10+ ‘Animal House’ Fraternity Rush Facts About The Iconic Comedy Classic

9. The ‘Animal House’ Script Began As A Charles Manson High School Movie

When no one at National Lampoon liked Harold Ramis’s script for something called Freshman Year, he worked with fellow Lampooner Doug Kenney to write Laser Orgy Girls, which centered around Charles Manson and his high school exploits.

Several drafts later, the film changed completely and they decided the setting should be a college campus, presumably so they could get away with more raunchy, low-brow material. Ramis, Kenney, and Chris Miller used their own college frat experiences for inspiration (especially some wild ones from Miller) and the Delta House was born. When director John Landis was brought on, the script was revised several times more. One producer at Universal said, “Everybody is drunk, high or getting laid! I’d never make this movie!” prompting Landis to cut a scene featuring a vomiting contest, among other things.

10. If John Landis Hadn’t Babysat Kiefer Sutherland, ‘Animal House’ Might Not Have Been Made

National Lampoon began in 1970 when a small group of Harvard students wrote a Lord of the Rings parody. While more than one million people subscribed to the magazine and many big names in comedy came out of it, they did not have an easy time getting Animal House made. The movie went through numerous script changes, was turned down by eight different directors, and the crew visited more than 12 colleges to find one that would allow them to film there. Finally, Universal agreed to make the film but wanted a bigger star than John Belushi to appear. Luckily, director John Landis had gotten to know Donald Sutherland after working with him on Kelly’s Heroes and babysitting Kiefer, and Sutherland agreed to star as Professor Dave Jennings and be the big name Universal wanted.

11. Members Of The Then-Current Cast Of ‘Saturday Night Live’ Were Offered Parts But Only John Belushi Accepted

Saturday Night Live began a few years before Animal House was made, and the filmmakers were hoping to use some of the SNL cast in their movie. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and John Belushi were all offered parts but only Belushi accepted. The part of Otter was originally written for Chevy Chase – who had recently left SNL – but he turned down the offer as well. Chase was notorious for being difficult to work with and since he was about to star as the lead in Foul Play, he didn’t want to share a starring role with Belushi.

Director John Landis was glad some of the SNL members turned down the roles, as he didn’t want to make “an SNL film.” He tried to convince Universal to hire more dramatic actors and other interesting casting choices such as Meat Loaf, but the film ultimately ended up with actors no one had heard of at the time.

Credits: ranker.com