If ever there were a movie franchise that we all want to see continue, whether that be admittedly or deep down, it would be Ghostbusters. In the fall of last year, it was confirmed that the third film was moving forward with Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky hired to write the script.
About five weeks ago, Internet rumors were abound that comedy man of the minute, Judd Apatow, was going to head the production of Ghostbusters 3 – possibly because of Eisenberg and Stupnitsky writing both that and the Apatow-produced Year One. As it turns out, Apatow will not be involved in any way with the film which might be a good thing since his style doesn’t really fit all that well with what Ghostbusters essentially is.
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To step things back into a more believable, “more than rumor” light, MTV News got a chance to speak to Ghostbusters writer/actor Harold Ramis while he was promoting his new film Year One, inevitably leading to questions about the continuation of the Ghostbusters series. First off, and this is probably of most interest to you all, is the fact that he said the original cast members will be back – yes, that means himself, Aykroyd and even Bill Murray (the latter being the one big road block in the continuing of this franchise for 20 years now). Ramis said:
We’re all going to be in it in different kinds of roles,” Ramis said. “We’re going to be the sage mentors. There are going to be young Ghostbusters.”
Although Ramis made a point to say that the new Ghostbusters will be young, that doesn’t necessarily rule out the rumored Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd and James Franco, who are 26, 39 and 30 years old, respectively – he’s probably just meaning not a 55-plus year old main cast…
However, since Apatow isn’t involved in any way, there’s no concrete reason to think Rogen, Rudd and Franco are in the running – the reason they were rumored in the first place was because Apatow was rumored to be attached, a director who’s movies often feature his regulars like Rogen and Rudd.
At the moment, Ramis says he’s waiting for a first draft of the script:
“Gene and Lee, both of whom I mentored, are now writing the new ‘Ghostbusters,’ ” Ramis said. “I’m consulting with them, as is Dan Aykroyd and [original director] Ivan Reitman.
“Bill Murray is just waiting for the truckload of money to arrive to get him out of his office,” Ramis joked.
It seems that it’s not just in the fan’s heads that Murray is mainly holding out for the big bucks – Ramis, the guy basically in the driver’s seat, is now at the point of taking little shots at his old friend. Nonetheless a jab is all it was, and he went on to say that he wants Murray involved, and is confident he will be once he gets the script:
“I haven’t talked to him about it,” Ramis said. “I want to talk to him about it eventually. I think we just need a script, because he’s the thorniest of the group.”
Aside from the money issue, Murray’s main qualm with making a third film is that he needs the script to be right. He has let it be known before that he didn’t like the script for the second film, that it was a completely different movie than he thought it would be, and that it was a disappointment mainly because it relied heavily on special effects. Murray is an icon of the comedy genre, and so him giving the usually generic “the script has to be right” answer can be taken far more seriously than it otherwise could have been.
Amongst the millions of questions people have about the next Ghostbusters film, there is the significant one about who will direct it. Since neither Ramis or Ivan Reitman (who directed the original) are planning on helming this, it’s up in the air who it will be.
I’d like to throw my hat in the ring for Jason Reitman, the man behind Juno and Thank You For Smoking (who is, coincidentally, Ivan’s son). He has shown he knows exactly what do with a savvy, genuinely funny script with his two mentioned movies, and something about his style just seems to “click” with the Ghostbusters universe.
To finish, Ramis took some time to shoot down of the casting rumors that have been floating around for a good while now:
“Here’s how old the rumors are,” Ramis said. “Chris Farley was one of the rumors. It was going to be Chris Farley, Ben Stiller and Chris Rock.”
With that last comment, Ramis is showing just how far back all of the speculation, rumors, hopes… heck, even dreams, about another Ghostbusters film have been going on. However who can blame hopeful fans? The original Ghostbusters film is an utter classic and a lot of people even like the second one simply because “it’s a Ghostbusters movie.” Just the simple notion of a third film is inevitably going to have people excited because they get to return to a world that they know and love, and hopefully, like Ramis has been talking about above, get to see what the original Ghostbusters are up to.
I know I certainly do…
What are your thoughts on a Ghostbusters 3? Would you like to see the original cast come back for a third go at it or should they continue with completely new people?
