Atuk is an unscreened comedy screenplay written by Todd Carol. It is an adaptation to the 1963 novel, “The Incomparable Atuk”, by Mordecai Richler. Atuk means grandfather in the Eskimo language and the story centers around an Inuit Eskimo hunter, who tries to live the fast-pace life of New York City. He struggles with materialism, pop culture, & racism.

In Hollywood movie lore, there have been many films deemed “cursed”, bringing bad fortune & even death to primary participants in the film project. The Atuk script has proven so deadly & wrapped with bad luck & misfortune, that directors & actors want nothing to do with the, as yet, unfilmed movie. The script has been floating around Hollywood since the 1980’s & so far, the curse of Atuk has claimed the lives of five, maybe six, well known actors who were offered the part.

Comedian, John Belushi, was Jim Belushi’s older brother, & believed to be the first victim of the Atuk script curse. In 1982 he was offered the lead role of a heavyset man, who gets in & out of trouble in New York City. After reading the script, he expressed his interest but months later, on March 5th, Belushi was found dead in his room at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood aged just 33. His sudden death was originally ruled as a “drugs related accident”, but the case was reopened & a friend of Belushi was arrested & charged with first degree murder. A plea bargain reduced the charge to involuntary manslaughter. Belushi’s untimely death killed any chances for production to continue-for a while anyway………

In 1986, plans for production was back on the cards with popular stand up comedian, Sam Kinison playing the lead role Atuk. Sam managed to film one scene of the movie but was not happy with the outcome. He demanded a rewrite to certain parts of the script, resulting in an expensive lawsuit. In 1992, talks began in an effort to restart production again. During these negotiations, Kinison was traveling along U.S. route 95 when his car was struck, head-on, by a pickup truck. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His wife, Malika Souiri, was also in the car with him & survived the crash with only minor injuries. Sam Kinison was just 38years old.

The production team refused to give up & in 1994, the hilariously funny, John Candy was offered the star role. At this point, there was only a small amount of suspicion about any sort of mysterious curse surrounding the film. Candy was excited about playing the role & began reading the script immediately, but in March of that year, Candy suffered a massive heart attack & died aged 43. At this point, people began to realise the film was cursed. Candy died the day before Belushi’s 12th anniversary of his death. For the third time, Atuk was again shelved.

Writer, Comedian, & Candy’s close friend, (also friends with Belushi & Kinison), died unexpectedly of a cerebral hemorrhage. It became public knowledge that O’Donoghue had read the script with Candy shortly before his death & rumours of the curse soon began to spread throughout Hollywood.

By 1997, fear of the curse began to fade, & the film resurfaced yet again. This time the part of Atuk was offered to, comedian & huge Belushi fan, Chris Farley. He knew his idol, Belushi, was offered the part before he died, & quickly expressed an interest in the part. It was rumoured Farley was about to accept the offer when, just like Belushi, he died unexpectedly of a huge drugs overdose on December 18th 1997, also aged 33.

Could there have been a final victim? Phil Hartman was good friends with Farley. He reportedly read the script with Farley & encouraged to take the co-starring role. Five months later, Hartman’s drunken wife committed a murder-suicide by shooting him whilst he was in bed before shooting herself.

Was the Atuk script cursed? Or just a massive coincidence? Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments section.