The Blues Brothers era was a time when Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi were kings of pop culture. In a candid conversation with Daniel de Visé, we delved into the making of the Blues Brothers movie and the dynamic relationship between Dan and John. “They’re not going to catch us,” Dan Aykroyd as Elwood Blues tells his brother Jake, played by John Belushi. “We’re on a mission from God.”

This iconic line opens the musical action comedy The Blues Brothers, which hit theatres on June 20, 1980. While their scripted mission was to save a local Chicago orphanage, Aykroyd, who conceived and wrote the film, had a greater mission: to honor the then-seemingly forgotten tradition of rhythm and blues. The film featured some of the greatest artists of the genre—Aretha Franklin, James Brown, John Lee Hooker, Cab Calloway, and Ray Charles—making it as unforgettable as its wild car chases.

Though The Blues Brothers was late, vastly over budget, and plagued by mercurial, oft-drugged-out stars, it opened to tepid reviews at best. However, in the 44 years since, it has been acknowledged as a classic: inducted into the National Film Registry for its cultural significance, declared a “Catholic classic” by the Church, and re-aired thousands of times on television to huge worldwide audiences. It is, undeniably, one of the most significant films of the 20th century.

The story behind any classic is rich, but the saga behind The Blues Brothers is epic. Daniel de Visé reveals a narrative that encompasses the colorful childhoods of Belushi and Aykroyd, the comedic revolution sparked by Harvard’s Lampoon and Chicago’s Second City, the birth and anecdote-rich, drug-filled early years of Saturday Night Live—where the Blues Brothers were born as an act amidst turmoil and rivalry—and, of course, the indelible behind-the-scenes narrative of how the film was made, scene by memorable scene. Based on original research and dozens of interviews with key figures such as director John Landis, producer Bob Weiss, SNL creator Lorne Michaels, and Aykroyd himself, The Blues Brothers vividly portrays the creative geniuses behind modern comedy.

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