bill murray improv ghostbusters

‘Dogs And Cats Living Together’: The Best Of Bill Murray’s ‘Ghostbusters’ Ad-Libs

Bill Murray’s ability to convey hilarity through facial expressions is unprecedented, his knack for timing is uncanny, the ease in which he rifles off skewering darts poisoned with abnormal amounts of sarcasm is unparalleled. And then… there are his improvisational skills.

Improvisation, or ad-libbing, is a device that has been used since the dawn of cinema. Contemporary comedic talents like Paul Rudd, Melissa McCarthy, Will Ferrell, and more, have used the mechanism to great effect. But — except for maybe Robin Williams — has anyone conveyed such a knack for brilliantly going off-script than Murray? It’s a tough argument, and I’m sure everyone has their favorites, but I’m sticking with Bill F-ing Murray.

Ghostbusters is a film that perfectly illustrates Murray’s use of improvisation . Almost ALL of his lines in the original film were ad-libbed, which is quite a feat considering the sharpness of his delivery. With the special anniversary Blu-ray hitting tomorrow , here’s a dose of the best of Bill Murray’s ad-libs from Ghostbusters …

“Nobody steps on a church in my town!”

A well-leveled threat against a giant marshmallow monster.

“Let’s show this prehistoric b*tch how we do things downtown.”

“It’s Millah time,” makes me laugh every time, but I’d say just about all of his dialogue from that scene is hilarious.

“Human sacrifice. Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria.”

Not so sure about that second one.

“Why worry? Each one of us is carrying an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back.”

The Dr. Venkman Positivity Podcast  would be better than 2/3 of the new age crap on iTunes.

“Yes, it’s true. This man has no d*ck.”

Classic follow-up: “Well, that’s what I heard!”

“Sounds like you’ve got at least two people in there already.”

Even paranormal chicks can’t resist the charms of Mr. Murray.

“We’ve been going about this all wrong. This Mr. Stay Puft’s okay! He’s a sailor, he’s in New York; we get this guy laid, we won’t have any trouble!”

Considering Stay Puft has no pants on, he might have already been on the “walk of shame” back to his Manhattan apartment.

“Back off man, I’m a scientist.”

Only Bill Murray can make such an improper question so comical.

“What a lovely singing voice you must have.”

Pillow talk never sounded so sweet.

“We came, we saw, we kicked its ass!”

A slimy and jubilant Bill Murray is an awesome Bill Murray. Please Bill Murray, at least make a cameo in Ghostbusters 3 and grace us with one of your legendary quips.

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The Day Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson Became Ghostbusters Again

By Anthony Breznican

Each Ghostbuster has a different way of busting ghosts. On set, when there’s no arc of VFX energy flashing from their proton blasters, it’s easy to see: Dan Aykroyd waves gradually from side to side, like someone watering a garden. Bill Murray pulls steadily back and up as if he’s reeling in a heavy fish. And Ernie Hudson ’s hands tremble as if he’s clutching a sparking live wire.

More than 32 years have passed since we’ve seen these three actors in a Ghostbusters movie together, playing smart-ass Peter Venkman, hyper-stimulated Ray Stantz, and unflappable Winston Zeddemore. These guys became pop culture touchstones to kids who flooded theaters in the summers of 1984 and 1989 and wore out their VHS tapes rewatching the original and its sequel. But as decades piled up, fans lost hope of seeing them together again. A third sequel was proposed many times but always fell apart over budget and script disagreements. The 2016 reboot, Answer the Call, starring Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, and Melissa McCarthy, dropped the original story line to establish an entirely different universe. Murray, Hudson, and Aykroyd made cameo appearances in that film but not as their iconic characters.

A torch had been passed; or maybe it had gone out. Harold Ramis, who co-wrote the first movies with Aykroyd and costarred as the somber science genius Egon Spengler, died in 2014 after a long illness. After that, a true reunion no longer seemed possible. But then on a blustery autumn day two years ago, the surviving original guys stepped onto the Calgary soundstage of Ghostbusters: Afterlife and took their battle positions beside a weathered old farmhouse and the battered hulk of the Ecto-1.

Like their signature emergency vehicle, the guys were rusty. Their hair was gray, or full-on white in Murray’s case. The flight suits were a little baggier. But if you ever laughed at lines like Venkman’s plaintive “Dogs and cats, living together…mass hysteria!” or Zeddemore’s slow-burn “When someone asks you if you’re a god, you say yes ,”  just the sight of them hoisting their proton packs again is enough to raise a smile. 

It was all going great. Until Murray accidentally got bashed on the head.

Now that Ghostbusters: Afterlife is in theaters, the behind-the-scenes story of their reunion, long kept under wraps, can finally be shared. Fair warning—there are significant spoilers ahead:

The foundation for Murray, Hudson, and Aykroyd’s comeback started to come together nearly three years ago, when Up in the Air and Juno filmmaker Jason Reitman, the son of the original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman, proposed a new story. It was one he hoped would unite the various fan factions, including the many who loved director Paul Feig ’s 2016 reboot. (While Ghostbusters has sometimes become a culture-war battleground, the filmmakers themselves have always been collegial , and supportive of one another.)

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Like the 2016 film, Jason Reitman’s concept was female-led, centering on a financially strapped single mom, Callie ( Carrie Coon ), and her outcast daughter, Phoebe ( Mckenna Grace ), who is struggling to make new friends. Callie’s lovesick gearhead son, Trevor ( Finn Wolfhard ) restores the Ecto-1 he finds in their late grandfather’s barn and tries to impress his too-cool-for-him crush Lucky ( Celeste O’Connor ), who knows everything about the weird little town—except who his grandfather really was. Paul Rudd costars as a summer school teacher who’s a veritable stand-in for fanboy Gen Xers, steeped in knowledge of the original Ghostbusters, while Logan Kim plays a conspiracy-obsessed middle school pal of Phoebe’s. Every generation has a stake in the tale.

By making Callie, Phoebe, and Trevor the descendants of Egon, the new story also acknowledges the absence of Ramis and creates a mystery about what happened to the remaining Ghostbusters. When Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan first crafted the script, they weren’t sure who, if any, of the originals would agree to revisit this world. The audience doesn’t really find out either—until the final scene of the film. Shooting that sequence was the day Venkman, Stantz, and Zeddemore finally came back together again.

Here’s the setup for the Ghostbusters’ High Noon moment at the very end of the film: Basically, all hope is lost. As Afterlife reaches its climax, the grandchildren of Egon Spengler have realized their late grandfather died trying to prevent the resurrection of Gozer the Gozarian, the ancient Sumerian god who tried to spark an apocalypse in the 1984 film. Estranged from his doubtful old colleagues, Egon worked alone on his plan but couldn’t accomplish it by himself. His family members have fallen just short, too. They are cowering, prepared to be annihilated by an enraged Gozer, when they hear a voice call out from around the corner of the farmhouse.

“Hey…flat top!”

This is the moment that brought the original actors back together again.

It’s Venkman. And Stantz. And Zeddemore. And their fully powered proton packs. Thanks to Phoebe’s desperate call to Ray’s occult bookstore earlier in the film, the cavalry has arrived, a deus ex machina in the form of three old-timers—who quickly break their old rule and cross their proton streams to paralyze the snarling, Bowie-esque glam-demon.

But there are only three of them now, not four. So the old tactic doesn’t work. The first thing Hudson, Murray, and Aykroyd shoot that morning is getting cast aside. Gozer hurls the Original Ghostbusters (a.k.a. The OGBs, as they were nicknamed on set) back against the steel hull of the Ecto-1. This plot point literally makes the absence of Egon hurt. 

“Well, we are a man down. That’s the deal,” Murray told Vanity Fair on set. “And that’s the story that we’re telling, that’s the story they’ve written.” 

Getting back into Venkman’s head was unexpectedly hard for him, he said, but by the time Murray was in uniform and flanked by Hudson and Aykroyd, he admitted to feeling like an actual rock star again. “Danny and Ernie and I together, not in separate scenes, but together —there’s a force. It’s like Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have done their solo albums, but when they’re all on the stage, it’s a whole different thing,” he said.

It has been many years since Aykroyd reunited with his old Saturday Night Live friend on anything. “It was really fun to be back,” he said after shooting the scene. “Billy is such fun anywhere he goes. He’s one of those human beings that has that magnetism. You just look at him and you’ll laugh. And him sloping around in that pack, which he doesn’t like wearing any more than any of us , it’s just so funny. To see him just lurking around in that pack and putting up with it. Yeah, it’s been a great week.”

After feeling awkward for the first few days, what finally energized Murray was the chance to improvise again while Venkman lay sprawled with his cohorts beside the vehicle. “Bill is keeping her distracted with talking, while you raise the proton gun,” Jason Reitman said, showing the fallen Hudson how he wanted him to slyly slip his neutrona blaster into position. 

In the script, Venkman decides to taunt Gozer by imagining a far more intimate relationship than the two actually had back in the ’80s, with Murray adding new flourishes on every take, only some of which ended up in the finished film. “You know, you wasted a lot of time putting on that make up,” he yells. “It’s not going to work anymore. You’ve got a lot of nerve trying to crawl back.”

“The scene I just did now, it was fun ,” Murray said afterward. “I got to just say what I wanted to say, and it was always that way. The script was just our jumping off point.”

Hudson, who comes from a classical acting background, still marvels at his improv-trained costars. “I’ve done, sheesh, I don’t know, probably 250 credits or something, but working with Bill Murray and seeing him and Danny trying to come up with something, trying to fill the space, and then something really magical comes out of it...that’s unusual,” he said.

As Murray added variations to his insult barrage, Wolfhard, whose character is hiding near the collapsed OGBs, asked Jason Reitman: “Can I laugh?” He suggests maybe that will irritate Gozer even more. The director urges him to keep playing the moment low-key.

But Gozer was also cracking up. Olivia Wilde, who sported the extreme pompadour hairstyle and scaly boils and baubles of the monster in Afterlife, sometimes had difficulty keeping a straight face. At one moment during Murray’s epic roast of Gozer, Wilde broke and laughed out loud. “You got me on that one,” she told him. “Too far. TOO FAR!”

