The `Hangover` director-and-producer Todd Phillips is working with `The Pursuit of Happyness` screenwriter Steven Conrad, to develop the biographical film about the late actor`s life.
Accord to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Brothers have acquired the rights from John Belushi`s estate.
The actor`s widow Judith - who published the book `Belushi: A Biography` on her husband in 2005 - will act as an executive producer on the movie.
Belushi shot to fame on long-running US comedy sketch show `Saturday Night Live` from 1975-1979 - alongside comedy greats such as Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray.
He also had a brief but successful film career, appearing in the hit movies `Animal House` and `The Blues Brothers` among others.
He is equally as famous for his wild partying and he tragically died of a drug overdose in 1982 at the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Los Angeles.
Actors being suggested for the role of Belushi include `The Hangover Star` Zach Galifianakis, and Jack Black, although it is believed both would be too old to play the star, who died at the age of 33.
In 2008, Black distanced himself from portraying the late comedian on screen.
He said: "His life is not as funny as his work, and watching me do an imitation of him doing his `Saturday Night Live` bits won`t be as funny as watching him do his `SNL` bits."
A previous movie based on Bob Woodward`s 1985 book, `Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi`, was publicly boycotted by family and friends when it was released in 1989.
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