Now 71, Chicago-born Jim Belushi is having a moment with roles in two current films – Kristen Stewart’s The Chronology of Water, in which he plays counterculture legend Ken Kesey, and the pop musical, Song Sung Blue, co-starring Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman.
Before Belushi moved to Oregon and launched his cannabis company Belushi’s Farm in 2015, he was best known for being the younger brother of John, an early ‘80s Saturday Night Live cast member, John’s replacement in the Blues Brothers, more than 30 roles in movies like About Last Night, K-9, Curly Sue and Wonder Wheel, and 182 episodes of According to Jim.
The Chronology of Water is Lidia Yuknavitch’s harrowing story, as portrayed by Imogene Poots. Set in the ‘80s, she enrolls in Kesey’s writing class at the University of Oregon and he mentors her. Kesey had a major role in the ‘60s counterculture as an early proselytizer of LSD, Merry Pranksters founder and Grateful Dead associate. The adaptation of his book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest won the Best Picture Oscar in 1976.
This interview focuses on Belushi’s movies, channeling Kesey, hanging with Bob Weir (he died on Jan. 10), LSD history, the marijuana business, rescheduling and the hemp ban. Belushi’s a funny guy, enjoy his humor.
In your book Real Men Don’t Apologize, you said your peaks were About Last Night, The Principal, Salvador, Taking Care of Business and According to Jim.
About Last Night put me on the map. Then I got a lot of work right after that. I did Real Men, Red Heat, Curly Sue and The Principal. I did a lot of movies then. K-9 was a big one.
A lot of dogs in your movies.
They say never work with dogs and kids and then I did K-9 and Curly Sue – what the fuck?
I was starring in movies from 1987 to 1992. I did quite a run. Then it kind of went down a little bit. Then I did some Broadway, some films here and there. Then I did According to Jim for eight years. Then I did a lot of Blues Brothers shows and toured with an improvisational group.
The industry changed. The digital world really changed moviemaking. The industry is still suffering. There’s not a lot of work out there, believe it or not.
In the book, you said your valleys were “the ’90s.”
Things go up and things come down. You’ve got to wait for the wave, you know?
Well, the wave has come back to you, Jim.
Studying Ken Kesey
By the way, I made four movies last year. Two of them were very independent movies (Karate Ghost and Guttermuckers). And The Chronology of Water and Song Sung Blue. I got lucky; these two movies came out of left field. I did a pilot with Song Sung Blue director Craig Brewer in 2016. He called me for this role. And Kristen Stewart, I have no idea why that happened. Out of the blue I got a call. I was like, “I don’t need to read the script, just book it.”
What was your immediate response to being asked to play Ken Kesey?
Absolutely! I told the agent, “I don’t need to read it, but send me the script.” I had the book, I read the script. I mean, I love this man. He was responsible for the transition from Bohemian to our hippie culture. He changed the culture. Even in the movie, there’s a line when he says, “I want you to change the culture.” He was one of the men who changed the culture. The same as Saturday Night Live, those men and women changed the culture of America. He wanted the writers to write something that would change the culture like he did.
How did you learn the character?
I saw everything. I watched on YouTube and saw every lecture he gave, every time he spoke, every interview. I just watched them over and over. I studied him as a human being. I did it all on my own. I didn’t have to rewatch Cuckoo’s Nest. I was more interested in him as a man, as a father, as a husband and as a cultural leader. He said some beautiful things in his talks. I memorized them, but I didn’t memorize them. They kind of laid in me and when I was doing the role, it came out of me. There are a few things I made up in the movie that came directly from one of his talks or one of his interviews.
Jamming with Bob Weir
Were you in touch with the Kesey family?
No. I asked Bob Weir a little bit. I just saw him last year.
What did Weir tell you?
“What do you want to know? What do you want to know?” He was very excited about me playing the part.
Did you ever play music with Weir?
We’re members of the Bohemian Grove [a summer retreat in the Redwoods]. I sat in with him there a couple of times. I knew him from the Grove. I also went to the concerts. I was backstage and stuff.
Are you a Deadhead?
No, not a Deadhead, but I certainly love the Dead. I saw them in high school when I was 16 at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago.
Kesey was a key figure in Grateful Dead and counterculture history.
He worked as an orderly in a hospital to make some money when he was going to college and they put him in the psychiatric ward. That’s where he came up with Cuckoo’s Nest. But also they had a lot of experimental drugs there. Guess what drugs he found there?
LSD?