While Hudson prepared to take his shot, Reitman encouraged Aykroyd to join in the verbal jabs. “For Stantz, I feel like your insults would be about her actual cosmic properties,” the director said.

Akyroyd nodded, agreeing that Gozer might feel some insecurity about rival deities. “Hawaiians have better gods than you!” he shouted. “Pele could kick your ass!”

As they work through their takes, Murray couldn’t help but torment his costars a little too. He brushed away some of the dirt and straw on the ground to reveal a rectangular shape beneath Hudson. “Have you got a pad here!?” asked Murray, who did not have one himself. He narrowed his eyes at Hudson and shook his head. “You’re soft, ” he declared.

Hudson played it off with a grin. “Nah,” he said. “That was for the stunt man!” Then he leaned back and luxuriated in his camouflaged comfort spot.

Murray wasn’t the only one who initially felt out of place while returning to this world. Despite being one of the OGBs, Hudson said the first few days on set left him “feeling very isolated.” “Maybe I should extend myself a little bit more. But that’s just me,” Hudson said in his trailer during a break. “The guys are great. Bill will come by and knock on the door and he’ll invite me and shit. I guess I’m just weird. I have friends, I think I’m a friendly guy. But I don’t invite myself. I go and get my lunch, and I’ll come back here and eat it alone.”

The day before, he said, things finally changed. That’s when he became friends with Gozer. 

Wilde, in her spiky exoskeleton bodysuit and Pazuzu makeup, approached the introverted Hudson in the food line. “She says, ‘Ernie, you going to have lunch here?’ And I said, ‘If we could find a table.’ So we sat down together and then Ivan came, and the table filled up with people, and I go, ‘Wow, this is kind of cool,’” Hudson said. “I’ve always been a little bit like that; just a little awkward. But Gozer invited me. All I need is one other person.”

Back on set, Gozer had stopped being friendly. Wilde moved in for the kill.

After Jason Reitman called cut, the guys shambled to their feet while the crew prepared a new setup. Hudson rose first and swung around just as Murray began to stand beside him. 

That’s when his proton blaster connected with Murray’s frontal lobe. 

Hudson winced as if he were the one who’d been struck. “I hit him on the head with my gun as he was getting up,” he explained to onlooking crew members, as Murray left to get checked by the set medic.

The accident slowed things down for a beat. Murray got knocked hard, enough to leave a mark. But he was okay. He returned a few minutes later, playing it up like he was gravely wounded but had valiantly rallied. His young costars went along with the joke. “Yeah, I mean, what’s a concussion anyway?” Wolfhard said.

Murray smirked at the Stranger Things kid. “What’s a concussion?” he repeated. “Close your eyes.…” He raised his proton blaster like a club.

Hudson approached to apologize again, but Murray waved it off. “It’s okay,” Murray said, proclaiming loudly: “I learned a valuable lesson!”

Soon, cameras were rolling again. Venkman’s distraction didn’t work. Gozer zapped away Zeddemore’s weapon and prepared to obliterate them. But off to the side, Phoebe unleashed her own proton blast on the creature—saving the OGBs who came to save her. As they lumbered to their feet, Stantz says, “I don’t remember this job being so painful!”

“ I do,” Zeddemore groans. At that point, the actors weren’t acting.

“It’s true,” Aykroyd said later. “Jason says ‘Okay, you guys, hop up now.’ Yeah, there will be no ‘hopping up’ here. There will be a slow climb to one knee, a hefting of the pack, both hands grasping the automobile as a leverage point, and pulling myself up to my feet. That’s the ‘hop’ that you’re going to get.”

The day led them to one of the most significant moments in the film, one that actually scares everyone involved—not because it’s spooky or eerie, but because it is bittersweet.

This requires one more major spoiler warning …

In a story about ghosts, no one is ever truly gone. And the spirit of Egon, looking years older than Harold Ramis ever got to be in real life, manifests in the climax to help steady his granddaughter in her showdown.

Throughout the process, the filmmakers were determined to handle the moment with a sense of awe and respect. Jason Reitman hired Bob Gunton, perhaps best known as the warden from The Shawshank Redemption, to do the performance capture for Egon, saying the seasoned actor brought a strength and presence that radiates through the ethereal glowing effects. Gunton sported the character’s high cockatoo hair, but his face was replaced with a digital image of Ramis. Though he didn’t have any spoken lines, his silent facial expressions echo in in the ghostly onscreen version of Egon.

Ramis died years before the Afterlife script was even conceived, so he had no involvement in the story, but Reitman did consult extensively with his family, including daughter Violet Ramis Stiel, author of the book Ghostbuster’s Daughter , before moving forward with the concept. The actor’s survivors agreed to let the filmmakers re-create his likeness, but of course no one can know for sure how Ramis would feel about it.

Looking back at the notes from my own interview with Ramis from 2002, he said something that suggests he'd be pleased with the way the film handles his loss. Back then, he was discussing how he often added a tone of wistfulness to his own films. “I like to leave a strange note in people's evenings where they say, ‘Gee, I just saw a comedy, but there's something a little sad in there,’” he said.

Ramis interview from December 2002.

Without revealing the specifics of the finale, Egon and his old friends join forces one more time. Evil is vanquished, and the world is saved. In the moments that follow, everyone involved gets an emotional catharsis, including the audience.

For so long, all fans wanted was a reunion of these actors. What no one realized—maybe not even Hudson, Aykroyd, and Murray—was that they actually needed a goodbye. Ramis, now seven years gone, also got the bittersweet note he was so fond of threading into his own comedies. 

The sad ending, as it turns out, could also be a happy one.

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Bill Murray Gets Candid on 'Ghostbusters' Sequels, 'Groundhog Day', Working With Wes Anderson & Sofia Coppola and More

The accomplished actor also talked about why he hasn't directed more movies and making the jump from improv comedy to film early in his career.

The 36th Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) presented its highest honor, the Maltin Modern Master Award (established in 1995, and then re-named to recognize long-time renowned film critic Leonard Maltin in 2015), to actor Bill Murray during a live virtual presentation on April 2nd. The award was created to honor an individual who has enriched our culture through accomplishments in the motion picture industry, and in celebrating his work from On the Rocks and Rushmore to Groundhog Day and Ghostbusters , as well as so many titles in between, it was easy to see why the Academy Award-nominated actor is an American film legend.

During the 90-minute presentation and conversation, featuring clips from many of Murray’s films, the actor shared insight and inspiration about a number of the filmmakers that he’s worked with in his career. The highlights of the conversation that follow chronicle what lead him to acting, the adjustment in going from improv comedy to film, his experience on the set of all of the Ghostbusters films that he’s been a part of, including the upcoming Ghostbusters: Afterlife , the false pretenses he agreed to be in Ghostbusters 2 under, working with directors Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola , how he felt about Andie MacDowell ’s hair while making Groundhog Day , and why he hasn’t directed more.

Question: Did you envision yourself a movie actor, when you were just starting out in show business?

BILL MURRAY: I had a job before I thought of doing it for a living. One night on stage, I did something and I thought, “Hey, that’s pretty good. I could do this for a living.” That’s when I decided I could do it. And then, from there, I came to realize that the more fun I had doing my job, the better I was at it. I looked around at my friends and I thought, “Well, that’s as good as anyone can do,” to have a job that you have to have fun to be good at it. So, I stuck with it.

Have you had the experience of making a film where you and your co-stars all had a wonderful experience, but the movie sucked?

MURRAY: I don’t think that ever really happened. There were only a couple movies that weren’t wonderful and that I enjoy watching, but there were some that turned out mysterious and that didn’t quite work. There was only one that was an extraordinary time, and a great visit with great actors and great people and in a great landscape, where it was just a puzzle that we didn’t exactly solve. So, it happened once. I’ve been lucky.

Who did you enjoy watching when you were a kid?

MURRAY: To me, what’s more interesting is the people that I really didn’t get when I was younger. There are people that I didn’t quite understand when I was younger, that later I got to really like. The person that jumps into my mind is Jack Benny. He was a fella who I thought was a little bit dry for a 10-year-old or a 12-year-old, but later when I watched him, I saw that he was so deft. His timing was so precise. His face was such a beautiful photograph that I would turn on the TV and record him, just to go back and watch him. Jack Benny was perfect, absolutely perfect. And I didn’t really care for John Wayne much when I was a kid. I thought he was stiff. But later, I got to like him and watched him more. I thought he had extraordinary self-control and he didn’t push it. He let the story come to him. He let himself be the vehicle of the story, much better than I ever appreciated when I was a kid. Cary Grant is another one where people thought, “Well, he’s just a really good-looking guy,” but I can watch North by Northwest at any hour of the day. If it’s on TV, I can’t not watch it. Part of it’s Hitchcock and Eva Marie Saint is beautiful, but Cary Grant is just stunning in that role and he does so many things. He’s funny, he’s romantic, he’s heavy, he’s frightened. It’s a really nice performance, and he did it, all the time. Unfortunately, he had this beautiful body and handsome face, and people didn’t take it seriously.

In some of your early films, you and your colleagues established a persona for you that lead people to believe you were that guy because you made it look so easy.

MURRAY: Well, it’s not easy. Someone recently said, “I saw your last movie. I hope they didn’t pay you because you were just being yourself.” I just rattled back, “You know, it’s harder than you think to be yourself. Why don’t you try it sometime?” It’s not so easy to do. That part of it is the life challenge, really.

RELATED: ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ Gets New Release Date (Again)

What was it like to work with Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis so early on in your career?

MURRAY: In the early days, Ivan Reitman promised that, if the movie wasn’t good, it would never be released. Ivan was just a knucklehead Canadian who was smuggled out of Czechoslovakia in the bottom of a boat, so all we could do was make fun of him and kid him, all the time. He certainly learned how to make movies. I made a handful with him and they really did all work. And Harold was someone that I knew from the Second City theater in Chicago. He was in the theater with my brother Brian. My brother Brian is the reason I ended up an actor. I had no other prospects. I’d run down there to hide out from the eyes of judgment, and seeing the show so many times, I thought I’d try my luck at it. It was far harder than I thought, but that’s how I got to it. But I knew Harold and he was very generous with me. He was very kind to me, when I was just a young punk. I was lucky with them, and that’s part of the luck that I’ve had. I was lucky to be hanging onto the coattails of those people, [John] Belushi and Danny Aykroyd, especially, and the people who went out there and did it first. I learned so much by watching them. You say you never imitate someone, but when I first started, I sure sounded like my brother Brian. They used to give me scenes of his to do in Second City, and I think I must have sounded so much like him that people thought, “Oh, Brian’s back in the show.”

