Members of ‘Saturday Night Live’ Were Offered Parts
… But Only John Belushi Accepted.
SNL began a few years before ‘Animal House’ was made, and the filmmakers wanted to use some of the SNL cast. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and John Belushi were all offered parts, but only Belushi accepted the role. The role of Otter was originally made for Chevy Chase (who had recently left SNL), but he turned down the offer, too. Landis was actually glad they turned down the roles, as he didn’t want to make “an SNL film.”
Source: Ultimate Classic Rock
Today, Chase is sober and about 40 lbs lighter. But he hasn’t softened up or anything like that. Chase is a major piece of SNL’s history. When asked what he thinks of the current show, he said, “First of all, between you and me and a lamppost, jeez, I don’t want to put down Lorne or the cast, but I’ll just say, maybe off the record, I’m amazed that Lorne has gone so low. I had to watch a little of it, and I just couldn’t f—— believe it.”