Dan Aykroyd to Write Ghostbusters 3 No Matter What Bill Murray Thinks
Posted 10.09.10 by Ryan
While a third Ghostbusters movie has been talked about for years, plans for Ghostbusters III started to look realistic when Harold Ramis explained in June of 2009 that he was working on the story for Ghostbusters 3 with his Year One screenwriters Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. At the time, Ramis said that the entire cast "says they'll do it." Six months later he revealed that the script would "introduce some new young Ghostbusters, and all the old guys will be in it, too." While the cast may have casually agreed to return, Ghostbusters III has a very public critic who has continued to punch holes in the possibility of another Ghostbusters: Bill Murray.
In October of 2009, Murray called the sequel "just a bunch of talk." He then called the movie "his nightmare" while appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman in March. In July, Murray spoke to GQ about the sequel calling it a "bunch of crock," while casting doubts on the ability of the screenwriters Ramis had chosen for the project.
Harold Ramis said, "Oh, I've got these guys, they write on The Office, and they're really funny. They're going to write the next Ghostbusters. And they had just written this movie that he had directed." ... Year One. Well, I never went to see Year One, but people who did, including other Ghostbusters, said it was one of the worst things they had ever seen in their lives. So that dream just vaporized.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Dan Aykroyd was asked about Murray's comments and what was happening with Ghostbusters III.
[Murray] was talking about the writers from Year One, and I think he was reacting to the box-office success and the general public view of the film, which in my view was a very serviceable comedy, and in the end I think they'll make their money back. I think he was concerned that the writing on Ghostbusters 3 by these guys would not be up to standard, but I can tell you firsthand, I'm working on the script now and those two — Stupnitsky and Eisenberg, [writer-producers of The Office] — wrote Bill the comic role of a lifetime, and the new Ghostbusters and the old are all well represented in it ... we have a strong first draft that Harold [Ramis] and I will take back, and I'm very excited about working on it.
Aykroyd agreed that Hollywood may be a little sequel-crazy, but says that Ghostbusters III will "evolve," particularly with the addition of newer Ghostbusters.
Now [in Ghostbusters 3] my character’s eyesight is shot, I got a bad knee, a bad hip — I can't drive that caddy anymore or lift that Psychotron Accelerator anymore, it’s too heavy. We need young legs, new minds — new Ghostbusters; so I'm in essence passing the torch to the new regime, and you know what? That’s totally okay with me.
Little is known about the Ghostbusters III plot, though Sigourney Weaver revealed last year that the movie will follow her son Oscar (kidnapped in Ghostbusters II) as he becomes a Ghostbuster.