Would you gain 100 pounds to get a role?
This was the professional conundrum faced by Emile Hirsch, who joined THRof It happened in hollywood Podcast revisits the making of his 2007 breakthrough film, into the wild.
But another movie – a planned biopic of comedian John Belushi, in which Hirsch was cast to play the early comedian saturday night live Star – Show up in the conversation.
In 2013, writer-director Steve Conrad—best known for being a screenwriter on the 2013 film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and 2017 Want to know — Script based on 2005 book Belushi: Biography.
Conrad cast Hirsch in the lead role, hoping to find funding for the independent film before filming begins in the spring of 2014. Funds never came through, and the project fell apart.
“I’m a little heartbroken [about signing on]”,” recalls Hirsch, 39. “I was talking to the director and he talked about gaining weight. How stupid is this guy: He said, ‘Just gain weight and then we can make the movie.’ ”
“I thought, ‘Gain weight so we can make a movie? How about we make a movie and then I gain weight! If I could gain 100 pounds, I would be the dumbest person in the known universe.
Hirsch went on to say that Conrad is “a good guy — but, this is crazy. … [Belushi] It probably weighs around 230.
“You have the looks, but you don’t have the waistline,” points out It happened in hollywood Host Seth Abramovich.
“You know, the waistline is a big part of the look,” Hirsch replied with a laugh.
If Hirsch gains weight and loses the role, he’ll have plenty of company. Ryan Gosling gained 60 pounds to play father in Peter Jackson movie cute bonesonly for the director to find him too fat, fire him, and replace Gosling with Mark Wahlberg.
Belushi will be played by actor Matt Wood on the big screen Saturday night, Jason Reitman’s upcoming drama about the founding of the NBC comedy franchise is scheduled for wide release on October 11.
Learn more about Hirsch’s career and production process into the wildlisten to the full episode now. And be sure to subscribe It happened in hollywood Learn more about first-person Hollywood history.
