“Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!” This famous catchphrase has been around for 32 years and the call has been answered for (not a sequel) but a reboot! The Ghostbusters has a new supernatural butt-kicking team played by the phenomenal comedic actresses Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones. Paul Feig did a fantastic job recreating a Ghostbusters for a new generation with nods to the classic 1984 film directed by Ivan Reitman.
I had the exclusive opportunity to be a part of a parenting bloggers group who got to meet Ivan Reitman at Ghost Corps on the Sony studio lot. What is Ghost Corps? Ivan told us why he couldn’t direct any further Ghostbusters, “It was clear that I wasn’t going to direct another Ghostbusters movie because of the loss of Harold Ramis to us and Bill Murray’s sort of continued obstinance in terms of making further Ghostbusters movies. I realized that I couldn’t continue without either one of them and certainly not with two of them. Even though we had a very funny script which was kind of a traditional passing the torch sequel I decided I would not direct the next one.” Reitman organized the rights of the Ghostbusters idea to transfer to Sony/Columbia pictures who had made the first movie. Ivan explained that after the success of the first film, “We basically controlled it. Which basically meant there was no sequel.” Finally, about a year-and-a half a year ago Ivan and his team worked it out that Sony is now in control of this wonderful idea. Ghost Corps is a way of helping Sony creatively and look for new ways to expand the Ghostbusters idea.
Ivan also talked about how the original comedy wasn’t intended to be a family film. “We started hearing that parents were bringing their kids which really surprised me. Now of course some 30 years later it’s known as this sort of a classic family movie. I thought the first one was a pretty scary movie, particularly with what adults and kids were used to in the 80s.” Reitman started to hear what young kids got out of it from their parents, “What I heard from parents, is that kids were really scared of ghosts about dying all of those kinds of unknown issues. There was something about the fact that the Ghostbusters were able to contain ghosts and got them under control and that they didn’t seem to be afraid of them. That somehow made the issue a little more reasonable for kids.” Reitman was surprised that people brought four and five-year-olds to that first one. He advises that parents shouldn’t bring anybody inappropriately shy or afraid to the new Ghostbusters, but what we’re counting on is the humor and also the role models of the four women being so in charge and in such a lovely combination.”
The blogger group checked out a display of cool Ghostbusters branded toys from past and present as well as the posters of other films that Ivan worked on. He’s proud of all of his films (some better than others), as “They are all my children”. We also checked out patches representing some of 300 hundred Ghostbusters fan clubs!
Our ghoulishly fun Sony visit ended with a tour of Sony. I got a glimpse of actors from Masters of Sex preparing for a scene! Hello, Michael Sheen! Daily tours at Sony Studios are the perfect way for visitors to step back in time and walk onto sound stages where films such as Wizard of Oz (my favorite) were made. Plus, you can possibly visit a set of a fun game show. We happened to visit the set of Wheel of Fortune. I’ve attended a couple of tapings for the show. It’s cool to see Vanna and Pat in action in person! I wish I could’ve spun that wheel. Another amazing stop was the Barbara Streisand scoring stage. Being here gave me the chills. This is where Judy Garland sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”!
We were invited by Sony to experience the tour as part of a blogger campaign. Our opinions are our own.
