bill murray ad lib ghostbusters

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.

• GB:TVG Voice Actors
• GB:2016 Actors
• GB:AL Actors

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 [ ]

Overall [ ].

Behind the Scenes [ ]

• 3 Ecto Cooler

• Today's news
• Skullduggery podcast
• Conspiracyland
• My Portfolio
• Personal finance
• Daily Fantasy
• Horse Racing
• GameChannel
• Team apparel and gear
• Shop BreakingT Shirts

Entertainment

• Style and beauty
• Privacy Dashboard

Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd are hilarious in original 'Ghostbusters' promo

We all know how the "Ghostbusters" story goes: Hilarious paranormal film with lots of slime and former "Saturday Night Live" stars Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray hits big in 1984 , spurs two sequels (one in 1989 and one forthcoming in 2021) and a reboot (in 2016), and becomes an instant classic.

But before it was released, nobody knew that was going to happen.

Which brings us to the very different cinema world of the early 1980s, where apparently stars of films that had all that classic potential still had to make promotional videos urging theater owners to actually show the movie. Turns out that both Akyroyd and Murray made just such an ad, and screenwriter/actor Todd Spence has thankfully shared it on Twitter (warning: there's one F-bomb):

This is amazing. Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray shot this short film for independent theater owners to sell them on showing GHOSTBUSTERS. And check out that original theme song too. Rad stuff. pic.twitter.com/rODR2GXXIE — TODD SPENCE (@Todd_Spence) September 8, 2020

"This is amazing. Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray shot this short film for independent theater owners to sell them on showing GHOSTBUSTERS. And check out that original theme song too. Rad stuff," he wrote in the tweet. ( A longer version lives here, on YouTube ; the full version features unfinished scenes from the film and is 13 minutes long.)

In the video, the comedy duo speak to theater owners at the industry event ShoWest, which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The film was still being filmed in Burbank, California, when they made the clip, according to Spook Central: The Ghostbusters Companion webpage , so they had to talk it all up despite not having even wrapped.

"(T)his (movie) is gonna make 'E.T.' look like 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,' you know what I'm saying?" quips Murray, deadpan. "This is gonna be the kind of thing that your children are gonna say, 'Dad, I can look up to you now, but I never could before.' Isn't it worth it? Isn't it worth it? God, I mean, we made a lot of cheap movies for you guys that made a lot of money, but now we kind of spent a little more than we're supposed to."

Adds Aykroyd, "Columbia Pictures has spared no expense to make this... a fine science fiction comedy spectacle." He lets everyone know it's a PG film, after which Murray says that stands for "pink gums."

"I mean, the people who can come in and eat and eat and eat that sugar and popcorn and those soft drinks," says Murray.

"And the thickness of the sucrose syrup on the floors of your theaters after this film is over, after every screening. I mean, we're talking inches and inches," says Aykroyd.

But if that wasn't enough, the video features one more gem toward the end — the debut of the "Ghostbusters" theme song, and it goes a little something like this:

"Front line, anytime/ Take it right to the Ghostbusters/ Cool heads under fire/ Never mess with the Ghostbusters"

Now, wait a minute. What happened to Ray Parker Jr.? To "who you gonna call"? Well, it turns out that the movie wasn't the only thing that wasn't totally finished — there was more than one potential theme song being considered. The one in the video is from Glenn Hughes and Pat Thrall, and it can be heard in its entirety here .

Fortunately, everything ultimately worked out like it was supposed to: Theater owners loved "Ghostbusters" almost as much as the audience, and Ray Parker Jr. came up with his signature tune and line about who you should call in case of paranormal infestation. And now we all know who to call: Ghostbusters!

Recommended Stories

Bride learns traditional samoan dance to honor her new family in viral tiktok: ‘one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen’.

"There is so much love, gratitude, and respect conveyed here without a single word."

Fantasy Football Drop List: It's time to let Kyle Pitts go

Struggling with who to drop for your waiver adds? Jennifer Eakins has some names to consider cutting ahead of Week 5.

Big Ten releases conference opponents for each school for next 5 years

We have some fun matchups ahead with the schools out West now in the mix.