Right. A little liquid LSD. Well, he took that and he’d have these little parties on the weekend and he put it in the punch. Electric Kool-Aid, right? And those parties would grow. And he had a little band that would play on the farm, the Grateful Dead. It was the start of the Grateful Dead. Then it blew up to San Francisco and Los Angeles and the whole acid thing traveled across the country and changed the culture of our generation.
Have you taken LSD?
Yes. It changed my perspective completely about my relationship with everything.
Where was the movie shot and what was it like working with first-time director Stewart?
Latvia. I asked why she didn’t shoot in Oregon and she said, “The money.” The French helped with the money. Latvia gave great credits. When I was there in Latvia, it looked like Oregon. They doubled Oregon very well. She really believed in this movie. She’d been working on it for eight or 10 years. She knew every breath, every beat of that movie. I think it’s very unique. She shot on 16 mm, because she didn’t want that clear, 4k look. Much of this is about memory, so she wanted that kind of dirty look.
Stewart’s known to be a stoner. Did you smoke with her?
No, I didn’t smoke with her. I said, “I have a farm,” and she said, “I’d like to try that.”
Working with Kate Hudson
What’s your role in Song Sung Blue?
I’m Tom, the booker and manager of Lightning & Thunder. It’s a real character, a real story that was taken from a 2008 documentary about this couple who had a Neil Diamond tribute band.
Are you a Neil Diamond fan?
I am now!
What was it like to work with Kate Hudson, who plays Thunder, and has received a Best Actress Oscar nomination?
She’s a thoroughbred. She’s like Kate Winslet, who he acted with in Woody Allen’s Wonder Wheel, and Kristen Stewart. These actors are studied, ready and generous. When you are really studied, you can be generous. She was very generous. I only had a few moments with Kate. The look in her eyes when you’re in that scene is the same thing as Kate Winslet. You are transformed into another realm. When they say, “Cut,” you’re like, “Wow, where was I?” It’s because of that high focus they have in their eyes. Kate always had a little glimmer when she was looking at me. The actor in her was looking at you and saying, “C’mon, Jimmy, give me what you got.”
Belushi on His Business, Rescheduling and the Hemp Ban
How are things going at Belushi’s Farm?
We’re not cultivating anymore. Oregon is such a terrible state. Five million people, maybe 400,000 smoke. Tourism has dropped since the fires. People are scared to come to Oregon because of the radicalism. Portland has turned into an eyesore rather than the gem it was five years ago.
Plus, prices went to the bottom.
To the bottom! It just didn’t pay to grow anymore. I do use the farm for my mothers and proprietary strains. I’m licensed in 20 states now. All my proprietary strains go to those states. It’s doing very well. I’ve doubled my business in a year.
They do the growing and you provide the genetics?
Right.
You have Belushi’s Farm and Blues Brothers brands. Where are they doing best?
Maryland, Missouri. Pennsylvania has gone through the roof. And Mississippi came on strong. Ohio. Blues Brothers was stronger at the beginning but Belushi’s Farm strains like Big Sur Holy Weed have been doing better and better every month. It’s a little more of a higher end. Our new strain, The Sage, is a true sativa right out of the ’60s and ’70s. It’s an old-school high. It’s so good that they’re doubling the grow in these states because it sold so fast.
I know you favor rescheduling.
It’s enough right now, man. It’s one of the dominoes.
Rescheduling appears to be a big favor to the CBD industry.
That’s my understanding too. That it’s more about the CBD. Larry Kessler’s the one who pushed it over. Rescheduling is more helpful for research, for veterans, for NFL players and sports figures.
Also for businesses taking tax deductions.
Yeah, taxes too. Those poor people running dispensaries, how do they make a margin? How do they make it? The tax is so overburdensome. On top of that is the state tax, which is just terrible. In Illinois last year they made $472 million in cannabis taxes. They made $272 million in liquor taxes. And there are a lot more bars and liquor stores than there are dispensaries. Like, what’s going on here?
The weed’s more expensive.
Michigan used to be one of my best states licensing-wise and it’s gone to the bottom. It’s ridiculous what’s going on in Michigan.
How do you deal with price compression?
I’m a perfect example: I had to stop growing. It’s crushing people.
Are you still selling the Highbridge hemp-derived beverages?
Yes. We’re staying in it until we see what happens.
I’m not a fan of hemp-derived products.
I’m not either, to be honest with you. But there’s a lot of money in it. I don’t like it exposed at gas stations and convenience stores where kids can get it. I don’t mind liquor stores and places where there are some laws around it.
Also, it’s a synthetic product.
Yeah, it’s not what we like.
Isn’t there enough THC out there that they don’t have to convert CBD to THC?
[Laughs] I think so.
Steve Bloom is a former editor of High Times.
