When Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot was initially announced last year, the director found fan response to be “vile” and “misogynistic” after some criticised the decision to go with an all-female cast.
But, while promoting his new comedy Spy, the Bridesmaids director says he was originally offered the chance to direct a more traditional Ghostbusters sequel. “I just kept turning it down because I didn’t know how to do it,” he told AlloCine. “The scripts had been written, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it. I wasn’t excited about it.”
Feig then came upon the idea of a reboot focusing on a new group of women, played by Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones.
“I thought, if I could put four women in the lead roles, that’s exciting to me,” he said. “That I know how to do, and I know how to make that funny. And there’s so many funny women I’ve been dying to work with.”
He also spoke about the appeal of a reboot over a traditional sequel, allowing him to explore the origins of a new set of characters, rather than being tied to an existing story.
“I’d rather do it as a reboot so I’m not tied to the old movies,” he said. “The old movies are so good, I didn’t want to mess with them. And I also want to see the beginnings of this group. I want to see people seeing ghosts for the first time, and how they’re going to fight them for the first time, how they develop their technology.”
Since the announcement of Feig’s female Ghostbusters (set to be released next summer), Sony has also revealed that a more traditional male take will happen, possibly starring Channing Tatum, and an expanded universe will incorporate other spin-off movies.