Source: MTV
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29 Comments
If 3 can succeed where 2 failed, it can be the one of the smartest film sequels of this century.
Who the hell are they kidding?I loved Ghostbusters as a kid,but if anyone thinks that people are actually foaming at the mouth over the idea of a 3rd movie,well I just not that sure about that.
I’m sure that it will make a lot of money when it comes out,but let’s face it,Hollywood is just milking ever idea bone dry.It will probably have a cool looking trailer just to get asses in the seats,but after a couple of weeks people will realize that this is just the same old junk that’s coming out year after year.
I guess next they will try to do a sequel to
Groundhog Day.Isn’t it enough already?
I will see it if it has a good story.
Longshanks,
I know it’s easy to be cynical about the movie making industry, but every now and then (and seemingly more often in recent times – more often now than at any time since the 70’s I’d wager) film makers are given the freedom to do right by the craft.
Given the success of the Dark Knight last year, established franchises have been shown capable of being more than just an excuse to capitalize on a name. As long as they nail the spirit of the first one, I’m there.
have they said anything about rick maranis reprising his role, otherwise this is great news
Is there any news on if ernie hudson is reprising his role?
Unless all of the original cast is on board I will refuse to see it. Who wants to see a Ghostbusters movie with the likes of Paul Rudd and no Bill Murray or, my personal favorite, Rick Moranis?? I shudder to think of the people who could say they would.
Good no apatow I’m suffering from Aptowfatigue syndrome.
John Landis should direct no doubt about it
And please no Jr. GhostBusters Highschool the Musical with young hip hollywood asexual actors.
Originals please, If you want to include the next gen make them goofey nerdy outcasts
Got to agree, hearing they will be mentors suggests a secondary role.
A movie with the original cast = great
Ghostbusters with some new ‘young’ stars taking the lead = nah.
I know this is going to sounds like a flat our crazy lie. But 2 years ago, I was trying to write a screenplay, just to see what I could come up with. I happened to be watching Ghostbusters 2 at the time and said “Wow, that movie was not THAT good, is that why a third one was never made?” So i thought, why not take a crack at a third Ghostbusters screenplay. So I talk to two of my friends and pitched my idea. The original Ghostbusters (being too old to continue the work) open up different factions around the U.S. and train new kids to be Ghostbusters. The story was again to mainly take place in New York, where a the biggest threat comes to fruition. Death. Death comes and brings with him all the nasties from the underworld- including slimer…That was my idea… My friends said it would never work and no one would want to see it made and the original cast would never be behind it…So i stopped writing and dropped the idea. True story…i swear on every dead relatives of mine graves…So i find this to be great news, if not a small kick in my pants…Now i need to go slap my friends around.
Also, to add on. I always thought having Ellen Page in the cast would of been an awesome choice. Now that i know Jason Reitman is going to be behind it, I think it is more of a possibility to see her as a cast member…maybe? Anyone else think that would be a cool choice? She’s kind of like a female Bill Murray, no?
This is great news, Im really looking forward to see how this shapes up. If the original cast all comes back I will be there opening night at the theater.
I definitely think there is some potential here…
Not sure how I would feel with a new cast either… Guess we’ll see…
Since they seem to have most of the original cast on board I would be behind this project, UNLESS Seth Rogen and Jack Black were added to this project. Then I would avoid it like the plague.
Who would I like to see?
Jack Black, Simon Pegg, Anna Faris and Andy Samberg (of ‘Hot Rod’). Or…the Brozen Lizard folks.
Who do I really also want to return?
Sigourney Weaver and Ernie Hudson.
I would have to say no to Jack Black, I see him in a different type of comedy than Ghostbusters.
This is great news, the original Ghostbusters is a classic. With the original cast coming back and a good script this could be a really big blockbuster. I hope they don’t add a bunch of new faces and make it into a passing of the torch kind of thing though. Bring the characters back together with a looming disaster that requires the guys to strap on the proton packs again and go to work. Any word on Sigourney coming back??
I’ll tell you who I COULD see as a Ghostbuster, and I know I am going to get cr*p for this, is Adam Sandler. If he toned down the stupid “Billy Madison” stuff, I could see him as a character similar to Bill Murray’s. Maybe even play Akyroyd’s son. He definitely has the chops to do it.
