In the days following the death of Harold Ramis, film rights stake-holder and original movie director Ivan Reitman was scheduled to meet with Sony execs to discuss the status of a third Ghostbusters. Now those discussions have happened and the end result is that he will no longer be directing Ghostbusters III. He spoke to Deadline extensively about his decision to make the record clear:
“There has been all kinds of stuff, unofficially written about Ghostbusters, I’ve been reading things online for about four years, speculation on who’s writing, what they’re writing, who’s in it, who we will use, and who’s directing. We’d decided not to comment up till now, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, and it was never clear what Bill was going to do. A lot of things happened in the last few months, the most significant of which was the passing of Harold, who was a very good friend who was extraordinarily influential in my career. We did five movies together including both Ghostbusters.”
“The first was done by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, and me, Harold and Dan helped them on it. It was a really good script, but then it became clear that Bill really didn’t want to do another Ghostbusters and that it was literally impossible to find him to speak to for the year or two we tried to get it going. When Bill finally… well, he never actually said no, but he never said yes, so there was no way to make that film. We decided to start over again, and I started working with Etan Cohen, with Dan lending a helping hand. Harold got sick about three years ago, and we kept hoping he would get better. I kept pushing forward on the Etan Cohen and we now have a draft that is very good, that the studio is very excited about."
“It’s a version of Ghostbusters that has the originals in a very minor role. When I came back from Harold’s funeral, it was really moving and it made me think about a lot of things. I’d just finished directing Draft Day, which I’m really happy with and proud of. Working on a film that is smaller and more dramatic was so much fun and satisfying. I just finally met with Amy [Pascal] and Doug Belgrad [Sony execs] when I got back. I said I’d been thinking about it for weeks, that I’d rather just produce this Ghostbusters. I told them I thought I could help but let’s find a really good director and make it with him. So that’s what we’ve agreed will happen. I didn’t want all kinds of speculation about what happened with me, that is the real story.”
“It was such an amazing time in my life 30 years ago, and I felt that way on the second film. With Harold no longer with us I couldn’t see it. It [Ghostbusters] really seems to have resonated, and I think a lot of adults who saw it when they were younger have shown it to their kids and they seem to respond much the same way. Sony sees this as a huge worldwide opportunity, and it is eager to make the film."
“I’m not going to say how many Ghostbusters there will be in the new cast, but we are determined to retain the spirit of the original film, and I am pleased that all of this seems to have happened organically. I’m hoping we can get started by the fall, set in New York, but given the logistics and the stuff that happens, the beginning of 2015 seems more likely.”
Deadline also confirmed with Reitman that they were already looking at a short list of directors to approach for the project.
Everything here is in line with what we have been reporting since the beginning, the script, the writers and Murray's elusiveness, only now we have an updated potential start-date and a confirmation that they will continue to use Etan Cohen's screenplay.
Reitman's track record for directing good films has been fairly poor over the last 20 years, while his producing career has been much more solid. A new director may do a lot to freshen things up and put a new spin on the series, but with so much of the original crew missing, one wonders if this film will, or should be, be titled Ghostbusters III at all. For good and bad reasons, this kind of feels like Star Wars without George Lucas, doesn't it? Tons of potential, but a real chance that the final product could feel like it doesn't fit in the original universe.
Thanks to Willie Mah for the first heads-up and the many other tips that poured in after.
Well, I suppose I can dig that more than a straight remake. At least maybe we'll get a new story and be spared the heated debates of if (insert popular actors) were a better Venkman and co. than Murray and the others.
ReplyDeleteBut, to be honest, I'm just not feeling it any longer. Maybe that will change, maybe not. I sort of doubt it will be called Ghostbusters 3 at this point; simply 'Ghostbusters' with no number or subtitle, much like 21 Jump Street and Star Trek were.
A very sad (but understandable entirely) day. The man who brilliantly shot New York City (and was pretty much the reason I fell in love with that city as a child and had the pleasure of visiting in 2011) has backed off. You can already hear the doomsday bells beginning to clang with this news. Reitman's style is so essential to making this thing look and feel like a "Part III". It's starting to feel like a "Ghostbusters in name only" project. I guess a new director can replicate his style but then they'd be slaved to it and who really would ever want to do that?
ReplyDeleteThe biggest problem with this film is clearly the "new Ghostbusters". Of the casting suggestions I've heard ALL are appalling. Simple as. Why do I want to see these schmucks instead of Venkman and co? The studio has to be nuts. I'm worried their gonna cast some bland Will Ferrell type who treats it wholly as a silly comedy. Murray and co were always so good at being serious too and selling the action, adventure and scares and elevating it higher than just being strictly "a funny movie". I'm not convinced one bit the new cast will see it this way.
In all this madness we've forgotten excellent characters like Janine. Will she still be apart of it all? Or like the old Ghostbusters will she get the chop in a mere cameo role too? I'd HATE that, she's superb.