THE GHOST OF JOHN BELUSHI
GHOSTBUSTERS' SLIMER IS REALLY
By David Crow
John Belushi was always supposed to be in Ghostbusters. At least, that was Dan Aykroyd’s intent, whose friendship with Belushi ran deep.
Before writing a first draft of Ghostbusters, Aykroyd worked alongside Belushi on SNL and in The Blues Brothers.
So, when sitting down to write a story about paranormal exterminators, Aykroyd always planned for a reunion, with Belushi starring as Peter Venkman.
Following Belushi’s death, the character (and the whole concept of the film) was rewritten, but there’s still a version of Belushi in Ghostbusters: the lovable gelatinous ball of goo we call Slimer.
The character was originally described as “Onionhead” by the filmmakers, and there’s some debate over who first realized that he looked a little familiar.
Between Ghostbusters’ director Ivan Reitman and Aykroyd, they noted the ghost was a lot like Belushi’s beloved Bluto in 1978’s Animal House.
And word came down for VFX sculptor Steve Johnson to turn ‘Onionhead’ into a Belushi-head. He recalled getting the note less than 24 hours before a final version of Slimer was due.
“I pulled out a stack of headshots [of Belushi], poured a gram of cocaine on it and started chopping lines up.”
Johnson even claims the real ghost of Belushi visited him, helping finish the Slimer design.
Whatever the truth, Slimer became one of the most popular characters in the Ghostbusters mythos, even becoming the team’s unofficial mascot in The Real Ghostbusters cartoon.
But he was never more lovable than as the raging foodie in the original ‘84 movie!