Dan Aykroyd Defends All-Female ‘Ghostbusters’ Reboot
Dan Aykroyd, who co-wrote Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II with the late Harold Ramis, is actually a big fan of the 2016 all-female Ghostbusters reboot.
Aykroyd praised the reboot in a new interview with People. He made a point to compliment the cast — Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones — and said, “You’re never going to do better than that.”
He added, ” … I go on the record as saying I’m so proud to have been able to license that movie and have a hand and have a part in it, and I’m fully supportive of it, and I don’t besmirch it at all. I think it works really great amongst all the ones that have been made.”
The 2016 Ghostbusters reboot courted a lot of controversy and backlash. Director Paul Feig called it out as “misogynistic” during the 2016 Produced By Conference.
Feig said, “It was my idea to do it all-female … I have been hit with some of the worst misogynistic stuff.” The director later told Variety, “The biggest thing I’ve heard for the last four months is, ‘Thanks for ruining my childhood.’ It’s going to be on my tombstone when I die.”
The Latest Ghostbuster Films
In 2021, Ghostbusters: Afterlife was released. The film was directed by Jason Reitman, the son of the late Ivan Reitman, who directed the first two Ghostbusters films. Jason Reitman also directed 2024’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
The films saw original cast members Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and Sigourney Weaver reprise their roles.
Jason Reitman told Empire Magazine in 2021, “I don’t think I was prepared for what it would feel like when the original guys walk on set in their flight suits. It’s like seeing superheroes. And it feels very special.”
Meanwhile, Murray, Aykroyd and Hudson did a lot of press for the film, including appearing on late night talk shows together. In an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, they touched on the hardest part about returning to their characters.
When asked by Meyers what it was like to return to those characters and to put on the Ghostbusters jumpsuits and gear, Murray said, “It was painful. It was painful is what it was. It was physically and emotionally painful. You forget how heavy it is to carry a small refrigerator on your back for hours and hours a day. And then they say, ‘Okay, guys. Get down on the ground. Cut! Okay, stand up. And get down on the ground again.’ That’s what we did. And I’m like, ‘S—! We did this 20 years ago?’ We did this a long time ago. You’re basically falling on the ground and having to get up with a small refrigerator on your back.”
