Dan Aykroyd Says It At Last "Bill Murray Will Not Do The Movie”

A million Ghostbusters fans cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

We finally have Aykroyd quoted on Murray's GB3 stance. Bill Murray won't be in the movie. The end. Of my dreams.

 Maybe if Wes Anderson directed it. And he played a historical figure instead of Peter Venkman... no, no. There is just no saving it.Guys, I'm gonna say it. I don't want this film without Murray. So the blog stops here. It's been a fun few years tracking this project. I know it will never end. They'll do a CGI movie some day, new cartoons and comics will follow the adventures of the Ghostbusters. Maybe we'll get a video game sequel if we're lucky. But for now, I consider the project a non-starter. Want GBIII? Play the video game, my friends. Play the video game.

"The Script Has to Be Perfect and at This Point It Is Not Perfect"

While abroad Dan Aykroyd stopped in for a chat with Loose Women (that's a show). He talked about ecto plasm and Ghostbusters 3.



"Well I don't know at this point, at this point the script has to be perfect and at this point it is not perfect and we're not going to do something that isn't perfect. So I have no idea on time, obviously the studio wants to make it, I want to make it, Mr Reitman want to make it. I'm doing everything I can from my 1/4th or 1/5th the equation. It's just the nature of Hollywood, it takes a long time. Its an ephemeral thing, picture making."

My theory? Murray said no and they need to rewrite, but the script was solid in it's previous form and now moving forward is... going to be hard. Goggle tip to Proton Charging for sharing this video

Bonus Rumor: President LENNNYYYYY

If anything good came from the massive front page thread about recasting Bill Murray on Reddit today, it was a comment that pointed out IMBD's listing for David Margulies.

On the site, which has plenty of completely unconfirmed casting, he is listed as "President Lenny Ramis". A mayor of New York who was running for Gov 1989, president in 2012? So perfect. I instantly accept this as canon, regardless of IMDB being pure crock. The idea of the Ghostbusters yelling about the end of the world in the Oval Office is just too perfect.

HEY REDDIT: Empire Posts Full Transcript of Dan Aykroyd Chat... No Mention of Murray Recast

With Ghostbusters III lately, the trend has been to put out one rumor, start another. Empire effectively killed the "Murray Shredded Script" tall tale, then introduced an "Aykroyd To Recast Bill Murray" tall tale.

Luckily, Empire has posted the full transcript of the online chat, where it's easy to see what went on.  Here are a few choice Ghostbusters tidbits

stantz83 says: Ghostbusters 3, any news?

The script must be perfect. We cannot release a film that is any less so. We have more work to do. 

welsh_evs says: Is it true that Bill Murray sent a Ghostbusters 3 script back shredded with a note that said: "No-one wants to pay money to see fat, old men chasing ghosts"?

Bill Murray is not capable of such behaviour. This is simply something that would not be in his nature. We have a deep, private personal relationship that transcends business. We communicate frequently and his position on the involvement in Ghostbusters 3 has been made clear and I respect that. But Bill has too much positive estimation of my writing skills to shred the work.

JediBobster says: Dan you are clearly very skilled at doing so, but what is your personal record for holding a cigarette solely on your bottom lip? 

 That was a beautiful example of spontaneous synchronicity. I had no idea that the cigarette would say there when I opened my mouth. It was not intended to be that way; in fact, it was intended to drop to the floor. But when it didn't, I made sure that Ivan printed the take and once everyone saw it we used it in the film. And I might be able to do it again, with a little special effects help.

lebamski says: Hi Dan. If you were to make a reboot of the original Ghostbusters film, rather than a sequel, which actors would you pick to take the roles of Ray, Peter, Egon and Winston if you could have anyone you wanted?

Well, let me see. See, we don't ever think of making the original over again, but if I were to have to do that, hmm... Matthew Gray Gubler as Egon. Zach Galifianakis as Ray. Vince Vaughn as Peter. And for Winston, maybe Chris Tucker.

Never heard of Matthew Gulber myself, have you? Looks like he had some bit parts in 500 Days of Summer and The Life Aquatic. Aykroyd digs the most obscure actors sometimes...

Dan Aykroyd Publicly Dismisses Murray Script-Shredding Rumor

Empire Magazine held a live chat with Dan Aykroyd and fans like Davide Passaia asked alllllllll the right questions. Bear with some of the translations as Davide is from Ghostbusters Italia.

 HAS BILL MURRAY SHREDDED THE GB3 SCRIPT????
" Bill Murray is not capable of such behaviour. This is simply something that would not be in his nature. We have a deep, private personal relationship that transcends business. We communicate frequently and his position on the involvement in Ghostbusters 3 has been made clear and I respect that. But Bill has too much positive estimation of my writing skills to shred the work."
 Later he talked about Moranis and said that the new refined script will surely have a part for him.

Ok so that was a bit of a mess.

Back in December I didn't report on the script shredding rumors because they came from the FREAKIN NATIONAL ENQUIRER. You know, the bigfoot, batboy, MIB people. That didn't stop major entertainment news organizations from sharing the story. Yeesh.

UPDATE: Empire themselves back up the Aykroyd quotes, they've posted a blog with them on their site.. Looks like Aykroyd is refining the script and Murray involvement is... well... it sounds like he won't be in the film. I am taking "his position on involvement in GB3 has been made clear" to mean that he isn't in. Make of that what you will and take with it as many grains of salt as you will.

Empire asserts that a new actor might take over Venkman's role. I do not see where Aykroyd implied that in the quotes. Do you?