Paul Feig On Why He Chose To Reboot GHOSTBUSTERS With A Female Cast And More
Director Paul Feig talks in detail here about his decision to reboot the Ghostbusters franchise, why he chose to focus on female characters, how the cast is shaping up, making a "scary comedy", and more.
After years of rumours about a Ghostbusters 3, we finally learned earlier this year that the franchise was being rebooted with Bridesmaids helmer Paul Feig at the helm. As with that movie and others he's directed, the focus will be on a female group of characters, but why reboot rather than do some sort of follow-up? "I have too much respect for the original one [to do a sequel]," the filmmaker says in the latest issue of Empire Magazine (transcribed by CBM). "There's also the feeling that once the world knows ghosts and has seen them busted on such a large scale, they run the risk of becoming pedestrian. There's something fun about introducing our world, which has never seen ghosts to the phenomenon of ghosts. I love origin stories and to introduce new characters." As for the (controversial?) decision to go for an all-female cast of characters, Feig added: "A lot of people accused it of being a gimmick. I guess I can see the cynics' view of it, but for me I just love working with funny women. People said, 'Why don't you do a mix?' I'm just more interested in the idea of lady Ghostbusters. It's the way my brain works."
As for how that cast might end up impacting the movie's title, Feig jokingly promised that "It won't be called Lady Ghostbusters! Certainly not...Ghostbustieres is the way to go." There has obviously been a lot of talk about who will end up starring in the reboot, with a number of actresses revealing their interest or that they've met with Feig about the project. The director however isn't committed to locking down anyone one way or the other just yet! "Right now, honestly, there could be 50 Ghostbusters. I'm just waiting to get our first draft of the script together to go, 'Who makes sense in these roles?' If I put the list in front of me of people that have said they want to do it, talk about a Sophie's Choice. When you do a movie like Ghostbusters, people get very interested."
Some very interesting details about the Ghostbusters reboot found their way online during the "Sony Hack" (you can find those by clicking here), but Feig told the magazine more about the tone that he and co-writer Katie Dipold are going for as they pen the screenplay. "I want ours to be scarier than the original, to be quite honest. Katie Dipold and I are so focused on wanting to do scary comedy. We don't want to hold back." The biggest question is just how extreme those levels of horror and comedy will end up being, and unlike many of Feig's other movies, the laughs at least won't be Rated-R! "The reason I do a lot of R-Rated comedies is that you want a movie to feel honest. But the Ghostbusters world doesn't need that level of swearing. We'll have to be PG-13 with this one. I would like to make it R-Rated, but I won't. You want the biggest number of people to watch it and not be put off by it." What do you guys think about these latest details?
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