It seems the making of Ghostbusters 3 has an enemy in one of the principal actors. According to website Bloody Disgusting (www.bloody-disgusting.com), National Enquirer columnist Mike Walker said the following on the Howard Stern show:
“Dan Aykroyd called ol’ pal and Ghostbusters co-star Bill Murry and snarled ’stop acting like a jerk’, Murray, despite agreeing to doing the film, has suddenly turned so cranky and mean [that] he refuses to answer phone calls.”
Furthermore: “Producers gave Bill script approval needed for his cooperation, but that cant even seem to get him on the phone to talk about the script. He’s even told ‘em that his character needs to be killed off in the opening minutes of the film.”
Well, we knew that last part about the killing off. But Aykroyd being unable to reach Murray is news. It sounds like Murray would really prefer to not be a part of Ghostbusters 3. But it won’t happen without him, so this is a big deal.
Seems like the movie is haunted by problems. A 2011 release is starting to look unlikely.
MTV.com talked to Ernie Hudsom about Ghostbusters 3, and while he doesn’t have any more information about the movie than we do, he has certain wishes for his character, Winston Zeddmore.
‘If it does go forward I want to see Winston be all the way through the movie for once for God’s sake – not an hour into the movie, here comes Winston.’ Hudson told MTV. ‘Also, I’d like to see Winston have some sort of back story. Where does Winston go? Is he married? Does he have an apartment? Does he live on the street? Who is this Winston guy that we’ve seen two movies about?’
Hudson continued: ‘I think now, 25 years later, that the fans know Winston so let’s just acknowledge the fact that Winston is there. Now if we have a poster with Ghostbusters, hopefully we can have Winston IN the poster so I’m not sitting at some autograph show signing over Bill Murray’s face. That would be nice.’
And he is just as uninformed about the state of the movie as everyone else: ‘When I hear something officially from the studio saying the movie is happening, I’d love to talk about it but in the meantime, I’m just saying stuff that fans have told me. I don’t really know what’s going on. I did see all the guys involved, and everyone wants to do it, so I hope that means we will be doing it, but I can’t say for sure. Until someone calls me with a steady paycheck, then I’m just a guy hanging out here looking for a job.’
We like both Ernie and Winston, and we can only agree with these points. But if shooting of Ghostbusters 3 is to start this summer, surely it’s about time to notify the principal actors? We smell a delay.
Winnipeg Free Press recently talked to Ernie Hudson about a convention in Toronto that he’s attending, but they were also able to glean a little information about Ghostbusters 3.
While Hudson hasn’t received official word from the studio, he said he’s heard from co-stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, as well as director Ivan Reitman, that they want to see it happen.
“Ivan said … ‘If we get a script it looks like it’s going to happen,’ so that’s the only thing official,” said Hudson.
“But then he said, ‘We have to have young guys.’ Now I don’t quite know how to interpret that.”
If/when it happens, Hudson hopes it’s “a movie that stands on its own” and is “unique in of itself,” he said.
“I don’t want it to be like ‘Starsky & Hutch’ where the guys are standing by the car looking old and tired and that’s it. But I have no idea.”
Seems it as up in the air as ever. Nah, just kidding. Ghostbusters 3 has to happen. There’s too much money in it for a studio to mess it up, even though they are trying. In closing, we really like Ernie’s attitude and can only agree with his sentiments that it be a movie that won’t suck.