Was there any kind of adjustment for you, going from improv comedy to film?

MURRAY: The most difficult thing is when you tell a joke or say something funny and no one laughs for nine months. You have this incomplete feeling in your gut that something’s wrong and you wonder why you’re not sleeping correctly. And then, when you go to the movie, you realize, “Oh, I said something funny, a long time ago, and no one laughed.” When you see it with an audience, you’re like, “Oh, thank God that’s over. What a relief that was.”

On Ghostbusters , were you expected and encouraged to improvise on set, or did you have to work all of that out before the shoot?

MURRAY: I don’t know how you’d do it before, unless you were writing it. Rehearsal is for losers. I think we all know that. We just like to get out there and do it. A script is two dimensions. A script can be as good as can be, but when you enter the physical world, and you have to stand, move, walk and talk, something arrives that’s unexpected and unaccounted for, and that’s where you make your bones, in what happens there. A movie that is lifeless is one where sometimes the script is all you get, and the actors give you the script and don’t take into it all that’s happening in the moment of the real shooting. There’s a lot going on in the moment, and the more you can notice it, be aware of it and transmit that, the more alive the scene becomes and the more alive the film becomes. That movie had great cinematography, with László Kovács. A lot of special effects movies look pretty weak nowadays, but that movie still has got a real look to it that’s pretty legit. It was ahead of its time. We had great special effects people. It was a hard job. The four of us – Ernie Hudson, Danny, Harold and I – knew we were gonna sink or swim together, so we were always looking out for each other. We were constantly making sure that everybody was pumping and all getting it.

As far as improvising goes, Harold was the mind and brain of the Ghostbusters, Danny was the heart of the Ghostbusters, Ernie was the soul of the Ghostbusters, and I was the mouth of the Ghostbusters. I got to talk a lot. When the special effects start to rear their ugly head, that’s when I had to work a little bit and earn my money and earn my keep to comment on it, as an audience member and the wiseacre of our group, in order to keep some false courage up about what we were going after, which we were truly terrified of. Even the sets were scary to us, really. It was frightening, with the electricity and all of those kinds of things. The stunts were really scary and dangerous. I’ve done most of my stunts, all my life, but one I said I wasn’t gonna do because it was a wire stunt. The stunt guy said, “I’ll handle this one,” and he flew so far up in the air and landed with his crotch right on the corner of this marble table. I’m not always right, but when I’m right like that, I feel it. It was a very painful moment, and you can see it in the movie. If that had been me hitting the table, you would have heard an unbelievable scream. I just think about how I cheated death in the film business and I cheated manhood that day.

Were you reluctant to do Ghostbusters 2 ?

MURRAY: Yes, I was very, very reluctant to do it. I was in absolutely no hurry. I probably thought that the only reason anyone would want another one was just to make money. And I was probably the most reluctant. Someone outfoxed me anyway. I don’t know if Ivan set it up, but 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. Those are some really wonderful, really funny guys and girls. Sigourney [Weaver] and Annie Potts are some really spectacular women and funny as hell. They got us all together and they pitched a story idea that was really great. I thought, “Holy cow, we could make that work.”

It ended up not being the story they wrote. They got us in the sequel under false pretenses. Harold had this great idea, but by the time we got to shooting it, I showed up on set and went, “What the hell is this? What is this thing?” But we were already shooting it, so we had to figure out how to make it work. That was a great bunch of people. Just to be together was great. I probably like the first one better than the second one, just because the first cut is the deepest. We were in New York and we really made a mess in New York for a couple of months, but we had a lot of fun. People in New York will accept things, but those uniforms, when we rolled into places, people thought, “They’ve got these cool uniforms. They must be somebody.” People thought we were legitimate. When we drove that car through red lights and one-way streets, it just looked like we were in charge of the situation. It was a lot of fun, that first one. We didn’t get away with that much on the second one.

You’ve participated in every iteration of Ghostbusters .

MURRAY: Yes, that’s true. I did the one that the ladies did, and those are some of my favorite funny people. Those girls are so funny. You talk about improvising, and they did nothing but fire grenades, all day long. I sat in amazement, watching them. They circled the globe. You want a trip around the world, do a scene with those four girls sometime. That was interesting. It’s interesting to be a guy and listen to girls talk. You don’t get that opportunity, all the time, to listen to women at their most direct and frank, especially women who are that funny. I was just happy to be a fly on the wall, most of the day. And there’s gonna be another one. Ivan’s son, Jason, did one. 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 could that possibly be?” I remember him when he was a kid. I remember his Bar Mitzvah. I was like, “What the heck? What does this kid know?” But he had a really, really wonderful idea that he wrote with another wonderful guy that I got to work with, Gil Kenan, who made City of Ember . The two of them wrote a Ghostbusters movie that really brings it back to life. It really has the feel of the first one, more than the second one or the girls’ one. It has a different feel than two out of four.

I think he’s really got something. It was hard. It was really hard. That’s why I think it’s gonna be good. We were just in it for a little while, but it was physically painful. Wearing those packs is extremely uncomfortable. We had batteries the size of batteries. They now have batteries the size of earrings. It’s still a really heavy thing to wear, all the time. The special effects in this one are a lot of wind and dirt in your face, and there was a lot of going down and getting back up. I was like, “What is this? What am I doing? These are like Bulgarian deadlifts, or a Russian kettlebell, getting up and down with this thing on my back.” It was very uncomfortable. Usually, when something has a very high misery quotient, something comes of that and some quality is produced that, if you can capture it and project it, comes on the screen and affects you. I think it comes out sometime in the fall. They’ve delayed it for a year or a year and a half, but I’m glad they did. It will be worth seeing.

How did you come into Wes Anderson’s orbit?

MURRAY: I kept getting these notes from my agent, who kept sending me cassettes of his first film, Bottle Rocket . I probably have the largest collection of Bottle Rocket of any man on the planet, and I still haven’t seen the movie. I just never got around to watching it. Finally, they sent me the script of Rushmore and they said, “Would you like to meet this man?” And I said, “That’s not necessary.” They really wanted me to do it and they went, “What?!” I said, “He knows exactly what he wants to do.” When I read the script, I knew this was a guy who knew exactly what he was gonna do. They said, “Do you wanna meet him?” I said, “It’s not necessary. When do we shoot it?” It was like that. I’ve been very fortunate to work with Wes on all of his other movies, except for that one I haven’t seen. At first, it was an afterthought, but we’ve become great friends. He really makes movie-making an experience. I used to envy those old-timers who went to Hawaii and shot Hurricane, and they had to stay in Hawaii for five and a half months for a good storm. That was living. That was really being a movie actor, back then. But Wes’ movies are similar. We go to a place, we take over a small place, and that’s all you do, is the movie. There’s nothing else, but making that movie and being with the people that are making that movie. All of your daily life is just more gris for the mill. It’s more that you can bring to the job when you shoot. He really makes the making of movies and experience, and I love that. And every movie he makes just gets better and better and better.

What do you remember about Groundhog Day ?

MURRAY: Andie MacDowell drove me absolutely crazy on that movie. She drove me absolutely nuts. We were always waiting for Andie MacDowell’s hair. The fact is, Andie MacDowell has the greatest hair you have ever seen, in your life. When she finally would arrive, you had to just give up because that hair was really great, but she did drive me crazy. I’ve thought about it many times, that I owe her a real apology because she did drive me crazy. I’m not really method, but I must have really resented the fact that she still hadn’t fallen in love with me. We were 17 weeks into the movie and she still didn’t like me. That’s probably what I was holding onto. That was my method actor reserve. I must have read that in an article about acting. But I’d like to put on the record that her performance in the film is really, really, really good. I don’t mean really good, I mean what’s better that really good. It’s very good. It’s really great. That was a hard movie to make. It was just as hard for her, and she had that hair to deal with.

How have you enjoyed working with Sofia Coppola?

MURRAY: I love Sofia. It’s great because the longer I know her, the more I love her and the more I get to love about her. I see that she’s a real full-blown American woman. She’s a working mother and artist, and a sister and a wife. She’s all of those things, and I am none of those things. It’s fun. I completely get to give myself up to it. I can really admire all of those things because I am none of them. We met through work, and when she goes to work, she knows exactly what she wants. We call her the boss and we call her the velvet hammer. She’s a delicate lady, but she’s an absolute brute to anyone who tries to get her off of her intention. You can have a good idea and she’ll recognize a good idea, but no matter how charming, flattering or powerfully you present a bad idea, she’ll just say, “No, I don’t think so.” It’s really fun to watch. I don’t get it much myself because I don’t bother to try. I wait for when she’s really weak, at the end of the day. I love to watch her with other people, when they try to pitch something. It’s fascinating. It’s like watching a magician from backstage. It’s a delight.

Her family makes this wine too, so you get your hands on some of that wine, every once in a while. She’s got a wonderful husband, who’s a great musician, and her brother Roman feels like I got an extra brother. I just feel like he’s someone who’s so compassionate and so forgiving. I think I’ve had some of my worst behavior around Roman, and I didn’t hear anything about it, the next day. There was no blowback the next day. He’s also someone that loves making films. The whole family has got that virus, and they’re very helpful with each other and creative with each other. Roman works with Wes, too. He’s like the godbrother with both of those directors (Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola) for me.

Sofia’s most recent film ( On the Rocks ) is a really great exploration of what it’s like to be a modern woman. For Rashida Jones and Sofia to get together and talk about what it’s like to have a father that can take a lot of oxygen out of a room sometimes and a father that can fill the space was really challenging to work. I felt a great obligation to those two to try my best. It’s a delicate subject to talk about your family, or even to talk about a director that you worked closely with and you relate to. We made a Christmas movie. That’s a long shot, to make a Christmas movie. That can be pretty sappy. It can be incredibly disappointing and it can miss. It can fall and land flat. She squeezed gooseberries of emotion out of all kinds of scenes. There was emotional juice, all over the place. All of the actors threw in on it, without any real certainty of what we were gonna do or how it was gonna turn out, and it was delightful to watch. She and Roman made that happen. I just had faith. She far surpassed anything I thought anyone could do with that idea and script.

