SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Jake and Elwood are back. Hey, it's only been 45 years.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE BLUES BROTHERS")
JOHN BELUSHI AND DAN AYKROYD: (Singing as the Blues Brothers) Everybody needs somebody. Everybody needs somebody to love.
SIMON: In the 1980s, "The Blues Brothers" was a cinematic celebration of music, of Chicago, and a special friendship is embodied by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. They played brothers Jake and Elwood Blues, who get their blues band back together after Jake's paroled from the Joliet State Pen so they can raise money to pay the tax bill for the Catholic orphanage in which they were raised. After guest shots from the likes of James Brown, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and more, they raise the scratch just in time, but they leave a path of destruction. As they said...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE BLUES BROTHERS")
DAN AYKROYD: (As Elwood) We're on a mission from God.
SIMON: But in the new graphic novel "Blues Brothers: The Escape Of Joliet Jake," the brothers are back in the pen. I mean, they did crash their Bluesmobile into the Daley Center and about to be paroled when Jake escapes. Or was he captured? Stella Aykroyd wrote the graphic novel. Her father, also sometimes known as an actor named Dan Aykroyd, provides a forward, and they join us now. Thank you both very much for being with us.
D AYKROYD: Sure. Thank you.
STELLA AYKROYD: Thanks for having us, Scott.
D AYKROYD: A great pre-sy (ph) there, reminding us where the boys started and bringing us to where they are now. Elwood is now a full-on priest, and Jake just is enjoying laying back and being taken care of by the state. And, of course, the state does not want these guys to get out. They have the status of John Dillinger or Al Capone now. So they're trophy prisoners. And I love that that's where the story starts. And then where we go with it - the legend of the briefcase is brought back in, which Stella, you know, helped to engineer logically into the new story. Right, honey?
S AYKROYD: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Like, along with two of my co-writers - Luke Pisano, who is the son of Judy Belushi-Pisano, and my other co-writer James Werner, who - we went to high school together and grew up writing comedy sketches. And so it was just a total dream come true to even be able to work together, but especially to work on a "Blues Brothers" book.
SIMON: Stella Aykroyd, did you grow up with these characters?
S AYKROYD: Absolutely. I mean, my dad is definitely - there is Elwood in him on an everyday basis. So in that way, for sure. And definitely. I was a fan of my dad's growing up and loved watching the movies, and "Blues Brothers" was my favorite.
D AYKROYD: You love the music, and you love the boys, and you look good in shades and a hat yourself, honey.
S AYKROYD: Well, thank you. And how could you not love the music and love the boys? Who doesn't want to hang out with Jake and Elwood?
D AYKROYD: Aw.
SIMON: What - why do - let me ask you both from the vantage of your different ages, why do you think the brothers have become important to people over all these years?
S AYKROYD: There's something very special about that movie in that it was just - you know, it's so different from anything at that time. And it really is just a celebration of all the best parts of that movie - comedy, friendship, music, musicians. And it just has this really authentic feel to it. And so I think now, you know, carrying on - everybody loves rebels and everybody loves underdogs. And I don't know. I think it's just so great to see these recidivists spiffed up in suits, you know, and sort of taking the world for their own. It's timeless.
D AYKROYD: The music is the throughline that I think keeps it all going. In fact, the songs are just the best of the African-American songbook, and the artists that we had in the movie singing them are - you know, were true stars and - but what has kept it going is that so many people after seeing it, after being exposed to it by parents or grandparents, took up musical instruments and then went on to form their own bands and research the music. So it's brought people much continuous joy.
SIMON: Dan Aykroyd, may I ask, did you ever find yourself saying to the writers - oh, I guess you've known for a long time - no, no, no, Jake and Elwood, they wouldn't say that?
D AYKROYD: Very rarely because Stella has a really good sense of the characters, having seen the movie a couple of times - both movies. And basically, I trusted them to stay within the lines and the rules of how you write a "Blues Brothers" piece. And they know - Judy - Belushi's son, also was steeped in it and respected the - you know, the rules of what a Blues Brother would and wouldn't do. There are certain lines that wouldn't be crossed. I don't think I worried about it too much. They didn't cross the lines that I could see. So I very rarely had to kind of put things back on the track.
SIMON: I don't want to give away too much, but there is another dramatic chase that would be impossible to film, I hope (laughter). Can I ask for a recitation of what's become my favorite line in there? Because they don't regret running over the Roy Lichtenstein.
S AYKROYD: (Laughter).
D AYKROYD: What he says a reference of this is just comic book art, right...
SIMON: Yes. Yeah (laughter).
D AYKROYD: ...Stella? Isn't that it?
SIMON: (Laughter).
S AYKROYD: Yeah. Exactly.
D AYKROYD: That's right. A lot of people viewed Lichtenstein as just, you know - yeah, comic art, which I don't. I loved his stuff anyway. But why not? It went through an iconic, you know, scene in the movie, you know, driving past the Picasso and going through the plate glass windows of the building there and landing at the Cook County, you know, administration building. Those were pretty iconic, so they're - I guess in the - what we're trying to do here is - or you guys were trying to do is to top that. And that's why we have that little rip through the museum.
S AYKROYD: We tried to - Luke and I and James, we really wanted to make this fun for the fans and give people, you know, little Easter eggs of things from the first movie and also from what it's like growing up with my dad and what it was like for Luke to grow up and hear all the stories - amazing stories about John from Judy. And so we really sewed into each act, these little Easter eggs and inside jokes between the families, and it made it feel very authentic to us.
SIMON: May I ask, Dan Aykroyd, what did John Belushi put into your life?
D AYKROYD: Well, he brought, you know, unparalleled, unlimited mirth and joy and laughter and fun and an intelligent view of America and Chicago, which he imparted to me and shared with me. He brought artistic satisfaction in that we got to dance together as brothers and men and artistic satisfaction that we got to sing and create the act together and the movie, along with Judy, of course. So he brought to me eight years of my life that were joyous and fraught with challenges of dealing with his personality. He brought me grief in the end and sadness, but he brought me the satisfaction of knowing a genius individual and being a partner and a party to some of his best work. He brought me eight full, beautiful years with a full range of emotions and activities and achievements and failures.
SIMON: Dan Aykroyd, will you always be a Blues Brother?
D AYKROYD: Yes, sir. I believe that it's part of my mission to keep the word out there that there is music that you don't hear on the radio that you can still buy, you know, that there's just great artists out there that I would continue to love to share. You know, get yourself a Buddy Guy-Junior Wells record and you got a party on a weekend that's unparalled. Get some Sam Cooke, some Stax-Volt, Otis Redding. I just like to spread the word and, where possible, sing the songs of these wonderful artists. But as long as I can move and walk and talk and interpret the lyrics, I'll do it, you know, right to - right until I'm stopped.
S AYKROYD: And there are always screaming fans and women that want to come up on stage with you guys and dance. It's pretty amazing to see.
S AYKROYD: Yes. Well, my demographic. Yes. Women 55 to 85.
(LAUGHTER)
SIMON: Yes. Well, Dan Aykroyd and Stella Aykroyd. Their new graphic novel, along with Luke Pisano, "Blues Brothers: The Escape Of Joliet Jake." Thank you both so much for being with us.
S AYKROYD: Thank you, Scott.
D AYKROYD: It's a collector piece, I tell you.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE BLUES BROTHERS' "PETER GUNN THEME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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