Dan Aykroyd Slams GHOSTBUSTERS Director Paul Feig; "He Will Not Be Back On The Sony Lot Any Time Soon"
Original Ghostbusters star and co-writer Dan Aykroyd has trashed the recent reboot's director Paul Feig by blaming him for the fact that the franchise is now essentially dead. Read on for details...
Ghostbusters was neither a critical nor commercial hit last year, so it was far from surprising when we learned that a sequel isn't on the way. The performance of the movie has also ruined any chances of those planned spinoffs happening too, one of which was reportedly going to feature a male team and another that would have been animated and seemingly aimed at a slightly younger audience.
It's no wonder then that executive producer Dan Akroyd - who was one of those tasked with spearheading a shared Ghostbusters Universe - isn't happy then, something he made clear in a recent interview on UK TV show Sunday Brunch. Asked to share his thoughts on what's next for the franchise, the star and co-writer of the original laid the blame squarely at the feet of reboot director Paul Feig.
"[Ghostbusters] made a lot of money around the world but just cost too much, making it economically not feasible to do another one. So that’s too bad. The director, he spent too much on it. He didn’t shoot scenes we suggested to him and several scenes that were going to be needed and he said, ‘Nah, we don’t need them.’ Then we tested the movie and they needed them and he had to go back. About $30 to $40-million in reshoots. So he will not be back on the Sony lot any time soon."
Ouch! Interestingly, subsequent broadcasts of the show have seen Akroyd's comments edited out, a result perhaps of his representatives requesting that they be removed given how much of a stir they're inevitably going to cause. The damage has been done now, though, and it will be interesting to see what happens next. In fairness to Akroyd, it doesn't sound like he's being too unfair! Thoughts?