Blues brothers cast steven spielberg biography

Carolyn Franklin, Aretha's younger sister and a singer-songwriter in her own right, is one of the singers at the diner. De'Voureaux White, aka Argyle the limo driver is the kid who tries to steal a guitar from Ray's, another bit of Retroactive Recognition. James Avery Uncle Phil has an uncredited role as one of the detectives after the brothers. More Retroactive Recognition.

Character actor Ralph Foody is the police dispatcher who comments on the brothers' antics in the third act. He says, among other things, that the use of unnecessary violence in the apprehension of the Blues Brothers has been approved. Follow TV Tropes. You need to login to do this. Donald 'Duck' Dunn. Murphy Dunne. Willie Hall. Tom Malone.

Lou Marini. Matt Murphy. Alan Rubin. Carrie Fisher. Henry Gibson. John Candy. Kathleen Freeman. John Lee Hooker. Tom Erhart. Gerald Walling. Walter Levine. Alonzo Atkins. Chaka Khan. Armand Cerami. Steven Williams. Kristi Oleson. Gary McLarty. Joe Cuttone. Layne Britton. Toni Fleming. Sheilah Wells. Rosie Shuster. Judith Belushi-Pisano.

Lou Perryman. Paul Reubens. Five of them are performing as "Murph and The MagicTones" at a deserted Holiday Inn lounge and quickly agree to rejoin. On their way to meet the final two band members, the brothers find the road through Jackson Park blocked by an American Nazi Party demonstration on a bridge; Elwood runs them off the bridge into the East Lagoon.

The leader of the Nazi Party swears revenge. The last two band members, who now run a soul food restaurant, rejoin the band against the advice of one's wife. As Jake attempts to book a gig, the mystery woman blows up the phone booth he is using; once again, he is miraculously unhurt. They win over the rowdy crowd, but run up a bar tab higher than their pay, and infuriate the Good Ole Boys, the country band that was booked for the gig.

Realizing that they need a big show to raise the necessary money, the brothers persuade their old agent to book the Palace Hotel Ballroom, north of Chicago. They mount a loudspeaker atop the Bluesmobile and drive around the Chicago area promoting the concert—and alerting the police, the neo-Nazis, and the Good Ole Boys of their whereabouts.

The ballroom is packed with blues fans, police officers, and the Good Ole Boys.

Blues brothers cast steven spielberg biography: Spielberg was born in

Jake and Elwood perform two songs, then sneak offstage, as the tax deadline is rapidly approaching. After her volley of M16 rifle bullets leaves them once again miraculously unharmed, Jake offers a series of ridiculous excuses that she rejects, but when she looks into his eyes she takes interest in him again, allowing the brothers to escape to the Bluesmobile.

Jake and Elwood race back toward Chicago, with dozens of state and local police and the Good Ole Boys in pursuit. They elude them all with a series of improbable maneuvers, including a miraculous gravity-defying escape from the neo-Nazis. At the Richard J. Finding the office of the Cook County Assessor, the brothers pay the tax bill.

Just as their receipt is stamped, they are arrested by the mob of law officers. In prison, the band plays " Jailhouse Rock " for the inmates. Aykroyd developed the blood brothers' backstory and character sketches in collaboration with Ron Gwynne, who is credited as a story consultant for the film. As related in the liner notes of the band's debut album, Briefcase Full of Bluesthe brothers grew up in an orphanage, learned the blues from a janitor named Curtis, and sealed their brotherhood by cutting their middle fingers with a steel string said to have come from Elmore James 's guitar.

Belushi had become a star in as a result of both the Blues Brothers' musical success and his role in National Lampoon's Animal House. At one blues brothers cast steven spielberg biography, he managed the triple feat of being the star of the week's top-grossing film and top-rated television series and singing on the No. When Aykroyd and Belushi decided they could make a Blues Brothers film, the bidding war was intense.