Marshawn Lynch says he laughed in Pete Carroll's face after Seahawks' infamous Super Bowl INT

"You put us in the history books as the dumbest call in football history."

People are taking to TikTok to reveal they’ve adopted the ‘Scandinavian sleep method’: ‘It could save marriages’

In a constant battle for the blanket? Consider switching to the "Scandinavian sleep method." The post People are taking to TikTok to reveal they’ve adopted the ‘Scandinavian sleep method’: ‘It could save marriages’ appeared first on In The Know.

Dick Butkus, one of the greatest linebackers in NFL history, dies at 80

Dick Butkus was one of the most feared players in football.

Young adults who still proudly live at home reveal why they’re in no rush to move out of their parents’ houses

"TikTok has us all believing in our twenties that we are an absolute failure if we don't move out before we're 25 ... I'm done with that narrative."

‘Don’t fall for this scam like me’: Woman’s Facebook Marketplace PSA goes viral on TikTok

"I just got scammed on Facebook Marketplace. Like an actual identity theft scam. So I'm gonna share it with you so that you don't fall for it. Be smarter than me!"

Joey Fatone on being in a 'Better Place' with NSync and Justin Timberlake, 22 years after split: 'We thought he was just going to… come back'

Fatone assumed Timberlake would rejoin NSync right after 'Justified' ("It was more of, 'Hey, I'm going to do some music, and then we'll get back together'"), but he has never resented his bandmate's solo success.

Vaginal health can have major implications for your overall wellness. Here's what to know.

What are the signs of a yeast infection? What does vaginal atrophy mean? Here's what you need to know about vaginal health.

Lawsuit against YouTuber SSSniperwolf allegedly confirms community's 'suspicions' about the creator's success: 'She's going to have to respond to this'

One of the most viewed creators on YouTube is being sued by her husband and former collaborator, and his lawsuit may have confirmed widespread suspicions about her content.

Is the viral hydrogen peroxide ear-cleaning hack on TikTok safe?

Should TikTokers be putting hydrogen peroxide in their ears? The post Is the viral hydrogen peroxide ear-cleaning hack on TikTok safe? appeared first on In The Know.

McCarthy fallout: Sen. Patty Murray is now 2nd in line for the presidency

The Washington senator with three decades of service is behind only Vice President Kamala Harris in the chain of succession.

Top 10 boxing matches amid a lifetime's worth of outstanding and memorable bouts

Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole on his birthday discusses many of the greatest fights that occurred in his lifetime, and ranks the Top 10 fights.

How you can tell if someone is Gen Z or Millennial from their group photos

"You never knew where us millennials were, you never knew."

From 13-0 to 99 wins to 0-2: The 2023 Tampa Bay Rays were a good baseball team with a bad narrative arc

There are a lot of narratives you could try to pull out of the Rays' resounding wild-card loss. None of them is going to be satisfying.

Toyota's mini Land Cruiser rumored coming in 2024 — possibly called the Land Hopper

Toyota's miniature Land Cruiser said to come to market in 2024. Internally called a 'Jimny killer,' could be called Land Hopper.

Barn full of 23 now-classic cars up for auction, many with virtually no miles on the odometer

GiveMeTheVIN is auctioning 23 classic cars, including several low-mileage Corvette models like a 1990 ZR1 with merely 25 miles.

This creator styled several vintage brooches, earrings and now TikTok is obsessed: ‘This is…….. game changing’

"You have single-handedly made me fall in love with brooches." The post This creator styled several vintage brooches, earrings and now TikTok is obsessed: ‘This is…….. game changing’ appeared first on In The Know.

Geno Smith was heated with Giants over 'dirty play' that led to him leaving game

Geno Smith wasn't happy with the Giants defense on Monday night.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Ghostbusters

Three parapsychologists forced out of their university funding set up shop as a unique ghost removal service in New York City, attracting frightened yet skeptical customers. Three parapsychologists forced out of their university funding set up shop as a unique ghost removal service in New York City, attracting frightened yet skeptical customers. Three parapsychologists forced out of their university funding set up shop as a unique ghost removal service in New York City, attracting frightened yet skeptical customers.

