The last time we considered the possibility of Ghostbusters 3, we were implicitly shamed for our curiosity by none other than Bill Murray, who seems to regard its existence as an irritant that, thankfully, will never come to fruition—except if it does, because “maybe it would be fun.” That sort of noncommittal wavering, perhaps intentionally, has led us to regard any and all news of another Ghostbusters with a certain amount of skepticism, if not genuine annoyance: Murray said that the script by Year One writers Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg was terrible, that the whole thing was being concocted as a crass framework to hand over the franchise to a new generation, and that the only way he’d want to appear in it is if they killed him off. So yeah, why are we still talking about it again?
Because then we get interviews like this one with Dan Aykroyd, who’s been peddling vodka out of the back of an RV in between starring in Yogi Bear—which is itself a crass framework concocted to hand over a franchise to a new generation—and thus doesn’t have Murray’s exacting standards, to put it charitably. Here Aykroyd tells Vanity Fair why he’s still committed to Ghostbusters 3, never mind what Murray says. (After all, he'd be missing out on the "comic role of a lifetime"!)
Last month in GQ Bill Murray said something that wasn’t so nice about Ghostbusters 3.
He 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 — 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.
Bill and Ted 3. Heathers 2. True Lies 2. Really?
Look, Hollywood is in love with any kind of nostalgia that can prove itself to be commercial. But it has to evolve. 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.
Yes, Dan. We are aware that that sort of thing is totally okay with you.