Universal Studios narrowly beat Paramount Pictures for the project. John Landis, who had directed Belushi in Animal Housewas aboard as director. The project had neither a budget nor a script. It was impossible to settle on an amount without a screenplay to review, and after Mitch Glazer declined to help him, Aykroyd wrote one on his own.

Aykroyd had never written a screenplay before, as he admitted in the documentary Stories Behind the Making of The Blues Brothersor even read one, and he was unable to find a writing partner. He put together a very detailed volume that explained the characters' origins and how the band members were recruited. His final draft was pages, three times longer than a standard screenplay, written not in a standard screenplay formatbut more like free verse.

This later caused friction in the production between Landis and Universal, as its costs far exceeded the original budget. Since none of them except Charles had had any hits in recent years, the studio wanted Landis to replace them with—or add performances by—younger acts, such as Rose Roycewhose " Car Wash " had made them disco stars after its use in the film of that name.

The members of The Blues Brothers Band were themselves notable. As the band developed at Saturday Night Livepianist Paul Shaffer was part of the act and cast in the film, but owing to contractual obligations with SNLhe was unable to participate, so actor-musician Murphy Dunne whose father, George Dunnewas the Cook County Board President was hired to take his role.

Over extras were used for the next-to-last scene, the blockade of the building at Daley Centerincluding National Guardsmen, state and city police officers, with 15 horses for the mounted police and three each Sherman tankshelicoptersand fire engines. The film has a number of cameo appearances by established celebrities and entertainment industry figures, including Steve Lawrence as a booking agent, Twiggy as a "chic lady" in a Jaguar convertible whom Elwood propositions at a gas station, Steven Spielberg as the Cook County Assessor's clerk, Landis as a state trooper in the mall chase, Joe Walsh as the first prisoner to jump up on a table in the final scene, and Chaka Khan as the soloist in the Triple Rock choir.

Muppet performer Frank Oz plays a corrections officerand in the scene where the brothers crash into Toys "R" Us, the customer who asks for a Miss Piggy doll is played by stunt coordinator Gary McLarty. Principal photography began in Julywith the film's budget still not settled. For the first month, things ran smoothly on and off the set. In the next month, the production began falling behind schedule.

Much of the delay was due to Belushi's partying and carousing.

Blues brothers cast steven spielberg biography: Release Dates · Official Sites ·

People often recognized him and slipped him cocaine, a drug he was already using heavily on his own, hoping to use it with him. As a result of his late nights and drug and alcohol use, Belushi often missed unit calls the beginning of a production day or went to his trailer after them to sleep, wasting hours of production time. One night, Aykroyd found him crashing on the sofa of a nearby house, where Belushi had already helped himself to food in the refrigerator.

Cocaine was already so prevalent on the set like many other film productions of that era that Aykroyd, who used far less than Belushi, claims a section of the budget was actually set aside for purchases of the drug during night shooting. The stars had a private bar, the Blues Club, built on the set, for themselves, crew, and friends. Carrie Fisher, Aykroyd's girlfriend at the time, said that most of the bar's staff doubled as dealers, procuring any drug patrons desired.

The movie's original budget was quickly surpassed, and Wasserman grew increasingly frustrated. He was regularly confronting Ned Tanenthe executive in charge of production for Universal, over the costs. Sean Danielanother studio executive, was not reassured when he came to Chicago and saw the production had set up a special facility for the 70 cars used in the chase sequences.

Filming there, which was supposed to have concluded in the middle of September, continued into late October. On the set, Belushi's drug use worsened. Fisher, who herself later struggled with cocaine addiction, said Landis told her to keep Belushi away from the drug. Wendell was hired to clear any drugs from the places Belushi visited off-camera.

Nevertheless, at one point, Landis found Belushi with what he described as a "mountain" of cocaine on a table in his trailer, which led to a tearful confrontation in which Belushi admitted his addiction and feared it could eventually kill him. Filming there again ran smoothly until it came time to shoot the final sequence at the Hollywood Palladium.

