White Rabbit jumps for 'part dual biography, part work of cultural archaeology' from de Visé

White Rabbit has bagged The Blues Brothers, a book on the eponymous American film classic, by Daniel de Visé.

Publisher Lee Brackstone acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Rachel Clements at Abner Stein. The book will be published on 28th March 2024.

De Visé reveals an "epic, encompassing" story behind "The Blues Brothers" (1980), a musical action comedy directed and written by John Landis and Dan Aykroyd developed from their sketch of the same name performed on "Saturday Night Live".

The publisher continued: "Based on original research and dozens of interviews probing the memories of principals from director John Landis and producer Bob Weiss to Aykroyd himself, The Blues Brothers illuminates an American masterpiece while vividly portraying the creative geniuses behind modern comedy."

De Visé commented: "The Blues Brothers is my Chicago book. I grew up there, and it’s the ultimate Chicago film. My friends and I watched it over and over again, back in high school days. It’s also a dual biography, celebrating one of the great friendships in American comedy. Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi anchored the legendary founding cast of ’Saturday Night Live’, one of the half-dozen most important shows in America’s television history. For pure longevity, it rivals ’Doctor Who’."

Brackstone added: "No other film had such a profound influence on me as a young boy discovering music, cinema and culture as ’The Blues Brothers’. For me, and I am sure for other fans of the film, this book makes sense of why its impact was so profound, while also exploring the friendship on and off camera of Belushi and Aykroyd.

"Part dual biography, part work of cultural archaeology which links the anarchic comedy of ’Saturday Night Live’ with Chicago Blues and how all of this coalesced in the making of one of the most chaotic movies of all time; this is an epic and addictive book destined to become a future and perennial pop culture classic."