Wired (film) - Background

Background

John Belushi's widow, Judith, and his manager, Bernie Brillstein, asked Bob Woodward to write a factual book about the actor to counter the speculation and rumours that had arisen after his death. Although Woodward secured interviews with Belushi's family, friends, and associates, he neither requested nor received approval from Judith Belushi before submitting his manuscript for publication. Those close to Belushi claimed that the book was exploitative and not representative of the man they knew. Nevertheless, Wired became a bestseller, albeit one that was publicly criticized by Belushi's family and friends for its sensationalism, and for what they perceived to be a negative and one-sided portrait of the actor. Woodward sought to sell the book's film rights as early as 1984 - the year the book was published - but he found little interest in Hollywood for the project. Woodward later claimed, "A large portion of Hollywood didn't want this movie made because there's too much truth in it." Producers Edward S. Feldman and Charles R. Meeker eventually bought the film rights for the relatively modest sum of $300,000, and, lacking major studio funding, put up $1 million of the film's $13 million budget themselves. The rest of the film's funding came from the New Zealand conglomerate Lion Nathan.

Bob Woodward served as an uncredited technical adviser on the film; the screenplay was written by Earl Mac Rauch, whose previous writing credits included Martin Scorsese's New York, New York (1977), and the science-fiction comedy The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984). Hired to direct the film was Larry Peerce, a film and television veteran who had directed his wife Marilyn Hassett in the films The Other Side of the Mountain (1975), Two-Minute Warning (1976), The Other Side of the Mountain Part 2 (1978), and The Bell Jar (1979).

Michael Chiklis claimed that it took the producers three years to cast the role of John Belushi. Then aged 25, Chiklis heard about auditions for the part when he was weeks away from picking up his Theatre arts degree at Boston University: "I rushed down to try out... In the first 24 hours, I was called back 57 times to see different people. It was the first movie I ever read for. I was called back three times at first, then six to eight months would go by and I'd be called again, asked to perform two to three times, then nothing for maybe 10 months. I`d just about given up hope, then I`d get another call for more auditions." Chiklis finally won the role of after being chosen over 200 other actors, and he put on 30 pounds for the part. The blue-eyed actor also wore brown contact lenses to more closely resemble Belushi.