Christopher Lloyd watched John Belushi throw himself backward into an upright piano while filming Goin’ South. Nearly five decades later, he still remembers how hard the comedian hit the instrument and how casually he responded when someone checked whether he was all right.
The Back to the Future actor recounts the incident in his memoir, In My Own Time, released October 27th. Lloyd, now 88, describes a physical performance that startled him during the making of the Western.
Jack Nicholson directed and starred in the film, which paired Lloyd and Belushi as Deputy Towfield and Deputy Hector. Their roles gave the actors an opportunity to work together as a comedy duo.
Belushi was already a familiar face on Saturday Night Live, but he was only beginning his feature-film career.
John Belushi Repeated the Piano Stunt Two or Three Times
Christopher Lloyd recounted his experience watching ‘Saturday Night Live’ alum John Belushi put his all into physical stunts during the making of ‘Goin’ South’ in 1978. https://t.co/3lr6cDP2b3
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) October 31, 2026
The sequence took place during a barroom brawl filled with broken chairs and flying drinking glasses. Belushi’s character was supposed to receive a punch before the backward fall, which the comedian performed himself.
According to Lloyd’s account, published by Entertainment Weekly, Belushi repeated the collision two or three times. Each impact sent the piano’s keys clanging.
“He wasn’t trying to protect himself in any way, he just crashed into that piano. It looked quite devastating,” Lloyd recalled.
When someone asked whether he was OK, Belushi replied, “No pain, no gain.”
Belushi Traveled Between Mexico and ‘Saturday Night Live’
The production filmed in Durango, Mexico, leaving Belushi with a long journey back to New York for his weekend television work. Lloyd remembered that he could spend only a few days at a time on location before returning to SNL.
Lloyd remembered Belushi being determined to work with Nicholson despite those demands, according to Parade.
Filming began in late July 1977, according to the American Film Institute. Although Goin’ South was the first feature Belushi shot, National Lampoon’s Animal House reached theaters first, in July 1978. Nicholson’s Western opened that October.
The film also introduced Mary Steenburgen to movie audiences. She played a woman who saves Nicholson’s condemned outlaw by agreeing to marry him, then puts him to work on her property. She and Lloyd would reunite years later in another Western, Back to the Future Part III.
Danny DeVito Told Lloyd That Belushi Had Died
Belushi died of a drug overdose on March 5th, 1982, at age 33. His body was found at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Los Angeles, less than four years after Goin’ South reached theaters.
Lloyd learned the news from DeVito, his fellow actor on Taxi. The conversation brought back the exchange in Durango, including the words Belushi had used to dismiss concern about the stunt. Looking back, Lloyd regarded that response as a motto for his late costar.
Lloyd Revisits His Career and Recovery in ‘In My Own Time’
The 256-page autobiography follows Lloyd from his childhood in Connecticut through his early theater work and eventual move into film and television. It includes memories of friendships with fellow performers as well as difficulties he experienced away from the camera.
Among the productions he revisits are One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Taxi and the Back to the Future trilogy, tracing the career that made him known for Reverend Jim Ignatowski and Doc Brown.
In an interview with PEOPLE about the book, Lloyd also discussed his own years of heavy drinking and drug use. He recalled partying with Belushi before his death and spoke about eventually finding sobriety himself.
In My Own Time is available from Grand Central Publishing in hardcover and ebook editions. Lloyd narrates the unabridged audiobook himself.