The director of a new version of the 1984 film Ghostbusters has come up with a radical twist — by making the four main characters women.
On Tuesday, Paul Feig tweeted that he had found his cast: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon.
McCarthy and Wiig starred together in Bridesmaids, which Feig directed. Jones and McKinnon are both cast members on Saturday Night Live, as were original Leslie Jones Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray. The film is expected to start shooting in New York this summer.
In defiance of Hollywood stereotypes, the four women are all over 30.
The new version of Ghostbusters has had a complicated gestation. According to Hollywood Reporter, a sequel with the original cast 30 years on was scuppered when Bill Murray declined to sign up, then scrapped completely after the death of Harold Ramis.
After being approached to direct the project, Feig then decided to cast all female actors. Ernie Hudson, who starred in the original film, was critical of the idea, saying: “If it has nothing to do with the other two movies, and it’s all female, then why are you calling it Ghostbusters?
“I love females,” he added.
“I hope that if they go that way at least they’ll be funny, and if they’re not funny at least hopefully it’ll be sexy. I love the idea of including women, I think that’s great.
“But all-female I think would be a bad idea. I don’t think the fans want to see that.”
However, Twitter greeted the news with enthusiasm. One fan said: “Love seeing all the mouth-breathing nerds who think ghostbusters is gonna flop because girls are in it. it’s going to be HUGE.”