• Ivan Reitman
• Dan Aykroyd
• Harold Ramis
• Rick Moranis
• Bill Murray
• Sigourney Weaver
• 708 User reviews
• 283 Critic reviews
• 71 Metascore
• See more at IMDbPro
• 7 wins & 9 nominations total

• Dr. Peter Venkman

• Dr. Raymond Stantz

• Dana Barrett

• Dr. Egon Spengler

• Louis Tully

• Janine Melnitz

• Walter Peck

• Winston Zeddmore

• Male Student

• Female Student

• Hotel Manager

• Dean Yeager

• Library Administrator

• Rick Moranis (uncredited)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia When Louis Tully mingles with his party guests (commenting on the price of the salmon, and so on), the scene is one continuous shot, and almost entirely improvised.
• Goofs Ray declares that the phenomena they are witnessing may be as important as "the Tunguska blast of 1909." It actually occurred on June 30, 1908.

Dr. Raymond Stantz : Everything was fine with our system until the power grid was shut off by dickless here.

Walter Peck : They caused an explosion!

Mayor : Is this true?

Dr. Peter Venkman : Yes it's true.

Dr. Peter Venkman : This man has no dick.

Walter Peck : Jeez!

[Charges at Venkman]

Mayor : Break it up! Hey, break this up! Break it up!

Walter Peck : All right, all right, all right!

Dr. Peter Venkman : Well, that's what I heard!

• Crazy credits During the end credits, as the Ghostbusters are leaving in Ecto-1, three priests can be seen giving the last rites to a chunk of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man
• Alternate versions All German TV versions omit the line by Peter Venkman: "He's a sailor, he's in New York, we get this guy laid, we won't have any trouble." The video and DVD versions are uncut.
• Connections Edited into Muppet Babies: Good, Clean Fun (1984)
• Soundtracks Ghostbusters Written and Performed by Ray Parker Jr. Courtesy of Arista Records, Inc.

User reviews 708

• Oct 13, 2002

Reboots & Remakes

• Why did Zuul and Vinz Clortho possess Dana and Louis's bodies?
• Why did none of the dining guests appear to see Gozer's minion as it "got" Louis outside the restaurant?
• What did the ghost of a woman do to Ray in the fort detmerring?
• June 8, 1984 (United States)
• United States
• Official Site - Ghostbusters
• Ghost Busters
• Fire Station 23 - 225 E. 5th Street, Los Angeles, California, USA (interiors: Ghostbusters headquarters)
• Columbia Pictures
• Delphi Films
• Black Rhino Productions
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $30,000,000 (estimated)
• $243,578,797
• $13,578,151
• Jun 10, 1984
• $296,578,797

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 45 minutes

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

My favourite film: Ghostbusters

Citizen Kane ? Some Like It Hot ? I can see their merits. But it's busting that makes me feel good.

Admittedly, a significant portion of my Ghostbusters adoration comes from two strands of nostalgia, one that is entirely solipsistic and one for the friendship that shadows the whole of this awesome little comedy. But nostalgia aside, this has always seemed to me the finest mainstream 1980s comedy (the highest of accolades in my book), beating my second and third favourite films, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Trading Places , by virtue of its sweetness. This movie is the opposite of cool – and that, too, is a very high compliment.

I did not like scary films in 1984 and I do not like scary films now (my definition of "scary" remains unchanged) and yet, incredibly, my mother took me to see Ghostbusters when it came out. Even though, just a month before, she'd had to carry me out of the cinema screaming like a five-year-old banshee during a screening of the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, when Augustus Gloop got stuck in the pipe . Nonetheless, despite Ghostbusters' – still terrifying, thank you very much – opening scene in the New York Public Library, I knew from the first time I saw this movie that when I grew up I wanted to be Bill Murray, marry Dan Aykroyd or, ideally, both. Those ambitions remain unchanged.

Aykroyd, with typical generosity, has said that at least 50% of Ghostbusters' success was due to Murray. As Dr Peter Venkman, Murray perfected his irresistible sardonic hangdog persona, one he'd already made famous in Meatballs , Stripes and – my all-time favourite Murray performance – Tootsie . Yet all of the major actors play their personae to perfection in this movie: Aykroyd as the sweet friend, Rick Moranis as the hapless nerd, Harold Ramis as the egghead, Annie Potz as the nerdy-but-sexy sidekick and, most of all, Sigourney Weaver as, alternately, the glamorous love interest and sci-fi demon (to some people, Weaver will always be Ripley; to others Dian Fossey ; to me, she will forever be Zuul, panting like a dog and trying to nip Murray's finger ).

