For over 30 years now, Ghostbusters, and even its divisive sequels have been part of the cultural lexicon. Cartoons, toys, video games, clothes – you name it and there’s probably a “no ghosts allowed” patch stuck on it somewhere. It’s a testament to a little film that could. The concept seems completely outlandish, even for eighties film standards. In fact, the elevator pitch for the movie was basically “ghost janitors in New York.”
Films sometimes just come together and work. Even if on paper they probably shouldn’t. Ghostbusters had a unique mix of horror and comedy. It had a cast of Saturday Night Live and SCTV alumni. It featured the action heroine of the day – Sigourney Weaver. A hodgepodge of elements that when culled together by the director of Stripes and Cannibal Girls.
Excitement for the first film has only grown during the years. Even when Ghostbusters 2 came out. While the movie has its fans, the consensus is that it pales to the original. It took nearly 30 years to come out with a third film, Answer The Call. Try as they might, the all-female cast was not able to capture the magic, the mayhem, or the funny that the original two had done.
Jason Reitman is gearing up to take on his father’s mantle – Ghostbusters will be coming to screens again in 2020. Reitman is being very coy about releasing any details, just that it’s coming out July 10, 2020, and will serve as a sequel to the original two movies. He has not acknowledged yet if it will be a sequel to the third or not. While fans salivate at all of the possibilities of the next adventure, here are 25 Hidden Details Only True Fans Noticed In The Original Ghostbusters Movies.
25 Dan Aykroyd Believes In Ghosts
The original movie was written by Dan Aykroyd. As it turns out though, while he is a comedian by trade, that seems to be just a hobby to make some money. The family business really does happen to be dabbling in the occult – does that make Ghostbusters an autobiographical movie?
Dating back to at least his great-grandfather, Samuel Aykroyd, the family has been trying to make contact with the spirit world since the 19th century Samuel was a psychic investigator who conducted seances with the help of a medium, Walter Ashurst. His grandfather Maurice tried to make a crystal radio to call the spirit world and his dad kept all sorts of occult books the house. Dan is a fourth-generation ghost hunter just trying to continue his family’s legacy.
24 Ron Jeremy Cameo
In the first film, after the team nabs Slimer at the hotel, we’re treated to a montage of the Ghostbusters endearing themselves to New York. There’s a ton of cameos here, including Larry King and Casey Kasem.
The film also has one more cameo that isn’t so obvious, but it is still a dubious one. With all of the hedgehog talk currently going on with the new Sonic movie, how about a different kind of hedgehog? New York native and grown-up film star, Ron Jeremy found his way into the original film. He and his mustache can be seen when the containment center explodes.
23 The Razor’s Edge
To just about everyone except himself, Bill Murray is perfect and loved for his portrayal of Peter Venkman. Who knows why, the comic mastermind has, by all accounts, always been an odd duck. He took the role of Peter, provided Columbia greenlit a movie he was attached to and deeply invested in, The Razor’s Edge.
It was a passion project for Murray. The only problem is that seldom few others shared his passion for the WWI W. Somerset Maugham novel. The film was not well received by critics or fans when it was released, barely making half of its budget back.
22 Eddie Murphy = Winston Zeddemore
The core four cast of the original Ghostbusters is the film’s most memorable asset. Even if Ernie Hudson as Winston isn’t also pictured in the promotional materials or the fact that Winston doesn’t even show up until about halfway through the movie, and he still finds ways to steal the show every scene that he’s in.
The movie might look very different had the original choice for Winston been cast. Eddie Murphy was originally up for the role. Don’t feel bad for him though, he decided to star in Beverly Hills Cop instead.
21 Ghostbusters, Dimension-Wide
If you think the idea of a couple of college professors defending New York from the other-worldly forces of evil sounds like a completely insane idea to pull off, you’re right. It was a small miracle that Dan Akroyd and fellow writer, Harold Ramis were able to get their project off the ground.
But it could have been a heck-of-a-lot more farfetched than what we got. Aykroyd’s original plan was to have featured teams of Ghostbusters traveling all across time to stop all sorts interdimensional threats.
20 John Belushi Cameo
Dan Aykroyd wanted his SNL bestie, John Belushi to play Venkman. The outlandish physical comedian would have done something a lot different with the role than what Bill Murray did. The entire movie would have been different because of Belushi’s performance. Sadly, Belushi passed before filming started.
But Aykroyd still found a way to put his friend into the movie. Slimer, the team’s first catch and unofficial mascot is actually based on Belushi’s “party animal” persona.
19 Less Than A Year To Make
Movies don’t just happen overnight. There’s planning and plotting and selling the idea to the studios. There’s scripts, script revisions, and shooting scripts. Location scouting, character casting, pre, and post-production. Ghostbusters was no different.
But the cast and crew of Ghostbusters had to pull everything off in less than a year. In May of 1983, Columbia head, Frank Price had agreed to the 30-million-dollar budget based on the strength of the three leads and the provision that the film hits its release date of June 1984. After an intense writing session on Martha’s Vineyard, the team had less than a year to get this onscreen.
18 New York Movie / Hollywood Magic
Ghostbusters in an undeniable New York movie. The team finds its headquarters in TriBeCa in the FDNY Hook and Ladder # 8 building. The close–up shots of all the New York architecture. The events in an around Columbia University and Tavern On The Green.
But other than location shots, just about everything about Ghostbusters came from a soundstage in Los Angeles. Even everyone in the main cast was born and raised in somewhere, not New York. Sigourney Weaver was the only actor to be born in the Big Apple.
17 Annoying Isaac Asimov
Besides I, Robot and various TV episodes over the years, Isaac Asimov is one of the premier science fiction writers of our time. His Foundation trilogy ranks up there with the likes of Lord Of The Rings and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dan Akroyd ranked amongst one of Asimov’s fans.
When the acclaimed author was being bothered and annoyed by the movie filming in his vicinity, shutting down the area around West 65th Street and Central Park West. Whether or not the situation was smoothed over or not is unclear, but Aykroyd had a ball telling the author how much he loved him.
16 Crossing The Streams Improvised
In the final battle against the demonic Gozer, the guys realize that the best way to defeat it would be to risk the very fabric of existence by crossing the streams of their proton packs and sending the fell beast back to the abyss. The decision was made while filming the sequence and not while writing the movie.
Once this was officially how the Ghostbusters defeated Gozer, another scene was added to the film, with the guys explaining what could happen if they did, in fact, cross the streams.