They are just milking an old idea dry, like other posters said. I’ve heard NO ONE mention this franchise in ten years, and nobody I talk to really cared for the “feel good, yay USA!!” sequel, either. They are doing it as a second boot, to introduce us to NEW ghostbusters, younger, so that the money-machine (OH I MEAN FRANCHISE) can continue into the future. Anyone who can’t see this needs to hit themselves in the head with a tack hammer, to jar a few brain cells into activity.
If I were to do a Ghostbusters 3, this is what I would have done:
-Firstly, yes, have to get a new cast of busters. I mean, that pic of Ramis just proves it. These guys are not in shape to do some busting, even though it makes them feel good. And Akroyd, Ramis, even Murray are not like Stallone or Arnold where they’ll put in the work just to be in decent shape to do the stunts. Just to do that, after all, the intention of the first film was that these guys were Ghost-Janitors, via the commentary.
So this is what my new crew of busters would be, 3 new guys in their late 20s, early 30s, along with Ernie Hudson as the “ground general”. Spengler and Stanz are around but back at the base giving info via radio comms, etc. Janet is back as their sec. No Rick Moranis, Sigourney & Murray. Sigourney and Murray would be like Connery in Indy4 where there are pictures and stories told of how great Venkman was. Their story would be that the two got married and live in Canada.
-The three new guys are all construction workers, two are best buds, one of them is related to either spengler or stanz (nephew). The other guy comes along because as a kid he idolized the original Ghostbusters.
-The “main” guy or “star” of this pic would be the best bud of the nephew, he would essentially have Murray’s role in the original.
-As for actors as the “new” guys, none of the main Apatow people or guys from Madison Gilmor or Happy Billy or whatever Sandler’s crew is called! The “star”/Murray-esque role would go to Jeffrey Donovan, the main dude from Burn Notice!
The nephew role would go to Steve Zahn.
And the third construction guy would go to Dulé Hill, the second lead in Psych.
So the ground crew would be Jeffrey Donovan, Steve Zahn, Dulé Hill & Ernie Hudson. Back at base is Ramis & Akroyd.
-As for a bad guy, don’t know but it would have be something like Gozer. An evil that predates the Exodus, something out of Conan The Barbarian, A Robert E. Howard creation, that type. No “they go to hell” or stuff like that. An ancient type of barbaric evil.
-For director, why not 3-for-3, Ivan Reitman. If he does not want to do it, Ramis is more that capable.
-For a main plot, even though GB2 gets a lot of flak, I really do like the beginning where the GBs are considered con-artists, hacks and almost forgotten. I would use that same type here but something along the lines of the GBs as urban folklore mix with Rocky 6. It has been a loooonnnggg time since the GBs were active, they have been forgotten except for stories being told, some go over the top but the main fact was that there used to be cooler time where Ghosts were running around, etc. Stanz still holds his occult shop, Spengler works as a scientist for a university, Hudson is a security guard. They get together and talk about the good ole days. Donovan & Zahn’s characters come by and listen to these stories because Zahn is into the occult & science while Donovan is a wise-ass but loves hanging out with these guys and hearing their stories on how they save NY. Then crap happens, they’re back on the scene, etc, etc.
-For a love interest for Donovan’s character, because there has to be eye candy, Mischa Barton or Gretchen Mol. Or both, why not!
So that is my personal take on a GB3 If I were to do it. I would like to hear your input.
Hey Sean, maybe we can touch base and work on something, why not?
Ah, what’s the point they’re all fat old geezers now! That’s not funny.
I don’t think they should do it at all. The original characters are too old and it wouldn’t work. New characters would just ruin the franchise and make it silly with all terrible cgi and what not.
I think Ryan Reynolds would be a good replacement for Venkman, or if they do a reboot, he could be Venkman. Of course, with his comicbook movies coming up, that might be a problem.
The 2nd one was definately inferior to the first, although I still enjoyed it. I agree that the villain should be an epic bad guy: an angient Egyptian god, or maybe the mythic Lillith. I know Hollywood likes to milk great movies as much as they can but if it can be done right, I’m there.
No more original ideas in Hollywood… How about Back to the Future 4… real original…
That stupid ghost logo only has 4 fingers so I wouldn’t see this go past Ghostbusters 4.
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