You’re such a creative person and yet you’ve only directed once, on Quick Change , and you’ve written very little. Why is that? Why haven’t you done that more often?

MURRAY: Well, I haven’t gotten around to business yet. I’ve gotta get to work. I really think that I should be writing. I really do wish to be a writer. I can write in fits and spurts, and I can write some dialogue and some scenes, but to write a full-length anything is a different thing. I haven’t knuckled down. I really enjoyed directing and I thought I was gonna do it all the time because I liked it. I like working with actors and I understand actors. I thought, “I could do that.” But my life changed, and to direct a movie, it takes a long time out of your life to make each and every film. When it was time for me to continue directing movies, I didn’t have that time to give. There are people that keep directing. Clint Eastwood made a movie last year and he’s 90. I don’t know how he does it, but he keeps after it. He just keeps writing stories. I’ve been really lucky to work with people like Sofia, Jim Jarmusch, Wes and Ruben Fleischer, who made Zombieland . It’s an embarrassment that I’m sure makes other actors go, “That lucky stiff. How does he get to work with those people? What did he ever do? Why? Isn’t he dead? Didn’t he die?” But maybe I’ll get around to it. Maybe the smoke will clear and I’ll get focused. Maybe I’ll learn something from working with these people that know what they’re doing.

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Bill Murray’s performance in Ghostbusters: Afterlife said to be just “one of the joys” of the film

• October 4, 2021

As we’ve previously reported , the November issue of Empire Magazine features an interview with Ghostbusters: Afterlife director Jason Reitman and his father, producer of Afterlife and director of the first two Ghostbusters films, Ivan Reitman.

The interview touches on a variety of topics, such as the on-screen dedication to Harold Ramis that’ll be seen in Afterlife , as well, what it was like having the cast of the 1984 film returning for the third chapter.

When asked about the daunting task of bringing back such iconic characters and having the likes of Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and Dan Aykroyd on set, Jason Reitman said:

“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. It’s also very intimidating. And it is an immediate reminder of what we were so presumptuous to attempt, which is to make another film that is a chapter in this larger story. It’s one thing to direct all new characters, because at that point, you can almost say that you’re making fan fiction. When Bill (Murray) and Ernie (Hudson) and Dan (Aykroyd) walk in wearing flight suits, it becomes very real, very quickly. This is a Ghostbusters movie.

Producer Ivan Reitman added:

“When certain people started showing up from the world of the ’84 film, it was startling for me. Just to see everybody older but still be there. Seeing them step on set in character was really thrilling. And to hear Venkman speak as Venkman, in a way that we haven’t heard in such a long time, that’s going to be one of the joys of the movie. “

Jason Reitman also mentioned Murray’s notorious history of ad-libbing, which was certainly felt on set of Afterlife .

“I’d heard all the stories about Bill improvising lines of dialogue. And when Bill improvised a line, I remember everyone around me going “He did the thing!”

The November issue of Empire Magazine is on newsstands now.

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‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Teaser: Paul Rudd Returns to Fight the Undead with Kumail Nanjiani

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The “ Ghostbusters ” franchise has proven to be unkillable, thanks to the 2021 film “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” breathing a fresh take in the beloved canon.

Now, the sequel “ Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire ” marks the return of reboot characters the Spengler family, played by matriarch Carrie Coon, “Stranger Things” star Finn Wolfhard, and Grace Mckenna. Paul Rudd is back as teacher Gary Grooberson, who helped the Spenglers discover why supernatural occurrences were taking place after moving into a new house. The tie to the original 1984 “Ghostbusters,” complete with the Spengler family connection, also saw the return of stars Bill Murray , Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts.

Murray, Aykroyd, and Hudson appear in the “Frozen Empire” trailer.

Kumail Nanjiani , Patton Oswalt, and comedian James Acaster join the ensemble cast for the follow-up film helmed by Gil Kenan using a script co-written by Kenan, 2021 “Afterlife” director Jason Reitman , and Jason Blumenfeld.

“A few years ago, my father handed me the keys to Ecto-1, and together we made ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,'” Reitman told Deadline upon the announcement of the sequel, citing father Ivan Reitman’s original “Ghostbusters” films. “Words will never express how grateful I am to have made a film with my father by my side. It’s now time to hand those keys to my creative partner and fellow Ghostbuster Gil Kenan, a brilliant director who will keep the Spengler spirit alive. I can only hope to provide him the same producorial care and support that my father showed me.”

Reitman also teased a return of Vigo The Carpathian from “Ghostbusters II” for the “Afterlife” sequel. The film was originally slated to be released December 20 but was pushed back due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.

“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” premieres March 29 from Sony Pictures. Check out the teaser below.

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The Idiom That Ghostbusters Created All Those Years Ago Is Still Used Today

When it comes to classic movies, the more popular the film, the more often it's quoted by fans . From just comedies alone, for example, you can take any extremely high-odds situation and pull the quote "So, you're telling me there's a chance," from "Dumb and Dumber," while just about any sound of ecstasy can spark an "I'll have what she's having" remark from anyone nearby. However, the one thing that the majority of these quotes have in common is that they were written in the original screenplay. 

In rare circumstances, sometimes a classic quotable line was actually improvised by the performer who originally uttered it. And in an even rarer case, that improvised line may become a brand new idiom, right there on the spot, that continues to be used in real-life society in the future. That is exactly what happened in the movie "Ghostbusters" when one of the main characters spoke a line of dialogue that he came up with, off the cuff — unknowingly inserting it into the English language.

Just like all of Hollywood, the cast and crew of the 1984 horror-comedy classic "Ghostbusters" had no possible way of truly knowing how huge of a success this film would be. The movie grossed nearly $300,000,000 worldwide at the box office, and eventually spawned a sequel, spinoffs, animated series, and an endless list of merchandise that can still be found in stores today. It's no surprise that the original film is also full of famous quotes, but it was Bill Murray's ad-libbed line that actually turned into an idiom we still use today. 

Bill Murray invented a new way to describe being destroyed

As the years go by, many highly-successful classic films release more and more bits of inside information about the making of the project. Hearing that Bill Murray, along with the other performers in the original 1984 "Ghostbusters," ad-libbed many lines, should be no surprise based on how the cast handled their scripted dialogue. "80% was improv," Dan Aykroyd revealed on "Reunited Apart" (via ABC News). "The rest was just structure and exposition."

One of these improvised lines came from Murray as his character Dr. Peter Venkman, and it involved an evil paranormal overlord mixed with a breakfast item. Just before the team of spectral fighters steps up to face Gozer the Gozerian  (Slavitza Jovan), Peter yells out, "Alright, this chick is toast!" According to the book "Six Words You Never Knew Had Something to Do with Pigs"  by Katherine Barber, the lexicographers from the Oxford English Dictionary discovered that the line was originally scripted as, "That's it! I'm gonna turn this guy into toast!" Obviously, Murray's choice to change it on the fly was a solid decision. 

Murray's alteration not only turned it into a classic line but the idiom "toast" was also born. This isn't the first time (nor probably the last) Murray has ad-libbed memorable lines. One of the most notable, of course, was the nearly entirely improvised scene when he played the groundskeeper in the film "Caddyshack." However, none of that dialogue made it to the actual Oxford English Dictionary  as "toast" has. So, in the words of Carl Spackler, Murray's got that going for him.

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Bill Murray on Golfing With MJ, ‘Ghostbusters’ Stories, Improv in Chicago, and Comparing Sports to Moviemaking

Plus, how the NFL is managing in the offseason and the possibility of an NBA return

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Steve and Pete provide an update on their respective sports , express optimism on a possible NBA return, and discuss how the NFL is managing in the offseason (00:00). Then they are joined by the one and only Bill Murray to talk about filming Space Jam and playing golf with Larry Bird and Michael Jordan, the similarities between sports and filmmaking, stories from the set of Ghostbusters , how he got his start in comedy, and more (00:00).

Hosts: Steve Kerr and Pete Carroll Guest: Bill Murray

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Steve and Pete provide an update on their respective sports, express optimism on a possible NBA return, and discuss how the NFL is managing in the offseason (1:15). Then they are joined by the one and only Bill Murray to talk about filming 'Space Jam' and playing golf with Larry Bird and Michael Jordan, the similarities between sports and filmmaking, stories from the set of 'Ghostbusters,' how he got his start in comedy, and more (14:30). Hosts: Steve Kerr and Pete Carroll Guest: Bill Murray This show is raising money for COVID-19 relief. You can help! Donate here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Bill Murray says it was 'physically painful' to shoot the new 'Ghostbusters' movie

• Murray said putting the proton pack back on in the new "Ghostbusters" was "extremely uncomfortable."
• "Physically painful" filming involved wind, dirt, and the original Ghostbusters falling down a lot.
• "These are like Bulgarian deadlifts, or a Russian kettlebell, getting up and down," Murray said.

Bill Murray is coming back to play Dr. Peter Venkman in the latest movie in the "Ghostbusters" franchise, "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" — and the 70-year-old admits putting the proton pack on again to play the silly ghost-chaser took a toll on his body this time around.

"It was physically painful," Murray revealed while doing a virtual talk recently at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, according to Collider . "Wearing those packs is extremely uncomfortable."

Murray has appeared in all the sequels following the hit 1984 original, but he said filming for the new movie was particularly challenging because a lot of "wind and dirt" was in his face due to the special effects. Plus, there was a lot of falling down and getting back up.

"I was like, 'What is this? What am I doing? These are like Bulgarian deadlifts, or a Russian kettlebell, getting up and down with this thing on my back,'" he said. "It was very uncomfortable."

But the actor believes with pain comes glory.

"Usually, when something has a very high misery quotient, something comes of that and some quality is produced that, if you can capture it and project it, comes on the screen and affects you," Murray said, according to Collider.

