It’s funny all this talk about “Ghostbusters 3,” and how the original cast is all coming back, although all the fans and writers seem to forget about the idea that all the principal actors (plus Ivan Reitman) have to agree before the film can go forward.
Bill Murray is allegedly signed on, which really means he’s given an indication that if the script is good, he’ll be apart of the project (which is probably a big difference from 10 years ago when he wasn’t returning Dan Aykroyd or Harold Ramis’ calls).
But two new interviews with Harold Ramis, suggest the “Year One,” director actually has no clue whether the actor will be onboard or not cause it sounds like they haven’t talked in years. Let’s not forget Murray was supposed to appear in James L. Brooks’ upcoming, still-untitled comedy, was in talks and negotiations and then something went wrong on Murray’s end and he literally disappeared and stop returning calls (Murray has no agent, you call him, if he doesn’t want to talk to you, you’re pretty much fucked).
Here’s one from the A/V Club when Ramis asked what he thinks it will be like working with Bill Murray on a third Ghostbusters film.
“I have no idea. We have no social relationship whatsoever, it’d be hard to predict. But you know, the encouraging thing is, he’s very elusive… I didn’t realize he’d pulled out of James Brooks’ new movie recently. They couldn’t nail it down, but I think he took them pretty far down the road before he disappeared, so now Jack Nicholson’s going to take the part. But he’s famous for that. He’s very elusive. I’m the only one who talks about [our relationship]. He won’t tell you… [Pauses.] He’s a very private person. He doesn’t do serious interviews. Once in a while, but he’s not self-revealing. The most self-revealing thing I ever saw was never in the press or publicity, it was in Lost In Translation or Rushmore. [Laughs.] Those movies kind of defined a side of him the public is not aware of. I think if you looked at his career, he got tired of being the crazy, life-of-the-party guy. That’s quite a load to carry, and he carried it a bunch of times so successfully, and he just didn’t want to do it anymore, and started exploring this more adult, serious side of himself. That’s fine, I’d admired and respected it, and like his work in those films. I just had so little social contact with him that I don’t have any perspective on anything he does, thinks, or feels, and he gives no clues.”
Here’s Ramis thoughts about casting Murray in “Groundhog’s Day,” from GQ, something he initially didn’t want to do because of the actor’s attitude and behavior.
“It’s not always by choice. There was a moment when we were casting Groundhog Day when Bill Murray was not at the top of my list. He’d been getting crankier and crankier. By the end of Ghostbusters II, he was pretty cranky. I thought, Do I want to put up with this for twelve weeks?”
On the fact that Murray has broken off contact with him, again from GQ.
“It’s a little heartbreaking to me. I don’t know that he’s heartbroken.[What happened?] I don’t know. You know, ask anyone in Hollywood. Everybody has a Bill Murray story. He just punishes people, for reasons they can’t figure out. He was a student of Gurdjieff for a while, the Sufi mystic. Gurdjieff used to act really irrationally to his students, almost as if trying to teach them object lessons. There’s a great story along those lines that Jim Belushi tells about Del Close, the improv teacher: Jim went up to Del once, when he was a young actor, and he said, “Del, I want you to know that I really, really trust you.” And Del kneed him in the balls, really hard, and asked, “You still trust me?” Bill was always teaching people lessons like that. If he perceived someone as being too self-important or corrupt in some way that he couldn’t stomach, it was his job to straighten them out. I have no clue . And because it’s unstated, it sends me to my worst fears: Did he think I was weak? Or untrue? Did I betray him in some way? With no clue or feedback from him, it’s this kind of tantalizing mystery. And that may be the point.”
Even during the “Meatballs” days, Murray’s participation on any project was up in the air until the last minute.
“Ivan [Reitman] didn’t know if he was going to be there until the day they started shooting. GQ: Now, what is that? Just balls on Murray’s part? Arrogance? I have no idea what goes on in his mind. He was 18 when I met him, and he was already that way. He’d been strong enough at 16 to defy all the Jesuit priests teaching at Loyola Academy. He was just the biggest rebel in the world. It’s his job to defy all your expectations.
Would you bet on this as being a sure thing? “The Ghosbusters 3” script is being written this summer by “The Office” scribes, Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, let’s hope it’s better than “Year One.”