Blues brothers cast steven spielberg biography: Spielberg was born in

Just beforehand, Belushi fell off a borrowed skateboard and seriously injured his knee, making it unlikely he could shoot the scene, which required him to sing, dance, and do cartwheels. Wasserman persuaded the city's top orthopedic surgeon to postpone his weekend plans long enough to anesthetize Belushi's knee, and the scene was filmed as intended.

Byrneit is credited for putting Chicago on the map as a venue for filmmaking. We wrote it as a tribute.

Blues brothers cast steven spielberg biography: The Blues Brothers is a

The first traffic stop was in Park Ridge, Illinois. The shopping mall car chase was filmed in the real, albeit shuttered, Dixie Square Mallin Harvey, Illinois. The main entrance to Wrigley Field and its sign reading "Save lives. Drive safely, prevent fires" makes a brief appearance when the "Illinois Nazis" visit it blues brothers cast steven spielberg biography Elwood registers the ballpark's address, West Addison, as his home address on his driver's license.

Elwood's Illinois driver's license number is an almost-valid encoded number, with Aykroyd's own birth date embedded. Jake's final confrontation with his girlfriend was filmed in a replica of a section of the abandoned Chicago freight tunnel system. Daley Center. In the final car chase scene, the production actually dropped a Ford Pintorepresenting the one driven by the "Illinois Nazis", from a helicopter at an altitude of about 1, feet—and had to gain a Special Airworthiness Certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration to do it.

The Lake Freeway North was a planned but not completed six-lane freeway, and I contained an unfinished ramp off which the Nazis drove. Bank Center. The Palace Hotel Ballroom, where the band performs their climactic concert, was at the time of filming a country club, but later became the South Shore Cultural Centernamed after the Chicago neighborhood where it is located.

The interior concert scenes were filmed in the Hollywood Palladium. The filming in downtown Chicago was conducted on Sundays during the summer ofand much of downtown was cordoned off from the public. The film used 13 different cars bought at auction from the California Highway Patrol to depict the retired Mount Prospect, Illinois, Dodge Monaco patrol car.

The vehicles were outfitted by the studio to do particular driving chores: some were customized for speed and others for jumps, depending on the scene. For the scene when the brothers finally arrive at the Richard J. Daley Center, a mechanic took several months to rig the car to fall apart. Landis' difficulties continued even after principal photography ended.

The first cut of The Blues Brothers lasted two and a half hours, with an intermission. After one early screening, Wasserman demanded it be shortened, and 20 minutes were cut. Prospects for a successful release did not look good. Aykroyd and Belushi had left SNL at the end of the previous seasonreducing their bankability. Belushi's fame had taken a further hit after the critical failure of Spielberg's film at the end of the year.

One day after the editing was done, Wasserman invited Landis up to his office to speak with Ted Mannhead of the Mann Theatres chain, which dominated film exhibition in the Western United States. He told Landis that he would not book the film at any theaters in predominantly white neighborhoods, such as Westwood. Not only did Mann not want black patrons going there to see the film, but he also surmised that white viewers were unlikely to see a film featuring older black musical stars.

The Blues Brothers opened on June 20,in theaters. It ranked 10th at the domestic box office for the year. Over the years, the film has retained a cult following and earned additional revenue through television, home video, and cinema reruns. Gwen Banta. Gerald Walling. Joe Cuttone. Rosie Shuster She was 29, now 74 years old. Ben Piazza He was 46, 58 years old when he died.

Tom Malone He was 33, now 77 years old. Chaka Khan She was 27, now 71 years old. Alan Rubin He was 37, 68 years old when he died. Steve Lawrence He was 44, now 89 years old. Stephen Bishop He was 28, now 73 years old. Willie Hall He was 29, now 74 years old. Jack Orend. Tom Erhart. Judith Belushi-Pisano. Alonzo Atkins. Toni Fleming. Elizabeth Hoy.

Armand Cerami. Eugene J. Lou Marini He was 35, now 79 years old. Matt Murphy English footballer He was 8, now 53 years old. Hal Gausman as Set Decoration. He was 62 85 years old when He died.