Sony, which releases the "Ghostbuster" movies, hopes "Afterlife" will be a success.

While the original "Ghostbusters" was an instant comedy classic thanks to the antics by Murray and costars Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis, Sigourney Weaver, and the late Harold Ramis, the 1989 sequel was a bust as was the all-female reboot in 2016.

But Murray is optimistic. Not just due to the pain factor he went through this time around, but also because director Jason Reitman, the son of the director of the original movie, Ivan Reitman, is at the helm of "Afterlife."

"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 could that possibly be?'" Murray said. "I remember him when he was a kid. I remember his Bar Mitzvah. I was like, 'What the heck? What does this kid know?' But he had a really, really wonderful idea."

"Ghostbusters: Afterlife" is a direct sequel to the first two movies. Along with Murray, it also stars Aykroyd, Hudson, and Weaver all reprising their original roles. The movie also stars Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, and "Stranger Things" star Finn Wolfhard.

The movie is set for release in November 2021.

Watch: Emmy-nominated 'WandaVision' hides its villain in plain sight. Here's how to spot a surprise villain in TV and movies.

WATCH: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd Pitch Indie Theaters on Ghostbusters - With the Original Theme Song

Newly released footage shows 80s-era Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd comically pitching Ghostbusters to indie theaters.

Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd pitch  Ghostbusters   to independent movie theaters in a recently-unearthed 1984 promotional video reel.In the clip, Murray and Aykroyd stand in front of the now-iconic Ectomobile (A.K.A. Ecto-1) at the entrance of a film studio in their  Ghostbusters ' uniforms. Aykroyd leads the introduction, mentioning the odds would be in the movie theaters' favor if they were to pick up  Ghostbusters  as Aykroyd foretells it to be "the greatest comedy motion picture of all time." Murray follows with "This is gonna make  E.T.  look like  Raiders of the Lost Ark... This is gonna be the kind of thing that your children are gonna say, 'Dad, I can look up to you now, and I never could before.'" RELATED: Ghostbusters Releases Unfinished Footage of the Film's Climactic 'Crossing the Streams' Scene

"And it  is  PG," says Aykroyd. "I'm fucking telling you, it's PG!"

Originally, Columbia Pictures enlisted the help of Murray and Aykroyd to sell the film to theater distributors at the ShoWest Convention in Las Vegas in 1984. Murray and Aykroyd's pitch functioned as the introduction to a 13-minute reel full of rough  Ghostbusters ' cuts   -- including clips with no music or special effects -- to show at the convention. Also, the video reel featured an unused theme song performed by Glenn Hughes and Pat Thrall. Columbia Pictures presented the song in three parts in the original reel, but below is the entire stitched-together version for fans to hear.

An edited version of this 1984 reel was recently released as a bonus feature on the  Ghostbusters 1 & 2  4K UHD/Blu-ray set, where Aykroyd's ironic "fuck" was edited out.

The  Ghostbusters  franchise was resurrected in recent years for fans to enjoy newer tales, starting with the all-woman cast reboot of  Ghostbusters  released in 2016. Soon,  Ghostbusters: Afterlife   will be released as well, focusing its story on where  Ghostbusters II ended . Ghostbusters: Afterlife  was set to release this summer, but its release has been postponed to 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is directed by Jason Reitman who also co-wrote the film with Gil Kenan. Starring Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd and Mckenna Grace, the film arrives in theaters March 5, 2021.

KEEP READING:  Ghostbusters: Afterlife - Trailer, Plot, Release Date & News to Know

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Sony dropped the first trailer to the highly anticipated sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife and gave the pic a title: Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

Along for the ride is Patton Oswalt and Kumail Nanjiani with Paul Rudd’s Gary Grooberson returning.

Celeste O’Connor, Logan Kim, and original Ghostbusters thespian Annie Potts also star.

Gil Kenan, the EP and co-scribe of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, takes over the directing reigns here from that pic’s helmer Jason Reitman.

Reitman co-wrote the script with Kenan. Reitman also produces wiht Jason Blumenfield.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire comes out on March 29, 2024; the lucrative Easter box office weekend.

After the franchise did not please fans with the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters with Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, Sony took the series created by the late Harold Ramis and Aykroyd back to its heart with Ghostbusters: Afterlife. The studio showed off the movie to exhibition at the first CinemaCon which returned during Covid in August 2021, and wowed them. Afterlife played the November box office that year grossing $129.3M domestic and over $204M worldwide.

The Ghostbusters franchise, which came to life in the summer of 1984, has grossed $945.2M through four movies.

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‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Trailer: Paul Rudd Is Back Battling Ghosts

By Julia MacCary

Julia MacCary

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Cue the theme song, the Ghostbusters are back! 

Sony has dropped the trailer for “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the sequel to 2021’s “ Ghostbusters: Afterlife .”

“Afterlife” took the ghostbusting to rural Oklahoma, but the franchise’s upcoming fifth film returns to its roots in New York City. In the trailer for “Frozen Empire,” an idyllic NYC summer turns icy when a mysterious “death chill” takes over the city. Paul Rudd leads a ragtag group of Ghostbusters to fight the frozen foe.

“Afterlife” starred Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace, who were all new to the franchise. Original stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and Sigourney Weaver also made their “Ghostbusters” return in “Afterlife.” Jason Reitman penned the “Afterlife” reboot alongside Gil Kenan and Aykroyd, with Ivan Reitman producing. 

Kenan directs the upcoming movie. Reitman teased the sequel’s production in an Instagram post at the iconic “Ghostbusters” firehouse standing alongside Kenan in February, with “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” cinematographer Eric Steelberg snapping the pic.

“It’s an absolute honor to pick up the proton pack and step behind the camera for the next chapter of the Spengler family saga,” said Kenan in a statement when he was announced as director. “I just wish I could go back to 1984 and tell the kid in the sixth row of the Mann Valley West that one day he was going to get to direct a ‘Ghostbusters’ film.”

As the fifth movie in the franchise, the most recent edition comes after “Ghostbusters” in 1984, “Ghostbusters II” in 1989, the female-led “Ghostbusters” in 2016 and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” in 2021. 

Sony is set to release the film on March 29. Check out the trailer below.

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Bill Murray Says He Was 'Outfoxed' into Making 'Ghostbusters II' and Joined 'Under False Pretenses'

Bill Murray revealed he was “very, very reluctant” to reprise his role in the sequel

Bill Murray 's return to the Ghostbusters franchise came through a series of events he never saw coming.

The Ghostbusters star, 70, got candid about his time working on the franchise at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Saturday where he virtually received the Maltin Modern Master Award.

Murray admitted he was "very, very reluctant" to make the 1989 sequel and "in absolutely no hurry" to reprise his role as Dr. Peter Venkman until the studio pitched an idea that never came to be.

"Someone outfoxed me anyway. I don't know if Ivan [Reitman, director] set it up, but 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," Murray said. "We were really funny together."

"Those are some really wonderful, funny guys and girls," he continued.

The nostalgia along with the studio's pitch for the sequel convinced Murray to sign onto the film. "I thought, 'Holy cow, we could make that work,'" he recalled.

However, once production started, Murray discovered the pitch that had captured his interest in reprising his role as Venkman was no longer a part of the sequel's screenplay.

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"It ended up not being the story they wrote," he revealed. "They got us in the sequel under false pretenses."

By the time Murray realized, it was too late. "I showed up on set and went, 'What the hell is this? What is this thing?' But we were already shooting it, so we had to figure out how to make it work."

Although Murray says he still enjoyed filming the sequel with his co-stars, it doesn't compare to the first Ghostbusters which was released in 1984.

"I probably like the first one better than the second one, just because the first cut is the deepest," Murray said.

The actor will reprise his role in director Jason Reitman's Ghostbusters: Afterlife , which Murray said "really brings [the franchise] back to life" and matches the spirit of the original movie.

The film also stars Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Carrie Coon and Paul Rudd.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is set for release on Nov. 11.

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‘Ghostbusters’ Slimer Was Inspired By Late John Belushi — After FX Guy Saw His Ghost

Posted: November 21, 2023 | Last updated: November 21, 2023

‘Ghostbusters’ Slimer Was Inspired By Late John Belushi — After FX Guy Saw His Ghost

Before john belushi died of a drug overdose in 1982, dan aykroyd had written them leading roles in 'ghostbusters'.

In addition to leaving his hilarious mark on the world, John Belushi's legacy was subtly cemented in what was supposed to be his next movie.

Before the comedian died of a drug overdose in 1982, his friend and collaborator Dan Aykroyd had written them leading roles in his then-upcoming supernatural comedy Ghostbusters .

"[It was originally] written for John [Belushi] and I," Aykroyd told Vanity Fair on the movie's 30th anniversary in 2014. "I was writing a line for John, and [talent manager and eventual Ghostbusters executive producer] Bernie Brillstein called and said they just found him. It was a Kennedy moment. . . . We loved each other as brothers."

Although their Saturday Night Live co-star Bill Murray ultimately stepped in to play the role of Dr. Peter Venkman, Belushi still managed to make a posthumous cameo — in spirit, at least.

Aykroyd and others have long acknowledged that the green ghost known as Slimer was inspired by "John's body," the actor said, adding: "I will admit to having an inspiration along those lines."

The memorable scene of Slimer stuffing his face with hot dogs from a street cart was a nod to Belushi's character John "Bluto" Blutarksy from the 1978 comedy National Lampoon's Animal House .

In his 2018 book Rubberhead Volume II: Sex, Drugs and Special FX , the movie's effects sculptor Steve Johnson wrote that the six-month process of creating Slimer was the "most annoying, horrendous experience" of his career.

It didn't help that he was first asked to make "slime with arms" before learning in the 11th hour that the ghost was in fact supposed to be an homage to Belushi.

"I didn't know until the last f---ing day. I'd been working for six months sculpting hundreds of Slimer variations, and they finally said 'make him look more like Belushi,' and I said what the f--- are you talking about?" he wrote in the book, according to an excerpt shared by Bloody Disgusting .

"So I pulled out a stack of headshots of John Belushi, poured a gram of cocaine on it and started chopping lines up," added Johnson. "I was three grams into the night and in a cocaine-induced delusional paranoia, and I literally thought that John Belushi's ghost came to me to help me out."

