Wired (film) - Release

Release

Principal photography of Wired commenced in May 1988 and finished in the Autumn of that year. The film was completed by the end of 1988; however, it did not receive a theatrical release until August 1989. The producers of Wired had problems finding a distributor for the film, as many of the major studios refused to distribute it. Several independent studios such as New Visions (then headed by Taylor Hackford) backed away from it. Atlantic Entertainment was about to distribute Wired, but financial problems prevented that from happening, so Taurus Entertainment agreed to distribute the film. In his book Tell Me How You Love The Picture: A Hollywood Life (2005), Wired producer Edward S. Feldman, recalled the film's difficulties securing a distributor. Feldman accused Hollywood powerbroker Michael Ovitz - whose Creative Artists Agency had represented Belushi, as well as Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray - of using his influence to sabotage the production and distribution of Wired. Ovitz himself claimed that "The film will rise or fall based on its own merits... We have nothing to do with the movie." Some studio executives claimed that their reluctance to distribute Wired was due to the film's dubious quality, rather than its subject matter. Bernie Brillstein accused the filmmakers of generating the controversy around the film themselves, in an attempt to improve its commercial prospects: "The only thing that the producers have to hang on to is the image of Wired as "the movie that Hollywood tried to stop"... I think this is a very good plan to get some excitement for the movie." In April 1989, the Los Angeles Times published the article "Another Chapter in the Strange Odyssey of Wired," chronicling in detail the obstacles the film faced throughout its production.

Wired screened at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival in May, three months before the film's general release. Jack Mathews of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film's "world premiere here in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival was one of the most anticipated films in the festival, and it was a mob scene outside the Palais Theatre as reporters, critics and paying customers scrambled for the 850 seats inside. Wired is a highly stylized and very good-looking film that focuses on Belushi's self-destructive impulses and on Woodward's attempts to understand them. But people were walking out throughout the movie. And at the end, the smattering of applause was drowned out by whistles and jeers. The press conference that followed had the lowest turnout of any in the 8-day-old festival, despite the presence of Woodward, whose Watergate coverage for The Washington Post has given him the image in France of an American Musketeer. Woodward was barraged with questions about the portrayal of himself in the film and the critics -- most of them American or Canadian -- did little to hide their animosity for the film." Mathews reported that the audience found the inclusion of Woodward as a character in the film to be "an annoying intrusion into the story," and that Woodward himself responded, "It seems to me the movie is an adaptation of the book, an exceptional one... It deals with the themes with utter clarity and with the correct premise that somehow Belushi had to see or witness what happened in his own life." Rita Kempley of The Washington Post also reported on the film's dubious reception at Cannes: "Festival-goers yesterday recalled a hive of John Belushi's killer bees. They didn't line up for the eagerly awaited Belushi story, "Wired," they swarmed the screening. Stingers sheathed at the outset, the crowd was prepared to love this surreal docudramedy in defiance of the Hollywood establishment, which has been up in arms about it. Instead, the closing credits rolled to hisses, whistles and a smattering of polite applause. The critical consensus was 1½ thumbs down."

Dan Aykroyd made no secret of his ill-feeling towards the production of Wired. During an interview for MTV's The Big Picture, Aykroyd said, "I have witches working now to jinx the thing... I hope it never gets seen and I am going to hurl all the negative energy I can and muster all my hell energies (against them). My thunderbolts are out on this one, quite truthfully." J.T. Walsh, who played Bob Woodward in Wired, was cast in a supporting role in the comedy Loose Cannons (1990), starring Aykroyd, but Aykroyd had Walsh removed from the film because of his participation in Wired. Walsh reportedly worked for two days on Loose Cannons before he was fired and replaced with Paul Koslo, causing the film a $125,000 production delay.

Prior to the release of Wired, Patricia O'Haire of the New York Daily News suggested that Michael Chiklis might be "priced out of reach" (i.e. by the film's success). Instead, Chiklis' participation in Wired derailed the actor's career for 18 months: "After Wired, everyone was afraid to touch me for fear of reprisal... It was a bittersweet situation. All of a sudden, I was starring in a major motion picture and the next thing you know, I'm being asked by reporters, 'Do you think you'll be blackballed?' I literally went from appearing at the Cannes Film Festival, with the whole international press corps asking me questions, to being alone in my one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn with the phone not ringing. All the dreams and aspirations I'd ever had in my life were in question. It was a humbling, scary experience." Chiklis later told James Belushi that he took on the lead role in Wired out of "love, respect and homage" for his brother, and apologised for any hurt he had caused the Belushi family. After numerous guest roles in episodic television (including Miami Vice, L.A. Law, Murphy Brown, and Seinfeld), Chiklis gained fame for portraying the lead roles of Commissioner Tony Scali on the ABC police drama The Commish (1991-1996), and LAPD Detective Vic Mackey on the FX police drama The Shield (2002-2008). Chiklis and Wired co-star J.T. Walsh also both appeared in Oliver Stone's film Nixon (1995).

Two years after the release of the Wired film, Judith Belushi wrote her book Samurai Widow (1991) to counter the image of her late husband portrayed in the Wired book and film. She also co-wrote the 2005 oral history book, Belushi: A Biography, with Tanner Colby.