The director of the original Ghostbusters and producer of the reboot is happy to bring the franchise back.
If anyone is an authority onGhostbusters, its Ivan Reitman.
Den of Geek: Congratulations on this movie actually coming into existence.
This seems like it was such a long process for many years.
Are you kind of amazed to actually see this movie in theaters at last?
Ivan Reitman: Well, Im thrilled to see it in theaters.
Im proud of it.
I think its really good.
I think its really good in a different way than my film was really good.
I think its just a fun time.
I think most of us didnt want to do it for that period.
So we didnt really focus on it.
We had other things in our lives we wanted to do.
Certainly, Bill was the best known about his reluctance.
But frankly, none of us really Harold just started directing and was really focused on his directing career.
I wanted to direct different kinds of films as well.
So I didnt want to sort of get locked in as theGhostbustersguy.
And Danny continued creating these extraordinary, different worlds, fromThe ConeheadstoBlues Brothers.
We had this remarkable deal with the second movie, in which we basically controlled whatGhostbustersis.
We had to unanimously agree what was going to be done withGhostbustersfrom then.
The studio couldnt do it without us.
We, of course, couldnt do it without the studio.
But the tough part of it is the studio always wanted more.
So we basically left it alone.
Were going to pay for another script whether you guys want to do it or not.
Harold was sort of in a mood then to sort of be involved in the writing.
Danny and I basically said, Maybe this is a good way to go forward with this.
So it seemed like the right time.
That was his joke.
We took him seriously and we killed him off in the first five minutes.
He becomes a ghost in the film that is very important and a constant character in the film.
It was a very funny script that the studio immediately greenlit.
I decided I would go back and do the third one.
He got sick and unfortunately passed away about a year and a half after.
That basically froze things up.
Thats when I talked to the group and said, Look.
This is a wonderful storyline.
And theGhostbustersidea has many opportunities in it.
I think were silly to not allow anyone else to do it.
I think it was a good thing.
Paul Feig came to Amy Pascal and suggested roughly the version that has become this movie.
And he already had sort of Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy interested in doing it.
So you were confident that Pauls idea was the right way to go?
Were really happy with the movie.
I mean everyone has now seen it and has responded very positively and publicly to it.
I, of course, was a producer of the film.
Im invested in it.
Im happy as well.
I think its kind of a logical next step in our storytelling.
But I think theres many other opportunities.
Are you thinking in terms of a shared universe?
Well, this is really the film we made the deal with.
I cant even remember…I never had conversations with them.
The studio did not either.
But the deal we had made was with Paul.
We were working on Pauls film.
It got greenlit very early and was the one I was focusing on going forward.
What is it about Pauls sensibilities as a director and a storyteller that you respond to?
I think he knows funny and he goes after it relentlessly.
I think he has a really good sense of talent and what they can do.
I really appreciate the homage he paid to the first film.
You mentioned the fact that people had responded in different ways to the trailers.
What would you say to any of these folks?
My sense is that, yeah, there may be some element of misogyny in it.
But, certainly, we never thought ofGhostbustersas only a particular gender.
In fact, we were working on kind of a mixed gender sequel to the original movie.
Its more about the love that the first movie engendered.
And, wonderfully, the movie plays a special part in their lives.
It was kind of one of those films that became a kind of seminal moment in their film watching.
So I say, look, people have to see the film.
Certainly the original Ghostbusters who saw the movie after it was completed loved it, legitimately loved it.
Certainly the audiences that have seen it so far have been very, very positive towards it.
So sequences like the card catalogue coming alive were done live.
And I did repeated takes in the library.
And they are clearly frying right in front of her.
Just seeing that and the way she looks when its done is kind of really cool.
Its part of the magic, I think, of the first film.
I dont know if you saw it in 3D or not.
I think the 3D version of this is really lovely.
Were really proud of the special effects in this film.
Do you plan to direct yourself again?
I mean I keep wearing that t-shirt that says, What I really want to do is direct.
I love all three of the movies.
But what I get the most personal joy out of is directing.
Ive been working on a script that Im pretty damned excited about.
And I cant tell you about it just now.
Ill probably shoot it next spring.
Is that more open to interpretation than, say, something likeGhostbusters?
There was this remarkable love forGhostbustersthat you see very rarely for a movie.
And its mine.Baywatchis not mine.
Just as a good producer of comedy movies, I could see (it).
But even that took a long time.
I think we have that.
But certainly the pressure on that is totally different than onGhostbusters.
How was working with The Rock on that?
Hes just a spectacular guy.
He was very integral in getting that final draft of the script right.
I think he has kind of a really wonderful point of view on what we could do here.
Hes a one-man sort of publicity machine.
But The Rock even tops him in terms of getting the word out on something.
Ghostbustersopens this Friday (July 15).
