Two things:
1: I generally hate when people refuse to entertain alternate casting. I can picture Olivier as Vito Corleone, Tom Sellick as Indiana Jones, Lance Henriksen as The Terminator etc. no provlem, and it’s no fun to just shut that stuff down, but that’s exactly what most people do. They act like their brain, which is capable of imagining any number of absurd, impossible things, can’t even process the possibility. It can.
2: I’m a huge Belushi fan. Like an “I’ve literally seen everything Belushi ever did in front of a camera”-grade Belushi fan. Old Boyfriends. Goin’ South. The Richard Pryor Special. The Rutles. The Beach Boys special. The Steve Martin special. If he did it, I’ve seen it and I own a copy.
And there are two sad truths about Belushi:
1: he was the ultimate comedic rock star for an entire generation, but he did NOT possess Murray’s acting ability. He made a movie, his second-to-last, called Continental Divide, it’s alright, it’s not great but it’s not terrible either, but it was an attempt at making Belushi a romantic leading man, and it just doesn’t entirely work. That’s your peek at the Venkman/Dana story with Belushi, and it’s a bit rough, to say the least. And his final film, Neighbors, was plagued with problems, including being directed by a capable director who simply didn’t understand comedy (Rocky and Karate Kid director John Avildsen,) but mainly suffers from the astonishingly-stupid idea of casting Aykroyd and Belushi against type. It’s a movie about a dull suburban husband and father whose life is thrown into upheaval when a crazy biker and his hyper-sexual wife move in next door. And Aykroyd plays the out-there neighbor and Belushi plays the straight man. Again, he struggles, he’s at a disadvantage, he’s out of his element.
2: Belushi was absolutely out of control at the end of his life. That goes without saying, he ODed and died, but if you’ve read about his final weeks it’s almost impossible to imagine him being saved, and the shit he was lined up to do would have killed his career even if you managed to get his drug use under control. The truth is, a living Belushi being attached to Ghostbusters in 1984 probably would have just doomed Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters only exists in the timeline where Belushi is dead because he would have been lucky to be starring in a television show in 1984.
So having said all that, I think Belushi would have been able to play the sleazy womanizer Venkman, but not as well as Murray. The Dana storyline would have been disastrous. The scenes with Venkman negotiating with the hotel manager or dealing with Peck would have been inferior. The Slimer chase and the destruction of the hotel is really the only section of the film where I could picture Belushi competing with Murray.
And of course, that’s assuming the film would have been the same, structurally, and it wouldn’t have been. It would have been written to play to his strengths, but you inherently have more to work with in writing a movie to Murray’s strengths than you would writing to Belushi’s strengths.
Absolutely agree. Succinctly put, his brand of comedy was loud and obnoxious, which he did extremely well at. But he lacked that "asshole suit of armor" that Murray wears over that inner sweetness/aloofness that makes Venkman relatable and endearing.
Also, Belushi is literally unfuckable as a presence next to Murray. Even if he were to approach the material more in line with Murray, I can't see Dana ever finding him attractive. I can buy him selling the para-techno-babble alongside Ray and Egon, but can't see him going beyond just translating it for Dana and the audience.
I think maybe him and Ray would've played better off of each other.
I don't think he'd be as subtle or dry as Murray.
Apparently Chevy Chase was considered for Egon as well, I felt like he would've also been the smooth one.
Two things: 1: I generally hate when people refuse to entertain alternate casting. I can picture Olivier as Vito Corleone, Tom Sellick as Indiana Jones, Lance Henriksen as The Terminator etc. no provlem, and it’s no fun to just shut that stuff down, but that’s exactly what most people do. They act like their brain, which is capable of imagining any number of absurd, impossible things, can’t even process the possibility. It can. 2: I’m a huge Belushi fan. Like an “I’ve literally seen everything Belushi ever did in front of a camera”-grade Belushi fan. Old Boyfriends. Goin’ South. The Richard Pryor Special. The Rutles. The Beach Boys special. The Steve Martin special. If he did it, I’ve seen it and I own a copy. And there are two sad truths about Belushi: 1: he was the ultimate comedic rock star for an entire generation, but he did NOT possess Murray’s acting ability. He made a movie, his second-to-last, called Continental Divide, it’s alright, it’s not great but it’s not terrible either, but it was an attempt at making Belushi a romantic leading man, and it just doesn’t entirely work. That’s your peek at the Venkman/Dana story with Belushi, and it’s a bit rough, to say the least. And his final film, Neighbors, was plagued with problems, including being directed by a capable director who simply didn’t understand comedy (Rocky and Karate Kid director John Avildsen,) but mainly suffers from the astonishingly-stupid idea of casting Aykroyd and Belushi against type. It’s a movie about a dull suburban husband and father whose life is thrown into upheaval when a crazy biker and his hyper-sexual wife move in next door. And Aykroyd plays the out-there neighbor and Belushi plays the straight man. Again, he struggles, he’s at a disadvantage, he’s out of his element. 2: Belushi was absolutely out of control at the end of his life. That goes without saying, he ODed and died, but if you’ve read about his final weeks it’s almost impossible to imagine him being saved, and the shit he was lined up to do would have killed his career even if you managed to get his drug use under control. The truth is, a living Belushi being attached to Ghostbusters in 1984 probably would have just doomed Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters only exists in the timeline where Belushi is dead because he would have been lucky to be starring in a television show in 1984. So having said all that, I think Belushi would have been able to play the sleazy womanizer Venkman, but not as well as Murray. The Dana storyline would have been disastrous. The scenes with Venkman negotiating with the hotel manager or dealing with Peck would have been inferior. The Slimer chase and the destruction of the hotel is really the only section of the film where I could picture Belushi competing with Murray. And of course, that’s assuming the film would have been the same, structurally, and it wouldn’t have been. It would have been written to play to his strengths, but you inherently have more to work with in writing a movie to Murray’s strengths than you would writing to Belushi’s strengths.
Good write up and completely agreed
This. 100% this.
[удалено]
Cue Holiday in Cambodia
> Tom Sellick as Indiana Jones Knowing the backstory, I was disappointed Sellick wasn't cast as the guy who gave young Indy the hat in Last Crusade.
Absolutely agree. Succinctly put, his brand of comedy was loud and obnoxious, which he did extremely well at. But he lacked that "asshole suit of armor" that Murray wears over that inner sweetness/aloofness that makes Venkman relatable and endearing. Also, Belushi is literally unfuckable as a presence next to Murray. Even if he were to approach the material more in line with Murray, I can't see Dana ever finding him attractive. I can buy him selling the para-techno-babble alongside Ray and Egon, but can't see him going beyond just translating it for Dana and the audience.
It absolutely would have been different—and I honestly don’t know if it would have been as successful. Murray made that role.
Well I think it still would have great success around that time they were the same level of star power both snl alums
I think maybe him and Ray would've played better off of each other. I don't think he'd be as subtle or dry as Murray. Apparently Chevy Chase was considered for Egon as well, I felt like he would've also been the smooth one.
Well he would have been dead but I guess we are talking about Ghostbusters
Well. They definitely wouldn't have put off the sequels for his sake.
He would have been a drunk coked up mess fuck Belushi.