Ernie Hudson Criticises All-Female Ghostbusters Reboot

‘Ghostbusters’ star Ernie Hudson says “fans don’t want to see” an all-female reboot of the 1984 supernatural comedy classic.

Having been in development hell ever since 1989’s ‘Ghostbusters 2,’ it now seems a third ‘Ghostbusters’ film is closer than it’s ever been to getting off the ground at Sony – but in a somewhat different form than originally anticipated.

Director Paul Feig (‘Bridesmaids,’ ‘The Heat’) has announced plans for a “total reboot” with a quartet of women taking over from Hudson, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and the late Harold Ramis. ‘The Heat’ screenwriter Katie Dippold is at work on the script.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this news has left fans divided – and Hudson tells the Telegraph he has little faith in the idea.

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Hudson says, “I heard it was going to be a total reboot, and that it would have nothing to do with the other two movies. 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. 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.

"Maybe it will come out and be the most amazing thing, but in my opinion I think it would be wrong to do another movie that didn’t include the guys. And that didn’t include me!"

Hudson had already stated that, following the death of Harold Ramis this February, he didn’t feel another ‘Ghostbusters’ should be made at all, telling TMZ, “There can’t be another ‘Ghostbusters’ without Harold.”

Given Bill Murray’s well-publicized reluctance to return, it seems the studio’s only options were to either leave ‘Ghostbusters’ alone, or go back to square one.

And in fairness to both the studio and the new writer-director team, even the script that original co-writer and star Dan Aykroyd had long championed was intended to show the original Ghostbusters handing over the reins of the company to a new, younger team.

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Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, new director Paul Feig says, “I love origin stories. That’s my favorite thing. I love the first (‘Ghostbusters’) so much I don’t want to do anything to ruin the memory of that. So it just felt like, let’s just restart it because then we can have new dynamics.”

On the subject of casting women, Feig sighs, “I just don’t understand why it’s ever an issue anymore.

"I’ve promoted both ‘Bridesmaids’ and ‘The Heat’ and myself and my cast are still hit constantly with the question, “will this answer the question of whether women can be funny?” I really cannot believe we’re still having this conversation…

“When people accuse it of being a gimmick I go, why is a movie starring women considered a gimmick and a movie starring men is just a normal movie?”

Still, Feig says he would be open to the original cast making cameo appearances.

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Picture Credit: Sony, WENN, Universal