John Belushi to be celebrated on the big screen

Posted Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 4:55 PM Central

by John Couture

John Belushi will have one final swan song on the big screen according to The Hollywood Reporter. They report that The Hangover director Todd Phillips and The Pursuit of Happyness screenwriter Steven Conrad are developing a biographical project for Warner Bros., who recently acquired the film rights to his life story from Belushi's estate.

For those of you younger than I reading this, John Belushi was the original Chris Farley and Will Ferrell and he was part of the original Saturday Night Live cast before branching out into movies. Sadly, his life was tragically cut short when he overdosed in 1982 at the age of 33.

Despite only gracing the small and big screen for a handful of years, his comic style inspired (and continues to inspire) a generation of comedians. Animal House and The Blues Brothers were his two trademark films and it's not hard to imagine how bright his star would have shone as he was lined up to play parts in fellow SNL vets projects like Ghostbusters and Spies Like Us.

While there are no definitive casting details, the role will assuredly attract some of the top comic talents in Hollywood. Among the top choices that story speculates on are Jonah Hill and Zach Galifianakis, who starred in Phillips' The Hangover and the upcoming Due Date.

I could see either one of those actors doing the role justice, but to me, I almost feel that such an iconic character would overshadow any actor, so perhaps it would be best to cast an unknown. What do you think?

No release date is set, but we'll be sure to track this project closely.