These actors give the film its core of sweetness because you can see the very real friendship between them, particularly between Ramis and Aykroyd, who wrote the film together, and Aykroyd and Murray. Often Aykroyd is visibly choking back a smile as Murray riffs. (I have often thought that my favourite Murray line in the film – "We've been going about this all wrong! This Mr Stay Puft, he's a sailor, he's in New York; if we just get him laid we won't have any problem!" – has the distinct smack of an ad lib.)

It may seem unimaginable now that, considering it contains such classic comedy lines as "Back off man, I'm a scientist" and, most famously, "Yes it's true. This man has no dick", Ghostbusters was not originally envisioned as a comedy. Aykroyd wrote it as a serious film, a plan that sounds a little less ridiculous if one takes into account the fact that Aykroyd has had a lifelong interest in spiritualism (he also – fact fans – has webbed feet and is married to the "dream woman" from Wayne's World . Dan Aykroyd is pretty baller ). Director Ivan Reitman thankfully convinced him to turn it into a comedy and Aykroyd then proceeded to write it for himself and his best friend, John Belushi , to help the latter's film career emerge from its post- Blues Brothers doldrums. Tragically, Belushi died before the script was finished and so the star-making part of Venkman went to Murray, who had known Belushi. One of the last photos in Judy Belushi's biography of her husband shows a grief-stricken Murray placing a flower on Belushi's coffin .

But Aykroyd still managed to get his friend into the picture. Slimer is a total homage to Belushi, sharing his tendency to eat food off other people's room-service trays left in hotel hallways. More obliquely, the movie was made by Black Rhino Productions, which is Aykroyd's production company – named in honour of a dream he had after Belushi died, in which his friend's face was on a charging rhino. There are many reasons why Aykroyd feels – as he has often said – a particular fondness for this film.

Despite his interest in spiritualism, Aykroyd wisely underplays the spookier elements, focusing instead on the geeky science: the proton packs, the containment units, the streams that must never be crossed. All the best 80s comedies have an element of Crap Science to them, from Short Circuit to the greatest 80s film science experiment of them all, the DeLorean with the flux capacitor . This is my kind of sci-fi: gleefully nonsensical, sweetly nerdy.

One of my favourite things about this movie is its graphic cartoonishness: the Ghostbuster uniforms, the ghostmobile (AKA Ecto-1, of course) , and the Ghostbusters insignia are as recognisable today as they were almost 30 years ago. Every Halloween since, packs of increasingly aged men have gone out dressed as the Ghostbusters in New York, and every Halloween since that I have squealed with joy at the sight of them. But what I really love about it is its setting.

Many of the jokes in Ghostbusters stem from the idea that, ghosts aside, Manhattan itself was an out-of-control wild west place, a Gotham city where a man could collapse against the windows of the Tavern on the Green, the ritzy restaurant that used to be in Central Park, and the diners would simply ignore him. Trash is piled on the sidewalks and Checker cabs whizz round corners: this recreation of New York, 1984 – the New York of my childhood – is still how I think of the city, even though I live there now and Manhattan has, for better or worse, changed a lot since. Ghostbusters is as much a love letter to New York as anything Woody Allen ever wrote, and a much less self-conscious one at that. Even the hilarious anachronisms give me a sentimental frisson: Lewis being mocked for his love of vitamins and mineral water, Aykroyd and Murray chuffing down fags while toting nuclear reactors on their backs, the bad guy being – and this I particularly enjoy – the man from the Environmental Protection Agency. These all look particularly anachronistic in New York 2011, and I can't help but feel the city is a little poorer for it.

