You know how you're supposed to take certain news with a grain of salt? Well, consider pouring that salt shaker down your mouth before reading this: the National Enquirer (I know, I know) is reporting that Bill Murray was so unimpressed by the script for Ghostbusters III that he shredded it, stuffed it in a box, and sent it to Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd with a note reading:
No one wants to see fat, old men chasing ghosts!
Now, before we start jumping on the National Enquirer, let's acknowledge that despite the fact that they are indeed a tabloid, they've also done some good reporting over the past few years, including being the first to jump out with the John Edwards affair in the 2008 presidential campaign when no other paper thought it was solid enough to report. This is obviously a straight-up entertainment story, so it can't be put on the same pedestal, but honestly: can't you see Bill Murray doing this? It sounds like the kind of thing that he'd do; he's famously difficult to get a hold of when it comes to scripts (and reportedly didn't even read the original Ghostbusters script until he showed up for the first day of filming), and has had a love-hate relationship with Ghostbusters 3 since rumors started floating around about it in the middle of the last decade.
Screenrant has done a lot of good stories on the continuing saga of Ghostbusters 3, most of which are linked to from this newest post, but to recap: Murray is reportedly somewhat taken aback by the fact that the script for the third installment in the franchise is being written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky instead of Ramis and Aykroyd, who of course wrote the first two installments of the film. Eisenberg/Stupnitsky don't have much of a track record, having been behind the bomb that was Year One and the success that was Bad Teacher. Murray has never really committed even to the idea of a Ghostbusters 3, with the closest sign that he was going to do it perhaps having been his appearance last year at the Spike TV Scream Awards in full Ghostbusters livery.
Again, this is all kinda-sorta hearsay at this point. Apparently Murray, Aykroyd, Ramis, Sigourney Weaver, and Sony all have equal stakes in the creation of a new movie, so they all have to sign off on its creation before it can go forward, even if Murray doesn't even want to be in it. If the stuff above is true, that might never happen.
I think that is totally something Murray would do, but I don't think he'd do it to Ramis. He's been making film with Ramis since... shit, I don't remember how long.
Good for him. If the script is sub-par, then he should call it out as just that. After Blues Brothers 2000, I know longer trust Aykroyd. Some franchises should just be left alone.
Ghostbusters is something that shouldn't be touched for a long time, Bill Murray is right to think people don't want to watch old dudes in a sci-fi/ comedy. What worked in the eighties wouldn't work now, leave it be.
@TheGief said:
Maybe he wouldn't do it to a Ramis/Aykroyd written script, but I can see him doing it if he hates this script written by two semi-nobodies. Kind of a "this sucks, why the hell are these assholes writing it anyway?" kind of thing.
Ghostbusters 3 will never happen, why do people bother? Murray is trolling.
Classic Venkman.
That's a dick move to pull on your friends who are trying to find you work.
I love Bill Murray, but coming from the guy who voiced Garfield...yeah.
Then again, I don't believe it. Honestly, the script wasn't supposed to be about the original game ghostbusting but them in a state where they cannot do it so they need a new team of ghostbusters...yeah, so I am calling bullshit on this one.
@TreyoftheDead: I believe at one point they had people from The Office or something like that either writing a draft or helping them write it.
We don't need another Ghostbuster movie
Bill Murray is AWESOME!!!!!!!!
Look, Bill Murray is a legend in more ways than one. However Akroyd and Ramis are his friends and even for him that sounds cruel. I think whats really going on is that Murray is just giving them the silent treatment and they don't have any idea what Murray even thinks of a Ghostbusters 3.
Either way a Ghostbusters movie is going to happen with or without him. The property has too much brand recognition to be ignored.
Don't need another. The 2nd was bad enough.
@TheGief: Bill Murray and Ramis don't exactly get along anymore. They had a falling out around when Groundhog Day came out.
@ScanCase said:
Did you read the whole article? Murray owns a percentage of the Ghostbusters IP. They can't make a new movie unless he signs off on it or sells them his percentage.
@Nightfang said:
Bill Murray has no problem finding work.
That sounds like something Murray would do. Honestly I don't care if he returns or not, I like the other Ghostbusters just as much as his character though I would love to see him do it again if he chose to.
I want to see old fat men chasing ghosts thank you very much!
Just reboot the fucking franchise cause you know thats coming soon. By '14 the earliest.
Murray has made a career being a lovable asshole, I put it to you that is exactly the behaviour of a lovable asshole
I liked Ghosbusters 2 but I really don't think a Ghostbusters 3 will be any good. Will it be Blues Brothers 2000 bad? I doubt it but what was the last good Dan Aykroyd movie? I can't think of a single one after Grosse Point Blank.
@WilliamHenry said:
I haven't seen Bill Murray in anything sense Zombieland and times are tough, so it's best too take the pay check and it's still a dick move to shredded your friends script and send a rude note to them.