Although the vision can surely be chalked up to Johnson's drug-fueled state, Belushi's apparent ghost give him some wise advice. "Watch that sh-- Steve, it'll kill you," Johnson recalled him saying, after Belushi died of a speedball overdose — the combined intoxication of heroin and cocaine.

Aykroyd — who also starred alongside Belushi in 1980's The Blues Brothers — has made an effort to keep his friend's memory alive, despite the circumstances of his death.

"What I tried to was keep John's legacy and the music alive, and spread the message that he wasn't only someone who died in an ignominious manner," Aykroyd told CBC in 2013. "He was an intelligent, funny, smart, well-read, considerate, kind, generous, compassionate, passionate artist, and I think of him every day."

Aykroyd reunites with Murray, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire , which premieres March 29, 2024 in theaters.

Ghostbusters is now streaming on Sling .

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Bill Murray

• View history

Bill Murray is an American actor and comedian and the brother of Brian Doyle-Murray and Joel Murray .

• 1 Ghostbusters Related Credits
• 2.1 Other Works
• 3.1 Miscellaneous Trivia
• 3.2 Ghostbusters (1984) Trivia
• 3.3 Ghosbtusters II Trivia
• 3.4 Ghostbusters (2016) Trivia
• 3.5 Ghostbusters: Afterlife Trivia
• 3.6 The Real Ghostbusters Trivia
• 3.7 IDW Comics Trivia
• 5.1 Overall
• 5.2 Behind the Scenes

Ghostbusters Related Credits [ ]

• - Portrayed First Bum ( Deleted Scene )
• Ghostbusters II - Portrayed Dr. Peter Venkman
• Ghostbusters: The Video Game - Voiced Dr. Peter Venkman
• Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) - Portrayed Dr. Martin Heiss
• Ghostbusters: Afterlife - Portrayed Dr. Peter Venkman

Bill first gained national exposure on the sketch comedy television show Saturday Night Live in the 1970s. Known for his great ability to ad-lib, his career eventually expanded in to film. Later, became one of the leading comedic stars of the 80's, landing starring roles in Meatballs, Stripes, Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, etc. Interestingly, even played the voice of the titular Garfield in that character's 3D cinema "Garfield" movies. He has also gained acclaim over the years for his more dramatic roles, such as those in Rushmore, Lost in Translation, The Lost City, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Broken Flowers and The Royal Tenenbaums.

Other Works [ ]

The information in this section is gathered from IMDb and is meant to only be a brief list of highlights of their career.

• Zombieland / Zombieland: Double Tap - Actor (2009 / 2019)
• Groundhog Day - Actor (1993)
• Quick Change - Director, Producer, Actor (1990)
• The Razor's Edge - Actor, Screenplay Writer (1984)
• Stripes - Actor (1981)
• Caddyshack - Actor (1980)

Miscellaneous Trivia [ ]

• At the Spike Scream Awards in 2010 (filmed on Oct. 16, 2010, aired on Oct. 19, 2010), Bill Murray appeared in full Ghostbusters gear to accept his award for Best Cameo in Zombieland (and Zombieland's win for Best Horror Movie). Murray coyly said during his acceptance speech, "I'm sorry, I don't mean anything by this. It was just all that was left that was clean." He was signing autographs right before he came out, which somehow resulted in a smudge of permanent marker getting on his cheek, which is what was seen on the show. Also in the show was a Sigourney Weaver tribute by James Cameron, which included Ghostbusters clips and references. Later, Murray and Weaver were seen together backstage. According to Ghostbusters Fans (Fan Site) , the flight suit was made by Sony for the promotion of Ghostbusters: The Video Game in 2008, and the Proton Pack was made by fan Sean Bishop.

Ghostbusters (1984) Trivia [ ]

• In some instances, the original trio of Ghostbusters was said to always going to have been Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and Bill Murray. [1]
• Murray started filming on October 27, 1983 after taking a Concorde to New York and driving to 62nd Street and Madison for an 11 am start. [2]
• During filming at Columbia University , Bill Murray "wandered off" with a beautiful Chinese undergraduate student. [3]
• During filming of the first movie, Sigourney Weaver would go to a corner to prepare herself for a scene but Bill Murray would sneak up behind her and goof around like tickle her or lift her up. [4] [5]
• During filming in New York City Hall , Bill Murray came up with the idea that Mayor Lenny and the Archbishop knew each other and were on a first name basis with each other. Murray also came up with the name "Lenny" on the spot. [6] [7]
• During the New York shoot, City Hall revoked the permit allowing the film crew to film the scene featuring Ecto-1 's escort to 550 Central Park West out of concern about the traffic snarl it would cause. They revoke the permit on the day filming took place at City Hall. Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd disappeared for one hour and approached Mayor Koch for help. Koch had the issue fixed so they could film the drive to Central Park West. [8]
• One night during the Central Park West shoot, Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray borrowed police motorcycles and rode around Central Park with the lights and sirens on, pulling over pedestrians. [9]
• On January 20, 1984, scenes were filmed in the firehouse used in Los Angeles. Bill Murray missed his call by a couple hours. They started filming Annie Potts with a stand-in for Murray. By the time half of the scene was filmed, Murray arrived a little embarrassed he was so late so he started entertaining the crew. Potts wasn't as amused. He clearly didn't know what scene they were doing and was going to just improvise it. That was not feasible since half the scene was filmed. Murray started riffing, asking Potts what was wrong. William Atherton observed. Potts handled Murray and told him something to the effect of, "Enough, Murray. Enough." or "Nothing's wrong. I would just like you to stand on your f***ing mark and say your f***ing line! And then I'll be fine." Allegedly, the crew applauded her then filming started. [10] [11]
• Bill Murray didn't like Hughes and Thrall's attempts at a theme song. Murray wanted NRBQ. [12] [13]

Ghosbtusters II Trivia [ ]

• During a videotaped rehearsal, Bill Murray went into a long tirade about an "unspecified indignity" Ivan Reitman forced him to do during the making of "Stripes." [14]
• During filming of the courtroom scene, there was a fight between Bill Murray and propmaster Bill MacSeems about the weight of the Proton Pack prop. Murray slapped him then there was kicking and punching. First assistant director Peter Giuliano came between them. Murray came running towards MacSeems and Giuliano with a large wooden chair. Murray had MacSeems fired. A law suit was filed. [15]
• In Ghostbusters II , Chapter 16: Vigo 101 , Peter's "Let's suck in the guts" line was something Bill Murray said before filming as production was outfitting him for the scene and it was incorporated into the script. [16]
• Peter's photography session with Vigo was Bill Murray's riff on famous fashion photographer Richard Avedon. [17]
• Bill Murray recalled the Statue of Liberty crown gimbal was "quite a ride - nausea, sea legs, the whole thing." [18]

Ghostbusters (2016) Trivia [ ]

• On August 8, 2015, it was reported that Bill Murray arrived late in the week in Boston to film his role for Ghostbusters (2016 Movie). [19]
• Paul Feig simply wanted Martin Heiss to be the kind of person to wear suits but Bill Murray pitched basing the character's look off English writer and storyteller Quentin Crisp. [20]
• Pat Kiernan returned to Boston a month after filming his initial scene to film a scene with Bill Murray. They filmed for 40 minutes with scripted and ad lib lines. [21] [22] [23]
• While filming the scene with Pat Kiernan, Bill Murray recognized one of the technicians as someone he worked with on Saturday Night Live. [24]
• On page 215 of Ghosts from Our Past: Both Literally and Figuratively: The Study of the Paranormal (Three Rivers Press) , Bill Murray is thanked in the acknowledgment section.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife Trivia [ ]

• Bill Murray was easy to get into contact with through Ivan Reitman and Gil Kenan, both who have directed him in past projects. Murray read the script, enjoyed it, and agreed to join the cast. [25]
• On Bill Murray's first day on the Ghostbusters: Afterlife set, he was in his trailer trying to get the TV working so he could watch a Chicago Cubs game. [26]
• Bill Murray had a tendency to strip the props off once a scene was done. In one instance, he left his Proton Pack prop on the floor and it was kicked by an Afterlife crew member by accident. Ben Eadie had to glue some pieces back on. [27]
• One line Bill Murray improvised was right before the Ghostbusters fire at Gozer and Peter says "Count of three, go on two, one two blast." [28]
• Bill Murray made fun of Ernie Hudson for having a pad hidden under his spot on the dirt ground for the insult scene. Hudson quipped it was for the stunt man. [29]
• Bill Murray added variations on Peter's barrage of insults at Gozer. Only some ended in the theatrical version. Finn Wolfhard suggested Trevor should laugh to annoy Gozer even more but Jason Reitman urged him to keep playing it low-key. [30]
• Olivia Wilde eventually broke character and laughed at Bill Murray's insults to Gozer. [31]
• Ernie Hudson accidentally hit Bill Murray's head with his Particle Thrower prop after Jason Reitman called cut on the scene. It left a mark but Murray returned a few minutes later. [32]
• Bill Murray gave armorer Ben Eadie a certificate for a free massage on the last day of shooting. It was in a balled up envelope so Eadie thought it was his copy of the script as usual. When it was time to take the props off Murray, Eadie thanked him and tried to return the envelope. Murray called him a dumb ass and told him it was a gift. [33] [34]
• The mid-credits tag between Peter and Dana took half a day to film. There was a script but it was unnecessary. Bill Murray improvised different takes of the scene. [35]

The Real Ghostbusters Trivia [ ]

• In The Real Ghostbusters episode " Take Two ", Winston Zeddemore mentions Murray's last name while reading off the cast. At the end of the episode, Peter Venkman notes Murray doesn't look a thing like him. [36] [37] Many note the drawing of the cartoon from the series looked and sounded nothing like Murray.
• At the end of The Real Ghostbusters episode "Take Two", Maurice LaMarche voiced the live action version of Peter when footage of the first movie was briefly shown in the theater. [38]

IDW Comics Trivia [ ]

• In the Ghostbusters: Mass Hysteria hard cover collection, on page five, Murray is referenced in Dan Aykroyd's introduction.
• After Peter denies he would do such a thing, Ray asserts maybe not if he made par -- a slight jab at Bill Murray's golf skills.
• Murray is mentioned in the Introduction of Ghostbusters 101: Everyone Answers The Call TPB on page 2.
• On page 2 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #3 , one of the Ghostbusturtles has the first name of Bill Murray.
• On page 17 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #4 , in panel 2, on the table is a white golf club bag based on the bag of Scott Simpson during the second round of the 1997 Motorola Western Open at Cog Hill Country Club in Lemont, Illinois. Bill Murray carried it for him. [39]
• On page 9 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #5 , the white golf club bag appears again.
• On page 4 of Ghostbusters Year One Issue #2 , Peter's hairstyle is based on Bill Murray's character Tripper in "Meatballs" (1979).
• On Cover B of Ghostbusters Year One Issue #3 , listed on the employee file, Peter shares a September 21, 1950 birthday with Bill Murray.

