Jim Belushi reveals how he developed his characters for 'Song Sung Blue' and 'The Chronology of Water'. 'I really don't want to mimic Ken Kesey. I want to capture his essence of his humanity."

Jim Belushi shared insights into his acting career, including his regrets over passing on roles in 'Spaceballs' and 'My Cousin Vinny.' He discussed his recent performances in 'Song Sung Blue' and 'The Chronology of Water,' focusing on his approach to character development.

Belushi emphasized the importance of capturing the essence of a character rather than impersonating them, particularly in his portrayal of Ken Kesey. He also described his process for playing Tom in 'Song Sung Blue,' highlighting the emotional feedback he received from Tom's daughter and the value of playing open-hearted roles.

How Jim Belush created 'Song Sung Blue' and 'The Chronology of Water'

Spaceballs, I passed on that movie like an idiot. You did? Shh! Okay. Don't want to talk about it. Okay. It's two movies I passed on that I'm just so pissed about. What's the other one? My Cousin Vinny. You passed on My Cousin Vinny? Yeah, yeah, yeah! I didn't say I was smart. I said I was an actor. So you would have been Vinny? Yeah. As opposed to Torme? I don't know. What's the Torme part? My Biological Caucus Ticket! I need to get annoyed. Let's start off there then. Start on passing on movies that I regret? Let's start on all of your regrets. Let's start right with regrets. All right, let's start with regrets. In seeing the two films that you have out now. Oh my God, they're so good! They're so good and so different. And the character work you're doing in these films is wild to me. Seeing you completely transform into Ken Kesey was incredible. Oh, Ken Kesey, what a marvelous man he was. Yeah. He changed the culture. He was a culture changing figure. I mean, he took the world from a bohemian climate, you know, with Kerouac and all those guys and brought LSD, the electrocholine acid. I mean, he changed the consciousness of a generation. He took them right to, there it is, electrocholine acid. It's one of his favorite books. Yeah, yeah. He was the consciousness of the 60s. 100%. When I was in Chicago and I was learning character, there's a very big difference between impersonating and getting the essence. Well, you know, that's very astute of you because at Second City, there was a phrase, you know, you wear character like a straw hat. You lightly wear the character. But, you know, John, he had beautiful imitations. You know, whether it was Henry Kissinger or Captain Kirk. But you always saw John through those characters, the essence of who John was. And when I did this Ken Kesey, I talked to Kristen Stewart. I said, you don't want me to do an impression, an impersonation, do you? She goes, no. I said, good. Because I really don't want to mimic Ken Kesey. I want to capture his essence of his humanity. She said, good. Yeah, so I made an active choice not to do an impersonation of him. Kristen, I just don't understand what she has. But she has this presence in her eyes and this focus and this knowledge of death, grief, loss. It's very sophisticated. She brought out the best performance of my career, I think. I want to dovetail into Song Song Blue. I'm interested in how you approached Tom as opposed to Ken. Was your process different in approaching him versus Ken? Yeah, it was different. It was different because I didn't have the history on him that I could get with Ken. And literally lines of Kesey's dropped into my skull. And you know, when you're improvising, you just trust what's in your head and you go. So lines were coming out of me. Tom was, I just caught his essence. And what I sensed in the documentary about Tom was he just loved them. He was just so enamored at the passion that they had. And I think he wanted to have that passion himself. And he knew he didn't have that kind of passion, but he could be in service of it. And that was enough for him. I mean, here's a man who was the general manager for Kmart for 35 years. You know, I mean, he was just a Milwaukee guy, Marine, by the way. Milwaukee guy had passion for them and loved them. So I just played the love and wanting to do the best for them. And the screening we had, the premiere we had in Los Angeles, I met the daughter. And she was just so happy. She said, you really, really captured my dad. And she like teared up. And I said, well, yeah, he had a big heart. She goes, yes, he did. It was so sweet, it was so darling. So I just played open hearted, you know? And I just played love, that's it. Teasing I was playing a lot of the other things going on. The line in Samsung Blue that made me laugh out loud in a theater was after the fight. And you're just like, oh, it's okay, I'm a bleeder. I'm a bleeder. That I improvised. Okay. That's right. That was mine. That was great.

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