So much for heralded comedic screenwriters Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg. The writers of the American “The Office” generated some serious heat in Hollywood in the last two years when they were hired to write “Ghostbusters 3,” Harold Ramis’ “Year One” and “Bad Teacher” starring Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz as helmed by director Jake Kasdan.
But Ramis’ “Year One” — his first directorial effort since 2005’s “The Ice Harvest” — was a disastrous return: savaged by critics, ignored by audiences and the reviews weren’t exactly kind to the writers’ participation either. Their first Hollywood effort essentially arrived DOA (and while Bill Murray didn’t see it, he said those that did told him it was the “worst” thing they’d ever seen, ouch) . Now according to Vanity Fair (via Cinematical) Dan Aykroyd says he’s rewriting the script they’ve been developing for what seems like at least a year.
So it sounds like “The Office” writers are out, perhaps because of Murray’s comments and Aykroyd admitted he’s now at the helm of the screenplay, but not before defending Stupnitsky and Eisenberg’s work.
“I think he was concerned that the writing on ‘Ghostbusters 3’ by these guys would not be up to standard, but I can tell you firsthand, I’m working on the script now and those two-Stupnitsky and Eisenberg, [writer-producers of The Office]-wrote Bill the comic role of a lifetime, and the new Ghostbusters and the old are all well represented in it…we have a strong first draft that Harold [Ramis] and I will take back, and I’m very excited about working on it.”
Aykroyd also gave some details about his returning character in the film, which is basically going to be a mentor role to a younger, new generation of Ghostbusters.
“Now [in Ghostbusters 3] my character’s eyesight is shot, I got a bad knee, a bad hip—I can’t drive that caddy anymore or lift that Psychotron Accelerator anymore, it’s too heavy. We need young legs, new minds—new Ghostbusters; so I’m in essence passing the torch to the new regime, and you know what? That’s totally okay with me.”
When will “Ghostbusters 3” actually hit the screen? Well, the always optimistic Aykroyd has said in the past that it would have shot this year and would be in screens by 2011 (and he and Harold Ramis seemed to have very different ideas about when it might be ready), but if it’s being rewritten it still sounds like it’s very much in the development stage. We’ve railed hard against this film in the past, but at this point, all the principals involved especially Ramis and Aykroyd have had their lumps served to them several times, so we’re starting to feel sorry for them and will just let it go. Whether or not Ivan Reitman actually directs seems to be up in the air, but the delays will probably only help its chances at this point as he won’t be busy with the potentially once-overlapping comedy, “No Strings” (formerly titled “Friends With Benefits“) that comes out in January 2011.
