A few interesting news bits on the long-awaited “Ghostbusters” sequel have been released on slashfilm. Lately, fan hype over the franchise has been at a peak level with the upcoming June 16th releases of both the “Ghostbusters” blu-ray as well as “Ghostbusters: The Video Game”. Things definitely seem to be looking up for the the franchise as a whole - the video game has, in fact, received an impressive 8/10 rating on IGN. There is also news that original director Ivan Reitman is considering directing the next film. Check out the bulleted details from slashfilm below:
- The screenplay by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitksy still hasn’t been delivered yet, but is imminent. A running-draft or treatment has been at least shared with Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis because they’ve gone on to discuss it with the rest of us (see below, for example).
- Ivan Reitman has told MTV that, actually, he’s willing to think about directing the next Ghostbusters film. Aykroyd had previously named Ramis as his pick to take the director’s chair if Reitman was “too busy”.
- A five-way jury holds veto over any Ghostbusters film. Reitman is one party, three more are Murray, Ramis and Aykroyd, and the fifth is Columbia Pictures. If any of these want to nix the project, they can. It seems this would also apply to films that the individual would not be involved in – say, if Reitman wasn’t set to direct, or one of the actors was not set to appear, they could still wield the axe.
- I was sent an e-mail from a source inside the industry who wanted to relate a little Ghostbusters 3 gossip. According to them, Jake Kasdan wants the directing gig. As in actively wants it and, I would assume, is pursuing it. If the job was mine to give, I’d be putting a bow on it for him now.
Empire magazine also interviewed Harold Ramis, who elaborated on the characer of Egon Spengler and actually shared a line of dialogue from the film:
“I’m intrigued by my idea for where Egon has been. He’s been working in the International Institute For Imaginary Science, in Geneva. He’s evolved a post-rational, non-conclusive logic for dealing with problems of chaos. Someone asks him ‘What does that mean?’ and he says ‘There are no spatial, conceptual or intellectual models to describe it – so we don’t know.’ Egon’s gone so abstract, even he doesn’t know what he’s doing!”
Dan Aykroyd was also interviewed, stating that he hopes Alyssa Milano will be playing the same character as she does in the game, in which she is a “love interest” named Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn. Aykroyd also mentioned that Eliza Dushku would not be competing for the same role.
