Word: aykroyd
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...atmosphere. Once again paranormal phenomena (this time in the service of Vigo, a sometime Carpathian tyrant, whose spirit inhabits an antique portrait) have singled out Dana (Sigourney Weaver) for special attention. Once again the old team of exorcists -- wisecracking Venkman (Bill Murray), absentminded Egon (Harold Ramis), earnest Ray (Dan Aykroyd) and stouthearted Winston (Ernie Hudson) -- is ready to deploy its pseudo science in the service of exorcism...
...that pileup of "onceagains" finally undoes this sequel. For if writers Ramis and Aykroyd have slightly altered the circumstances of their central figures, they have not bothered to develop their characters any further. Dana, for example, has a baby and a tangle-tongued boss -- marvelously played by Peter MacNicol -- who is madly in love with her. The ghostbusters themselves are suffering, to good comic effect, from celebrity burnout and municipal ire over their failure to clean up the mess that they made the last time they saved the city...
...specter of the powerful Creative Artists Agency, headed by superagent Michael Ovitz. Ovitz was Belushi's agent, and his company's star-packed client list includes several of the comedian's friends who were angered by Woodward's book, among them fellow Saturday Night Live star Dan Aykroyd, SNL producer Lorne Michaels and brother Jim Belushi. Reluctance to alienate Ovitz and his clients, claim the film's producers, is what frightened most of Hollywood away. "In this town," says co-producer Edward Feldman (Save the Tiger, Witness), "the word was put out that this was a project...
...film tiptoes around much of Woodward's most sensational material. Missing, for example, is a portrayal of such Hollywood stars as Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, reported in the book to have used cocaine with Belushi. Except for Aykroyd (Gary Groomes), Belushi's wife Judy (Lucinda Jenney) and Cathy Smith (Patti D'Arbanville), the woman who allegedly gave Belushi his fatal drug injection, most real-life characters are given pseudonyms, and none are shown indulging in drug use with Belushi. Only a couple of scenes offer hints that Hollywood might share any blame in Belushi's death...
...August release. Then Wired can finally be judged by the people it was intended for: the audience. But repercussions from the unpopular project may not be over. Actor J.T. Walsh, who plays Woodward in the film, was set to appear next in Loose Cannons, a comedy co-starring Dan Aykroyd. According to insiders, Walsh was let go after just one day on the set, to avoid upsetting Aykroyd. All of which may simply set the stage for another round of the Belushi media blitz. Anyone for The Making of Wired...