For much of his career, John Belushi was joined at the hip with Dan Aykroyd. The men starred on Saturday Night Live together, wrote together, vacationed together, played music together and starred in one of the most beloved comedies of all-time together. The relationship worked because the men each brought enough different things to the table to give-and-take. They were equally talented in their own ways. Consequently, when Emile Hirsch was announced as the topliner for the Belushi biopic, the immediate goal became to find someone with enough charisma to play Aykroyd. Fortunately, after much searching, it appears director Steve Conrad has finally found his man: Miles Teller.
The rising star who crushed life in the brilliant and underseen 2013 release The Spectacular Now was reportedly offered the Aykroyd role recently. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he hasn’t officially accepted the job yet, but Hirsch reportedly felt good enough about the prospects over the weekend to straight up announce it at a Sundance party. Seriously. He reportedly grabbed a microphone and told the crowd like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"A shout-out to Miles Teller! We’re going to be working together soon. He’s playing Dan Aykroyd in the Belushi movie."
Hirsch is a really, really talented guy. At one point in time, it seemed like he was destined to rapidly rise to the top of the A-list, but thanks to a few bad movies in which he was not the problem, that hasn’t really happened yet. Teller, on the other hand, is most definitely ascending. He’s where Hirsch was a few years ago, and with a few good choices, he could turn into a man capable of fronting studio event films. That’s why, in a weird way, the success of this movie is really important for both of them. They need at least a little bit of buzz to come from it, Teller so he can continue his momentum and Hirsch so he can get his started again.
Over the next few weeks, Teller is scheduled to crank out a ton of publicity appearances for That Awkward Moment. Once he’s finished with that rigmarole, he’s reportedly planning to sit down and figure out exactly what he wants to do moving forward. As such, it should be at least a few weeks before we know the official status on Belushi.
Fingers crossed he does board, though. Teller vaguely resembles a young Aykroyd and more importantly, he should be capable of nailing the comedian’s delicate balance of physical comedy and fast-paced auditory madness.
Here's a clip from Blues Brothers because watching anything from Blues Brothers is better than whatever else you were about to do...
