Director Jason Reitman says Ghostbusters: Afterlife was developed under extremely tight wraps, with any murmurs of the film’s existence shrouded in secrecy at Sony. The Ghostbusters franchise was launched in 1984 by Ivan Reitman, Jason’s father. Ghostbusters II, also directed by Ivan, was released in 1989. Following a long hiatus, Paul Feig directed a reboot in 2016, featuring an all-female team of Ghostbusters and a similar narrative as the original film.
As opposed to a standalone reboot like 2016’s Ghostbusters, the highly anticipated Afterlife serves as a direct sequel to Ghostbusters II. Co-written by Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan, the third installment follows single mother Callie (Carrie Coon) and her two children (Mckenna Grace & Finn Wolfhard). Upon being evicted from their home, the family must move into the dilapidated Oklahoma house of Callie’s late father. After experiencing abnormal earthquakes and other strange goings-on, the kids learn that their grandfather was famed Ghostbuster Egon Spengler. Paul Rudd, Celeste O’Connor, and Logan Kim join the ensemble cast, with Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts reprising their original roles.
Now, Reitman tells Insider the extent to which he kept Afterlife closely guarded during its development. The film’s existence was only known to a small team of executives, who were required to read the script alone in a secure room. "I really didn't want it out there that we were writing this movie,” says Reitman. Read Reitman’s take on the secrecy below.
"I think only three people at Sony knew of [the script’s] existence. Each executive had to come by themselves to Ghost Corps and read the script in a room and then leave. I really didn't want it out there that we were writing this movie. Particularly after years of me saying I didn't want to make a 'Ghostbusters' movie."
Reitman had been pushing back against making a Ghostbusters movie for years, vowing to separate himself from his dad’s legacy-making films. The younger Reitman’s films tend to lean into realism, politics, and corporate life, as seen in Thank You For Smoking, Juno, Tully, and the Golden Globe-winning Up In the Air. But when Ghostbusters star and co-writer Harold Ramis passed away in 2014, Reitman couldn’t shake the Ghostbusters bug. In 2016, Jason and his co-writer Kenan pitched their script to Sony’s Ghost Corps, the production arm tasked with overseeing the Ghostbusters franchise. In the same year that Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters was released, Reitman received the green light from Sony to move forward with his project. Reitman also received the blessing of his dad Ivan, who serves as producer on Afterlife.
With Reitman officially throwing all Ghostbusters secrecy out the window, the director has embraced the film as a family affair. Reitman says he made Afterlife specifically for his father and his daughter, the latter of whom likely provided inspiration for the teenage girl protagonist. Moreover, Reitman hopes that Afterlife will spawn more sequels and spinoffs from other directors. Ghost Corps appears to be in agreement, with a script for a fourth installment already rumored to be in the works. Until then, Ghostbusters: Afterlife hits theaters on November 19.
Source: Insider
