“His Materials and His Letters Were Just Sitting in Boxes in the Basement of Her House”: R.J. Cutler on Belushi at DOC NYC

From the mid to late 70s John Belushi was a multimedia meteor, seemingly destined to be an inescapable part of the zeitgeist for years to come. The outsized and ubiquitous talent — original cast member on late night TV’s SNL, scene-stealing star of the big screen (National Lampoon’s Animal House, The Blues Brothers), and hit record maker (again with The Blues Brothers) — was so inescapable that when in 1982, at the age of only 33 and the peak of his career, his life crashed to a drug-fueled end at L.A.’s Chateau Marmont, the shock to the world was seismic. So how does a documentary filmmaker even begin to wrap his arms around such a larger-than-life character? If you’re veteran director-producer R.J. Cutler (The War Room, A Perfect Candidate, The September Issue) you go intimate and small. Rather than dissect the legend “Belushi,” Cutler deftly zooms in on John, the boy from Wheaton, Illinois who grew up in his Albanian father’s diner (the inspiration for the SNL classic “Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger!” sketch) and married his high school sweetheart. And in addition to showcasing archival footage and delightful TV and movie clips, Cutler treats us to a trove of personal letters and audiotapes, and the insightful reminisces of close friends and colleagues (everyone from Dan Akroyd and Ivan Reitman, to Penny Marshall and Carrie Fisher). What emerges is a portrait as unexpected and artistic as the man himself — a brilliant mind without an “off” button, but with a heart of gold. The Emmy Award-winning Cutler was gracious enough to take time away from editing his latest (Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry) to give Filmmaker the scoop on Belushi, which opened this year’s (home of The Second City) Chicago International Film Festival, and is currently playing in Not Ready For Prime Time Players territory at the virtual DOC NYC.

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.