On Saturday, Bill Murray virtually accepted the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Maltin Modern Master Award, an award highlighting the comedian’s contributions to the film industry.
While being interviewed by film critic Leonard Maltin, Ghostbusters was brought up, with the actor touching on not only the original film but the sequel, the female-led reboot, and this year’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
When speaking of the original 1984 classic, Murray was practically gushing over working alongside William Atherton, who played Walter Peck, saying:
“William Atherton, that guy was a spectacular bad guy. He was so bad; it got real warm in the room when he entered. He was a really great bad guy.“
Maltin mentioned the sequel, with Murray mentioning that he was “very reluctant to do it,” saying:
“The only reason anyone would want to do another one would be just to make money, you know.“
Murray continued:
“They got us all back together in a room, and really we hadn’t been together in a room since the movie came out, and it was just really, really fun to be together. We were really funny together. Like those are some really wonderful, really funny guys and girls; Sigourney, Annie Potts. Spectacular women and funny as hell. They got us all together, and they pitched some sort of a story idea that was really great, and I thought, “Holy cow, we could make that work!” It ended up not being the story that they wrote, but they got us to do the sequel under false pretenses. Harold had this great idea, but by the time we got to shooting it, I was someplace else, I don’t know. I showed up on set, and went “What the hell is this?”
Murray then weighed in on which of the original two films he liked better:
“I probably like the first one better than the second one just cause the first cuts the deepest, you know, and it was really, we were in New York, and it was all New York, and really made a mess of New York for a couple of months and had a lot of fun in New York.“
Maltin mentioned that Murray had now taken part in every film iteration of Ghostbusters, with Murray quick to mention his positivity to the 2016’s Paul Feig directed reboot:
“I did the one that the ladies did, and those are some of my favorite funny people, you know, those girls are so funny, and you talk about improvising; they did nothing but fire grenades all day long.“
Eventually Ghostbusters: Afterlife was brought up, with Murray talking about a conversation he had with director Jason Reitman:
“I remember him calling me and saying, “I’ve got an idea for another Ghostbusters. I’ve had this idea for years.” I thought, “What the heck can that possibly be?” I mean, I remember the kid (Jason) when he was a kid. I remember his bar mitzvah.“
Murray added:
“He (Jason) has a really, really wonderful idea that he wrote with another wonderful guy that I got to work with, Gil Kenan, who made the City of Ember. The two of them wrote a Ghostbusters movie that really brings it back to life and really has the feel of the first one. More than the second one or the girl’s one. It has a different feel than two out of four, and I think he’s really got something.“
Murray’s return to the role of Dr. Peter Venkman seemed to a bit more grueling than he expected, mentioning the weight of the proton packs and how the filming of the new film was “physically painful”:
“It was hard. It was really hard. That’s why I think it’s going to be good, cause it was really hard!” Murray added. “We were just in it for a little while, but it was physically painful. I mean, we did it a long time ago, but wearing those packs, is extremely uncomfortable, even tho they made the packs, I mean we had batteries the size of batteries, you know, they now have like batteries the size of, you know, earings, but it’s still a pretty heavy thing to wear all the time.“
Finally, when talking about the multiple delays Ghostbusters: Afterlife has seen due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Murray said:
“I’m glad they did (delayed the film). It’ll be worth seeing.“
Ghostbusters: Afterlife is slated for its theatrical release on November 11th, 2021.
Source: Deadline via Ghostbusters News.
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