There’s been a flurry of “Ghostbusters 3” talk in the last week and it started out on a positive note, but has since somewhat fallen south.
The semi-good news started when Bloody Disgusting “reported” some sort of non-news (it’s kind of a rambling, sloppy piece to be honest) in that original “Ghostbusters” and “Ghostbusters II” producer/director Ivan Reitman was “straight up confirmed, 100%, without a shadow of a doubt,” to be involved in the project which wasn’t a total shock (or even news) since he’s been part of these discussions since they started last year. The story was also contradictory. Apparently he’s “attached,” to direct “Ghostbusters 3,” but hasn’t decided if he actually wants to helm the project or not. Uhhh. So he’s really a placeholder for now. Presumably this means, he wants another script polish by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky (“Year One,” “The Office”), because if he were completely dazzled, he’d just agree to take the job, no? We won’t even get into their “script reveal,” cause it’ll basically insult your intelligence (they open up Ghosbusters shop again! No, really??)
Hope spring eternal for the nerd crowd, but the news was quickly dulled when Bill Murray spoke earlier this week and said he has yet to receive a script and seemed characteristically cynical. “I don’t want to do it yet,” he said in a red carpet interview with the U.K’s AbsoluteRadio, presumably during “Fantastic Mr. Fox ” press. “Until there’s a really good script I’ll stay home and play snooker. There has to be a serious script before I leave the house. I won’t make one just to make another one.”
Quality control. This is what we like to hear and we’re glad Murray is redeeming himself with these salient thoughts cause the goofy cameo in “Zombieland,” while fun, should have been a DVD extra and killed the momentum of the picture.
He’s as skeptical as most discerning critics are and isn’t holding his breath for the project to materialize. “I’ll believe it when I see. I saw a guy talking about the end of the world a couple of years ago and I haven’t seen that either. I’ll believe it when I see a script.” He was pretty candid about the sequel as well. “We made a second one, and it was okay, but it wasn’t as good as the first one.”
Youch. Making matters worse is even perennially chipper “Ghostbusters” cheerleader Dan Aykroyd who tried to lower expectations and also sounded skeptical and hesitant in a recent Toronto press junket for his father’s new book, “A History of Ghosts.” Our friends at HoundsTV were there and while Aykroyd said a script does exist, he said the project has no green light and suggested funding might be scarce at the moment.
“Obviously it’s all talk until I get a production number,” Aykroyd said adding with comedic emphasis that their production does not have one. “When I get one of those I’m in the picture business again, but until we get a green light, we can’t stick a pipe into the mega-corporation and draw the honey.” Thanks to HoundsTV for the exclusive photo of Aykroyd above courtesy of shot7.com.
Let well enough alone. Do we really need to see a “new generation” story with old guys as mentors? That idea is terrible, frankly.
