One of my favourite movies of all time is Ghostbusters, and I am one of the few fans who actually prefer the sequel (along with my mate Chris). I remember being a kid and being jealous of my friends who had Ghostbusters merchandise. My dad went through a weird religious phase for a while and subsequently banned anything related to ghosts or the supernatural believing it to be ungodly and evil. Thankfully years later I got to watch (and later own) both movies, although I never had the fun of a Ghostbusters lunchbox, or like one brainy friend of mine, a reconstructed proton pack. I also loved the theme tune, which was played at every house party my parents ever hosted, to the disdain of my Boxer dog Buster who jumped up excitedly every time the chorus hit. Ghostbusters 2 came out in 1989 (when I was just six), and a staggering 22 years later a sequel is still being touted.
The Ghostbusters from left to right - Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), Winston Zeddmore (Ernie Hudson), Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) and Dr. Raymond Stantz (Dan Akroyd)
Ghostbusters 3 has been confirmed (and denied), with stars such as Sigourney Weaver and Bill Murray seemingly yo-yoing in and out of the project. Murray has been quite evasive about it, if the answering machine myth is true he must be very hard to get hold of, but he has confirmed that he’s had the script on his desk ‘for some time,’ and would do it if it’s good. He’s also said he’ll only do it if he gets killed off in the first scene, and has also denied knowing much if anything about it. Sigourney Weaver has also mentioned that Murray will feature as a ghost, with his son Oscar becoming a Ghostbuster. The latest rumour is that he has in fact read it, shredded it and returned it to Dan Akroyd. That’s if you believe the dubious ‘National Enquirer’ of course. But if it’s true then that’s quite a nasty response, especially from one colleague to another. But it seems to be edging closer and further into development hell than gracing a cinema screen soon, which is unfortunate. Murray once said that ”no-one wants to pay money to see fat, old men chasing ghosts” (I sure as heck would), but this is a comedy, and that image is very funny to me. All the guys have kept relatively busy with the exception of the retired Rick Moranis, and I’m sure they’d still be funny. I’m not a big fan of CGI but this was used a lot in both films so there’s no reason why this won’t be used again and more extensively in the third, and of course can help a bunch of ‘old fat men’.
One interesting script at one point was the ‘Ghostbusters in Hell’ story (with Ben Stiller attached at one point), where the Ghostbusters end up in hell and/or their containment unit where they have to battle some old ghosts they’ve captured, and then the devil himself. Apparently this is still set in New York, only the ‘hell’ version – how different that would be to the normal New York is arguable (just kidding, I’ve never been..) Akroyd wrote this script some time ago but Sony seemingly weren’t interested in developing it. Because Akroyd was contracted to Sony (I believe), he couldn’t pitch it to anyone else. However, with the new retro age still in full flow, a lot of grown up money-making fans (and their kids) would likely pay to see a sequel. The commonly accepted plot for the new movie is a team of younger Ghostbusters being trained by/working in addition to/rivalling the old Ghostbusters. The IMDB tagline states; ‘’The Ghostbusters hand over the reins to the next generation.’’ This was touched upon in the third game (when the player is a ‘rookie’ Ghostbuster, with Akroyd stating the game was essentially the third movie) and in an original script idea for the first movie there were going to be several teams of Ghostbusters who were as common as firefighters and ambulance drivers, hence why their office was set in a firestation.
As mentioned in this site’s first ‘blog’ a favourable new team of Ghostbusters would be as follows; Jesse Eisenberg, Michael Cena, Anton Yelchin and Aziz Ansari. An older generation (but still younger than Murray et al) could be the Judd Apatow troupe – Seth Rogen, Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd, Jason Segel etc. Hell, even the Hangover cast on popularity alone (Zach Galifianakis seems to be getting in everything these days). Thankfully Ashton Kutcher’s brief alleged involvement has dissipated but Eliza Dushku is attached and Alyssa Milano and Anna Faris are still being rumoured, the latter I think would be a good choice although I assume she would probably play some sort of secretary rivalling or working alongside Annie Potts’s Janine, both are great comedic actresses. Not meaning to sound sexist, but I don’t think female Ghostbusters would work, in particular, young smart and attractive women Ghostbusters as opposed to a bunch of silly old pug-faced men, which is much more amusing.
The movie had a confirmed date of 2012 on IMDB, and then 2013, and now four unnerving questions marks are next to the title. A tag line which seems to define the plot quite clearly is there though – ‘’ The Ghostbusters hand over the reins to the next generation.’’ So, it is still possible. However, in interviews on red carpets and on the David Letterman show Bill Murray has seemed less than enthusiastic. And Sigourney Weaver says she will only do the film if Murray does, and Sony will probably only bankroll it if they’re in it, which has lead to several rumours saying it won’t happen on the net.
Murray did admit to enjoying doing the voice work for the computer game though (click above link), so who knows..
Bull Murray Movember era
15 slimy supernatural specimens of GHOSTBUSTERS TRIVIA
1. The role of Winston was originally written for Eddie Murphy, Venkman for John Belushi (before he died) and Louis for John Candy. Newer Ghostbusters in a sequel were to allegedly include Chris Rock and Chris Farley. Chevy Chase and Michael Keaton also turned downed the role of Venkman. John Candy and Chevy Chase would cameo in the music video for the film theme though. Gozer was to be played by Paul ‘PeeWee Herman’ Reubens, who turned it down.
2. ‘The Exorcist’ actor Max Van Sydow provided the voice of Vigo the Carpathian in Ghostbusters 2.
3. Ray Parker Junior was not exactly a one hit wonder – he had several Top 10 hits in America in the 70s and early 80s with his band Raydio.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0iS-bEWsQA
Run DMC and Bobby Brown appeared on the soundtrack for the sequel.
4. Huey Lewis and the News were offered the chance to record the theme song but declined. They later sued Ray Parker Jnr. due to the similarity of his song and their song ‘I Want a New Drug’.
5. Bill Murray is still funny and still looks good in a Ghostbusting suit –
6. Nearly every scene in Ghostbusters has an ad-lib in it.
7. Dan Akroyd would refer to Slimer as ‘the ghost of John Belushi’ on set.
8. The Ghostbusters’ weapons were originally meant to be wands and not proton packs.
9. ‘Adult film actor’ (you know, PORN STAR) Ron Jeremy makes a cameo in the film as an extra, and also acted in the porn version of the film.
10. The Sta-Puft marshmallow goo is actually shaving foam.
11. Vigo the Carpathian returns in Ghostbusters video game. He is back in his painting, but is not a boss in the game and appears harmless. Focusing on the painting (aim at Vigo and press ‘A’) will prompt one of 100 lines to be spoken (with Van Sydow doing the voice work).
12. Slimer’s original name was meant to be Onionhead due to him being a ‘smelly’ ghost.
13. Harold Ramis was originally only meant to be the writer of the film and not an actor in it.
14. Slimer re-appeared in Ghostbusters 2 due to his popularity in the animated series ‘The Real Ghostbusters’ shown in-between the two films.
15. An original title for the movie was ‘Ghost Smashers’.
