serious acting.

If it wasn't for accepting a diaper-clad role in National Lampoon's The Joy of Sex in order to finance his passion project Noble Rot and subsequently going on the multiple-day bender that killed him, he'd have done the Leone picture.

Who knows where his career would've gone from there?
 
Actually... Belushi was going to play Max in Once Upon a Time in America; he was going to lose 40 pounds for the part. This was his chance at serious acting.

If it wasn't for accepting a diaper-clad role in National Lampoon's The Joy of Sex in order to finance his passion project Noble Rot and subsequently going on the multiple-day bender that killed him, he'd have done the Leone picture.

Who knows where his career would've gone from there?

Perhaps like Jim Carey his serious films turn out to be his best work but he still does a few questionable "comedy" films
 
He could clean up his drug problems if he had a real scare. Instead of dying, he could end up nearly dying and realize that if he does not clean up he will die. Call it a "come to Jesus moment" for him. A clean and sober John Belushi could have a successful career today, especially if he expands the roles that he plays.
 
Actually... Belushi was going to play Max in Once Upon a Time in America; he was going to lose 40 pounds for the part. This was his chance at serious acting.

If it wasn't for accepting a diaper-clad role in National Lampoon's The Joy of Sex in order to finance his passion project Noble Rot and subsequently going on the multiple-day bender that killed him, he'd have done the Leone picture.

Who knows where his career would've gone from there?

Couldn't he have dropped out of the latter picture?
 
He could have done as Robin Williams who admitted that he knew he had to quit drugs when he realised he forgott his childrens births etc. Robin Williams is a actor who overdose comedy instead and overacts during interwievs, but he have done some really good dramatic roles like the mostly overlooked movie were he is a member of a jewish ghetto and convices people he has a radio.
 
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