10 Actors Who Perfected Roles YEARS Before The Movie
6. Dan Aykroyd & John Belushi Formed A Real Blues Band - The Blues Brothers
1980's classic musical-comedy The Blues Brothers was a massive critical and commercial success, and helped bolster the careers of rising comedians John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.
But of course, The Blues Brothers as an idea predated the movie by several years, having started out life as a 1978 skit on Saturday Night Live, with Belushi and Aykroyd playing the frontmen to the titular band through a series of spirited musical performances.
Yet the actual genesis of both the band and the skit goes back even further than that. Belushi and Aykroyd appeared in a January 17, 1976 SNL sketch as members of Howard Shore's band, singing and playing harmonica respectively.
After SNL tapings Belushi, Aykroyd, and many crew members would often head to a bar Aykroyd had rented and filled with musical instruments, allowing attendees to jam to their heart's content.
At this bar Aykroyd not only began writing the script for the eventual Blues Brothers movie, but introduced Belushi to blues music, with which he quickly became obsessed. The pair ended up singing with local blues bands, and soon enough, the Blues Brothers were born.
By the time the movie went into production a few years later, they were truly living the roles of Jake and Elwood Blues.