It seems that talk about “Ghostbusters 3” has been never ending without anything actually happening. Last we heard, Columbia Pictures was trying to remove Ivan Reitman, long expected to helm the film, out of the director’s chair in favor of someone younger. Unfortunately for the studio, thanks to a deal struck at the height of the popularity of the franchise’s founders Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, the quartet hold veto power over most of the creative decisions of any upcoming sequel.
While the rest of the Ghostbusters crew have seemed eager to suit up again, Peter Venkman aka Bill Murray has long been the lone holdout. Earlier this spring on David Letterman, Murray called the prospect of “Ghostbusters 3” his “nightmare” and “crazy talk.” He further went on to say that he agreed only to appear in a sequel if they killed him off in the first reel, which seems to confirm the “ghost” rumors floated earlier in the year. But clearly Murray is not interested in the film at all (and has been that way ever since the project first started gaining traction), and it seems he wants it to be nothing more than an obligatory turn for old times sake and probably doesn’t really care one way or the other about the story, as long his involvement is minimal at best (btw, we hear Dan Aykroyd has been making angry phone calls to Murray telling him to stop dogging “Ghostbusters 3,” but obviously they’re not doing a lot of good).
However, when asked (again) recently at the Tribeca Film Festival, Murray cast further doubts on the film ever happening with his most frank statement yet:
It’s just a myth. It’s like the white alligator in the sewer, you know? Who’s seen it, really?
It’s just really the movie studio. They love the franchise, they’d just like to re-create it again. All this talk is just talk. It drives me nuts, it’s just people talking. And now, it’s like, on the street people go ‘hey, hey, hey,’ you know, why don’t you go back to high school? Quit bothering me. Until someone actually creates a great script it’s just hogwash, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s interesting that people are interested in it, they’d like to see it. It was a great thing, it really was fun. Maybe it should. And if it’s such a good idea, then someone will write the screenplay.
Yikes. So, maybe the screenplay by “The Office” writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky didn’t cut the mustard? Frankly, we wouldn’t be surprised. Their last big screen effort, “Year One” was mind-bogglingly unfunny. It’s interesting to note that Murray points the blame at the studio for driving the hype behind the film, and looking back over news of the film, it certainly does seem that cast members have been reacting to the rumors, rather than driving it themselves (though Aykroyd has been somewhat of a cheerleader too). Anyway, whoever is behind it, Murray has had enough. And so have we. Like “Arrested Development,” this seems to be a project destined never to happen and that really wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. The original films have their nostalgic charm and we think its best just to leave it as it is.