References [ ]

• ↑ Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever , p. 23. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243 . Line reads: "The story regarding who Aykroyd envisioned as the third Ghost Smasher has changed throughout the years. At some points, he's said it was always meant for Bill Murray. Other junctures have found Aykroyd insisting his original third pick was Eddie Murphy, the audacious and effortlessly funny Saturday Night Live cast member credited with saving the program from cancellation during its abysmal early '80s seasons."
• ↑ Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever , p. 41. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243 . Line reads: "Such resolve had to carry Murray into Ghostbusters, which started for him on October 27. The Razor's Edge left him physically drained and thirty-five pounds lighter. Unfortunately, there was no time to rest. "I got off the Concorde from Razor's Edge and drove to 62nd Street and Madison to work on (Ghostbusters)," he said. "I left Paris at 9:30 in the morning and went to work at 11 o'clock in the morning in New York. I will never do that again. That was terrible. I mean, I was asleep the whole time." Nerves kept Peter Giuliano from doing anything but sleeping his first day on Ghostbusters."
• ↑ Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever , p. 44. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243 . Line reads: "Friedman recounted an incident while Ghostbusters was filming at Columbia University where Murray wandered off with "a beautiful Chinese undergraduate" who was his guest that day. Tomas, the production assistant assigned to Murray, frantically searched for the pair until he found them canoodling in an empty classroom. An agitated Murray instructed him to "get lost." A day later, crew members were instructed not to interact or even look at Murray for the rest of the shoot."
• ↑ Joe Medjuck (1999). Ghostbusters - Commentary (1999) (DVD ts. 27:04-27:13). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Joe Medjuck says: "And she would go off into a corner to prepare herself for a scene, and Bill would sneak up behind her and tickle her or something. Bill would like to be in mid-sentence before he stepped onto the set and..."
• ↑ Ivan Reitman (1999). Ghostbusters - Commentary (1999) (DVD ts. 27:14-27:17). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Ivan Reitman says: "Or lift her up. He likes lifting women."
• ↑ Cross the Streams Episode 40, 27:20-28:00, 5/20/14 David Margulies says: "So I'm in the Mayor's office, and Bill said, "First of all, you should be on a first name basis with the Cardinal, you see?" So he said, "You're Lenny. He's--" you know whatever his name was. Mike! Mike, see? And so a lot of that wonderful New York stuff, Bill loosened up the atmosphere and so the rest is sort of history."
• ↑ David Margulies (2019). Cleanin' Up The Town: Remembering Ghostbusters (2019) (Blu-Ray ts. 1:26:11-1:26:23). Bueno Productions. David Margulies says: "Bill Murray said, "They should know each other, and they should be on a first name basis, the cardinal." And he said, "And your name is Lenny." So that was improvised."
• ↑ Peter Giuliano (2019). Cleanin' Up The Town: Remembering Ghostbusters (2019) (Blu-Ray ts. 1:28:56-1:29:35). Bueno Productions. Peter Giuliano says: "We had this massive location on Central Park West between, I think was 66th and 67th Street. So it's also where the traffic not only goes north and south in the city, but also east and west. The city, when they finally realized what we wanted to do, panicked and revoked the permit. When they did it, it was the day we were shooting at City Hall. And all of a sudden, we couldn't find Bill or Danny. And for an hour, we couldn't find them. And then they reappeared. And they said, we just talked with Mayor Koch, because we were at City Hall. So they went to see the real mayor. And he's gonna fix it, and we're gonna be able to shoot."
• ↑ The Tonight Show with Jmmy Fallon YouTube "Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd & Ernie Hudson Look Back on the Original Ghostbusters Film | Tonight Show" 11/15/2021 Dan Aykroyd says: "We had a wonderful night, I remember, where we had available to us some New York police motorcycles because we were shooting in Uptown. And so Billy and I decided we'd like to take a little ride around Central Park. And we grabbed those bikes and screamed all over the park. It was closed for some reason. And we were just - you know, lights and sirens and, you know, and pulling over pedestrians."
• ↑ William Atherton (2009). Ghostbusters - Slimer Mode (2009) (Blu-Ray ts. 21:48-22:03). Columbia TriStar Home Video. William Atherton says: "And, you know, Murray would tease Annie. And so she just had a way of cutting through. He'd be riffing something before a scene and you would hear Annie go, "Enough, Murray. Enough." She would start to do-- It was great."
• ↑ Annie Potts (2019). Cleanin' Up The Town: Remembering Ghostbusters , Deleted Scenes (2019) (Blu-Ray ts. 1:09:37-1:10:37). Bueno Productions. Annie Potts says: "I shot a couple of days before I did my first scene with Bill. I was like, 'Isn't Bill supposed to be here? What time is Bill's call?' Bill missed his call by some hours so much so that we had to start shooting that sequence with a stand-in. Then he came in and he clearly didn't know what the scene was. He hadn't looked at it. Bill was very willing to just improvise that scene. You can't now improvise the scene because we shot half of it so you kind of have to do the lines. He was a little embarrassed about having been that late so he was amusing everybody but not me so much. He was like, 'What's wrong? What's wrong, Annie? C'mon.' I said, 'Nothing's wrong. I would just like you to stand on your f***ing mark and say your f***ing line! And then I'll be fine.' And as I recall, the crew applauded."
• ↑ Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever , p. 50. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243 . Line reads: "Dan Aykroyd's younger brother Peter was recording an album in Los Angeles around this time and connected Reitman with two of the musicians he was working with, Glenn Hughes and Pat Thrall (who comprised the hard rock duo Hughes/Thrall)."
• ↑ Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever , p. 50. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243 . Pat Thrall says: "Anyway, Bill Murray didn't like our song. You just think of Bill Murray as a jokester all the time. He was totally the opposite of that at this lunch. He was all business. His whole thing about the theme was he wanted it to be credible, not gimmicky. I think his favorite band was NRBQ. I think he wanted them to do the theme. So we were like, 'Man, we submitted ours, whatever.' Also, the only thing Bill Murray ate through this whole lunch was uni and sake. He was downing sake like crazy, and he had more filming to do. And he was just emphatic about the NRBQ thing."
• ↑ Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever , p. 115. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243 . Line reads: "Giuliano says Murray derailed one of the movie's videotaped rehearsals with a lengthy tirade about some unspecified indignity Reitman forced upon him years earlier during the making of Stripes."
• ↑ Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever , p. 115-116. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243 . Line reads: "A more serious incident occurred on the Ghostbusters II courtroom set one day after filming. "The prop master was having an argument with Murray," Giuliano begins. "I have no idea what they were arguing about, but Murray slapped him. Suddenly there was all this kicking and punching. And this guy was so much bigger than Murray. I got between them and started talking to the prop master to figure out what's going on. All of a sudden his eyes got gigantic. I turned around and Murray was running at us with a big wooden chair, like it was a wrestling match. A set costumer, a woman, got involved to help me. That night when I went home I was fuckin' black and blue all over my body!" Giuliano declined to identify the prop master by name, citing "a big lawsuit" that broke out after Murray had the individual fired, but call sheets from that week list a "MacSems" filling the position. It was Bill MacSems, a veteran in his field whose credits included Chinatown, Marathon Man, All the President's Men, and RoboCop. Now retired, Bill MacSems declined to be interviewed for this volume. Sources who wish to remain anonymous say the courtroom altercation started because Murray was angry about the weight of his proton pack, the cumbersome piece of equipment all three lead actors had to wear like a rucksack during their ghost-busting sequences. Murray wasn't fond of wearing the fifty-pound apparatus while shooting the first Ghostbusters, and it remained an issue on the sequel, even though he was scripted to spend less time with the proton pack and the prop department had crafted a more lightweight device Livid that the straps were cutting into his shoulders, Murray allegedly tore the proton pack off his body, threw it to the ground of the courtroom set, and then knocked over a nearby table filled with other proton packs before accosting MacSems."
• ↑ Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip "#722 - "Ghostbusters Day Group Chat Rebroadcast" - June 8, 2021" 53:22-53:36 6/8/2021 Ivan Reitman says: "Bill actually said it on the set as we're preparing his stuff and wearing that stuff--and he would--he wanted to look good. He wanted everyone to look good. He was directing a little bit."
• ↑ Dan Aykroyd (2019). Ghostbusters II - Commentary (2019) ( Blu-ray ts. 52:00-52:05). Sony Home Entertainment. Dan Aykroyd says: "No, that's Billy--That's totally Billy doing his... Richard Avedon."
• ↑ Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited , Cinefex magazine #40, page 37. Cinefex, USA. Bill Murray says: "Actually, it was a little scary. The rig would do strange things and would pitch and turn in ways that even the effects guys did not expect. At one point, Ivan told them to tilt it down even further than usual because he wanted us to be really surprised. Well, that was real fear you see on the screen. It went down so far we thought it had broken again. It was quite a ride--nausea, sea legs, the whole thing."
• ↑ Super Hero Hype "Bill Murray Spotted on His Way to the Ghostbusters Set" 8/8/15
• ↑ EMPIRE Online "Empire Podcast: Ghostbusters Spoiler Special with Paul Feig" 23:50-23:59 7/27/16 Paul Feig says: "Well, I wanted him in a suit because we always thought it would be fun if he was that kind of guy but when he showed up, he wanted to base the character, his look off Quentin Crisp."
• ↑ Entertainment Weekly "Ghostbusters: Anchor Pat Kiernan talks cameo with original star" 7/18/16 Pat Kiernan says: "About a month later, there was an urgent phone call saying, "We have another scene for you. It's not the same scene, and we're pretty sure you'll want to clear your schedule for this one. Could you be in Boston on these days?" It was right in the middle of summer vacation, and they were very mysterious about it, but I said okay."
• ↑ Entertainment Weekly "Ghostbusters: Anchor Pat Kiernan talks cameo with original star" 7/18/16 Pat Kiernan says: "There were a couple of scripted lines, and Paul Feig, as he is with everything on his movies, just let the actors try to do their things and build on those lines. He just had us do the scene several times with the core of the lines that they'd written, but we’d bounce back in and out of what Bill could come up with on the spot. He succeeded at being the difficult interviewee, and he enjoyed the fact that he was making me squirm a little bit while trying to keep up as the straight man anchor."
• ↑ Entertainment Weekly "Ghostbusters: Anchor Pat Kiernan talks cameo with original star" 7/18/16 Pat Kiernan says: "The actual time on set with Bill was about 40 minutes, and, as you know from reports back at the time, he was not the first of the alumni to sign up."
• ↑ Entertainment Weekly "Ghostbusters: Anchor Pat Kiernan talks cameo with original star" 7/18/16 Pat Kiernan says: "As he walked into this huge old converted warehouse they made into a sound stage, he recognized one of the technicians who I think he worked with on SNL, and he goes, "How the hell are you, man?" The two of them just had this warm exchange, and I think it put everyone at ease, because I think there had been some tension over the fact that it was just a one-day shoot and he hadn't been initially eager to do the movie."
• ↑ FrenchyRom YouTube "Jason Reitman talks Ghostbusters Afterlife and the future of the franchise (SPOILERS)" 1:22-1:36 11/23/2021 Jason Reitman says: "I wish I had some great story for you but the truth is that my writing partner Gil Kenan had already directed before my father had obviously directed him before. We had direct access to Bill. He read the script and he enjoyed it and he said yes."
• ↑ The Hollywood Reporter "Carrie Coon on ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ and Fact-Checking ‘Gone Girl’" 11/16/2021 Carrie Coon says: "And his first day on set, there was a Cubs game on and he was trying to get the TV working in his trailer."
• ↑ Hasbro Pulse YouTube "Fan First Monday | Ghostbusters HasLab Plasma Series Spengler's Proton Pack Livestream" 38:34-39:04 11/22/2021 ' Ben Eadie says: "The thing is that Bill Murray, you love him but like when he'd done acting, he just starts walking off the set and he's stripping down. He'll put things down and you know the the pack will be laying on the floor and his belt will be on the table somewhere so if you're not on them and following them around you're going to lose pieces so you know and when things get put down they, you know, people might be walking past and in this case Bill put down the pack somewhere and somebody kicked it. It knocked a few pieces loose but you know, you come in and glue it."
• ↑ Adam Savage's Tested YouTube "Adam Savage and Jason Reitman Talk Ghostbusters: Afterlife!" 18:08-18:32 11/23/2021 Jason Reitman says: "You know there's a moment where Bill goes, and this is his not mine, he goes "Count of three, go on two, one two blast." And we're all sitting there at monitor and he says that it's not rehearsed. He just says it and everyone on a monitor goes okay that's an iconic line like it's just right there."
• ↑ Vanity Fair "The Day Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson Became Ghostbusters Again" 11/22/2021 Line reads: "As they work through their takes, Murray couldn't help but torment his costars a little too. He brushed away some of the dirt and straw on the ground to reveal a rectangular shape beneath Hudson. "Have you got a pad here!?" asked Murray, who did not have one himself. He narrowed his eyes at Hudson and shook his head. "You're soft," he declared. Hudson played it off with a grin. "Nah," he said. "That was for the stunt man!" Then he leaned back and luxuriated in his camouflaged comfort spot."
• ↑ Vanity Fair "The Day Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson Became Ghostbusters Again" 11/22/2021 Line reads: "After feeling awkward for the first few days, what finally energized Murray was the chance to improvise again while Venkman lay sprawled with his cohorts beside the vehicle. "Bill is keeping her distracted with talking, while you raise the proton gun," Jason Reitman said, showing the fallen Hudson how he wanted him to slyly slip his neutrona blaster into position. In the script, Venkman decides to taunt Gozer by imagining a far more intimate relationship than the two actually had back in the '80s, with Murray adding new flourishes on every take, only some of which ended up in the finished film. "You know, you wasted a lot of time putting on that make up," he yells. "It's not going to work anymore. You've got a lot of nerve trying to crawl back." "The scene I just did now, it was fun," Murray said afterward. "I got to just say what I wanted to say, and it was always that way. The script was just our jumping off point." As Murray added variations to his insult barrage, Wolfhard, whose character is hiding near the collapsed OGBs, asked Jason Reitman: "Can I laugh?" He suggests maybe that will irritate Gozer even more. The director urges him to keep playing the moment low-key."
• ↑ Vanity Fair "The Day Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson Became Ghostbusters Again" 11/22/2021 Line reads: "But Gozer was also cracking up. Olivia Wilde, who sported the extreme pompadour hairstyle and scaly boils and baubles of the monster in Afterlife, sometimes had difficulty keeping a straight face. At one moment during Murray's epic roast of Gozer, Wilde broke and laughed out loud. "You got me on that one," she told him. "Too far. TOO FAR!""
• ↑ Vanity Fair "The Day Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson Became Ghostbusters Again" 11/22/2021 Line reads: "After Jason Reitman called cut, the guys shambled to their feet while the crew prepared a new setup. Hudson rose first and swung around just as Murray began to stand beside him. That's when his proton blaster connected with Murray's frontal lobe. Hudson winced as if he were the one who'd been struck. "I hit him on the head with my gun as he was getting up," he explained to onlooking crew members, as Murray left to get checked by the set medic. The accident slowed things down for a beat. Murray got knocked hard, enough to leave a mark. But he was okay. He returned a few minutes later, playing it up like he was gravely wounded but had valiantly rallied. His young costars went along with the joke. "Yeah, I mean, what's a concussion anyway?" Wolfhard said."
• ↑ Yes Have Some YouTube "Ben Eadie - Ghostbusters: Afterlife Props, RTV Trap, & Stories from set" 32:37-32:57 12/3/2021 Ben Eadie says: "And on the last day of shooting, he hands me this balled up envelope and I'm like 'okay I guess he's got a script in the envelope and so I I put it in my pocket, he comes back and undress him and I'm like 'it's been great working for you' and I hand it back, he looks at me, he's like 'what the hell are you doing? I'm like 'what do you mean, what am I doing?' He's like 'it's a gift you dumb ass.' his last words were like 'you dumb ass' to me, right?"
• ↑ Yes Have Some YouTube "Ben Eadie - Ghostbusters: Afterlife Props, RTV Trap, & Stories from set" 33:06-33:11 12/3/2021 Ben Eadie says: "I got this little this massage certificate for for a place in town."
• ↑ Den of Geek "Ghostbusters: Afterlife – Jason Reitman Finally Addresses the Biggest Spoilers in the Movie" 11/22/2021 Jason Reitman says: "We had a script for that scene. Apparently the script was unnecessary… That took half a day. Bill came into the movie with his own ideas, and they were brilliant. And I had grown up hearing the stories of Bill improvising, watching him do it live on-set. It was a thrill to watch him in real-time deliver dialogue that was far superior to anything I could’ve come up with in the couple of years of writing this movie. His brain crackles in a different way, and his voice is authentically his and has been so since we first met him. So to hear Venkman come to life in his voice again thrilled the crew, thrilled me, thrilled my Dad, and it made me want to get to editing a quickly as possible. A hundred percent. On every line of Bill's, there was an alternate that was just as good."
• ↑ Winston Zeddemore (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - " Take Two " (1986) (DVD ts. 06:20-06:24). Time Life Entertainment. Winston says: "Murray...Aykroyd...Ramis. What's that? A law firm?"
• ↑ Peter Venkman (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - " Take Two " (1986) (DVD ts. 22:56-22:58). Time Life Entertainment. Peter says: "Y'know, he doesn't look a thing like me."
• ↑ Marsha Goodman (1986). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report - " Take Two " (1986).
• ↑ Golf "50 Greatest Bill Murray Golf Photos" 11/29/14
• ↑ The information is sourced from "IMDb", which is User-generated content . It will be used temporarily as a reference until it can be replaced with a verified primary source. See link references guide .

