The Blues Brothers (1980)

The film's budget quickly exceeded the initial production estimate when Aykroyd and Belushi insisted on casting soul and r&b legends like James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin. Delays, the use of hundreds of extras, dozens of wrecked cars, damage to theaters and malls, and even the inclusion of cocaine in the budget, distributed to the cast and crew at a built on-set bar called The Blues Club, all further inflated the final cost to $27.5 million.

A world record of 103 cars were wrecked during filming. The Bluesmobile is a 1974 Dodge Monaco and a total of twelve were used in the movie, including one that was built just so it could fall apart. For the big car chases, filmmakers purchased 60 police cars at $400 each from the California Highway Patrol, and most were destroyed at the completion of the filming more than 40 stunt drivers were hired, and the crew kept a 24-hour body shop to repair cars.

In 1979 Belushi was already a star with leading roles in Animal House and Saturday Night Live. The year before he had also recorded the band's debut album. His love for drugs and living on the edge often got him into trouble, so John Landis asked Carrie Fisher to help keep him away from cocaine. Once, while filming, he disappeared and Dan Aykroyd found him in a stranger's house near the set, where he asked for a glass of milk and a sandwich, before crashing on the couch.