The news of Paul Feig’s all-female, total protonic reversal of Ghostbusters has already provoked plenty of debate and statements of cautious optimism and/or defeated resignation. But it wouldn’t be Ghostbusters without Ernie Hudson showing up halfway through—and according to Hudson, this movie won’t be Ghostbusters at all. After a series of oddly repetitive tweets suggesting that the news would not “sit so well” with Ghostbusters fans who haven’t been sitting comfortably for at least four years now, Hudson expanded on those thoughts in an interview with The Telegraph. And not surprisingly, he’s not happy with any new Ghostbusters that isn’t the original one that he didn’t enjoy filming all that much and was more or less cut out of, and that isn’t the direct sequel he himself has said can’t really be made after Harold Ramis’ death.
“I heard it was going to be a total reboot, and that it would have nothing to do with the other two movies. If it has nothing to do with the other two movies, and it’s all female, then why are you calling it Ghostbusters?” Hudson said, echoing a lot of fans’ opinions we’ve heard this week. But lest he be accused of also echoing a lot of fans’ opinions that other fans wish they would stop expressing, because they’re usually followed by a bunch of sexist bullshit, Hudson made it clear it’s not females he has problem with, per se. In fact, he loves females.
“I love females. I hope that if they go that way at least they’ll be funny, and if they’re not funny at least hopefully it’ll be sexy,” Hudson said of this film starring women who, if they can’t make us laugh, maybe they can work that proton pack realllll nice. Ooh yeah, trap those ectoplasmic entities, stick them in the containment system, set your entry grid, and neutronize your field like the EPA and your momma told you not to, girl. “I love the idea of including women, I think that’s great,” Hudson adds, graciously.
Still, like the capacity for psychokinetic energy within a Twinkie, for Hudson there’s a line when it comes to how much these women should be included, and that line is drawn around Ernie Hudson. “But all-female I think would be a bad idea. I don’t think the fans want to see that,” Hudson said. And while he allows that “maybe it will come out and be the most amazing thing,” he reiterates, “It would be wrong to do another movie that didn’t include the guys. And that didn’t include me!” (Or, at least, five-and-a-half total minutes of him.)
And not surprisingly, not being included may be Hudson’s biggest problem with this. “The studio puts out these announcements over the years that there’s going to be another movie and I’m kind of going, that’s interesting, nobody’s told me about it,” Hudson laments. “Maybe they just assume. ‘Oh, we know we can get Ernie’ —which is sadly true! I’m not the most difficult one to get.” And hey, if there’s a steady paycheck in it, Ernie Hudson will believe anything you say—even if you’re a female saying it.