National Lampoon's Animal House

'National Lampoon's Animal House' is a 1978 comedy film directed by John Landis. The screenplay was adapted by Douglas Kenney, Chris Miller and Harold Ramis from stories written by Miller and published in National Lampoon magazine based on his experiences in the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity at Dartmouth College, as well as Ramis's experiences in the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity at Washington University in St. Louis. The film is about a misfit group of fraternity boys that take on the administration at their college.Early casting ideas included Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and John Belushi. Of these five comedians, only Belushi was cast and he received $35,000 for the film with a bonus after it became a hit. Much of the cast, including the likes of Karen Allen and Kevin Bacon, were struggling actors just starting out. The studio hated Landis's choices and wanted to cast dramatic actors as well as comedians. The actors who played the Deltas arrived five days... more