Gallery [ ]

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Behind the Scenes [ ]

• 2 Winston Zeddemore
• 3 Ivo Shandor

• Cast & crew

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

When the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second ice age. When the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second ice age. When the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second ice age.

• Jason Reitman
• Ivan Reitman
• Mckenna Grace
• Carrie Coon
• 1 Critic review

• Phoebe Spengler

• Callie Spengler

• Gary Grooberson

• Janine Melnitz

• Peter Venkman

• Trevor Spengler

• Winston Zeddemore

• Walter Peck

• Taxi Driver

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia The working title for this film was "Firehouse" after the Ghostbusters firehouse. In previous films, the exterior shots of the firehouse were filmed at Hook & Ladder 8 in the Tribeca (Triangle Below Canal Street) neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. After filming was finished on Ghostbusters II (1989) , the firehouse kept half of the Ghostbusters II sign that hung outside. It was regularly displayed on holidays, particularly Halloween. Eventually, it was permanently moved inside, after a successful GoFundMe campaign by fans of the movie in June 2021, which funded a full-scale replica of the Ghostbusters sign. This sign now hangs outside of the firehouse year-round. The GoFundMe campaign is now an annual fundraiser for the firehouse and a celebration is held there on Ghostbusters Day (8th June, marking the American release of Ghostbusters (1984) ) each year.
• Connections Follows Ghostbusters (1984)
• When will Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire be released? Powered by Alexa
• March 29, 2024 (United States)
• United States
• London, England, UK
• Columbia Pictures
• BRON Studios
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

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• IMAX 6-Track
• Dolby Atmos

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