Shaun of the Dead owes an enormous debt to Ghostbusters (and that film's director, Edgar Wright , has spoken often of his admiration for Reitman) in the way it showed normal people reacting with relative normality to an invasion of the undead. In Ghostbusters, those details are hilariously New York-ian, such as the groups of priests and Hasidic Jews you can just spot praying outside the ghost-inhabited apartment buildings and Larry King chatting dryly about the spooky invasion on the radio. But my absolute favourite moment in the film is at the end, when a doorman brings Ecto-1 round after the Ghostbusters have saved the world – or at least Central Park West – from destruction. Despite having battled a giant marshmallow man, Aykroyd still has a couple of dollar bills in the pocket of his ghost uniform to tip the doorman. You cannot get more New York than that.

The one big fault in the film is, notoriously, the character of Winston Zeddmore – written for Eddie Murphy (he turned it down to make Beverly Hills Cop) – who feels pitifully pointless. Yet news that Murray has refused to make a third Ghostbusters film until Ramis and Aykroyd sort out poor Winston's role sort of makes me love them all even more.

The reason I was able to deal with that terrifying opening scene when I was five was because the men on screen looked kind, because the city they were in looked so familiar and because they said things that made me laugh until I wet myself a little. Ghosts may come and go, self-destructive performers die all too prematurely and New York may gentrify – but those things have never, ever changed.

• Bill Murray
• My favourite film
• Sigourney Weaver
• Edgar Wright
• Comedy films
• Action and adventure films
• Science fiction and fantasy films
• Ghostbusters

More on this story

My favourite film: Readers' comments - week one

Harold Ramis obituary

Harold Ramis: a life in pictures

My favourite film: Broadway Danny Rose

Harold Ramis: Ghostbusters' Dr Egon Spengler was comedy's GrandDude

Harold Ramis: Dan Aykroyd and others share their memories

My favourite film: Swingers

My favourite film: A Canterbury Tale

Harold Ramis, Ghostbusters to Groundhog Day - a career in clips

Harold Ramis, Ghostbusters star and Groundhog Day director, dies aged 69

Most viewed.

The Behind The Scene Stories Of 1984's "Ghostbusters"

By | June 29, 2022

1984’s “Ghostbusters” combined the comedic powers of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ivan Reitman to create an indelible classic that still resonates, “Who ya gonna call?” The movie became a reality thanks to Aykroyd’s paranormal family history along with the cache of Murray and Reitman who had just come off the success of “Stripes” and “Meatballs.”

Columbia Pictures gave a green light to the film entirely on the back of Reitman’s one-sentence pitch: “Ghost janitors in New York.” Of course, with the buy-in from all those comedy heavyweights, you’d have to be stupid not to support just about anything they came up with. Here’s the backstory of the ‘80s classic “Ghostbusters.”

Family History And The Guiding Hand Of Reitman

Reportedly, Aykroyd grew up in a family of parapsychologists. His great-grandfather was a noted “psychic investigator,” known for conducting séances with mediums in the family barn. That hobby was passed on to his grandfather, who attempted to make a ghost radio using his expertise as an engineer for Bell Telephone Company. Apparently, all that rubbed off when Aykroyd conceived of “Ghostbusters.”

The SNL star’s original idea envisioned John Belushi , Eddie Murphy, and dozens of ghost-fighting groups battling across space and time. When Aykroyd pitched Reitman on his idea, the writer/director told him it would cost over $300 million before helping whittle it down to a realistic concept.

Casting What Ifs

Unfortunately, Aykrod’s casting dreams fell apart with the tragic death of John Belushi and the ascendance of Murphy into a mega-star. Before Murray and Ramis were pulled into the fold, Michael Keaton, Chevy Chase , Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, John Lithgow, and Christopher Lloyd were all considered for the other two members of the Ghostbusters.

Even Louis Tully, perfectly portrayed by Rick Moranis, was originally slated to be John Candy. However, the hefty comedian wanted to play a German who kept dozens of dogs, not to mention, be the star of the movie. The only original choice for casting was Sigourney Weaver who barked like one of the Hounds of Hell during her audition to prove she could act possessed!

Physical Effects

While “Ghostbusters” did utilize a number of “special effects” for the ‘80s, much of the movie’s charm derives from its physicality. For instance, for the Godzilla-like Mr. Stay-Puft who was a cross between the Michelin Man and the Pillsbury Doughboy, a real actor stuffed himself into the voluminous suit.

Also, when William Atherton, aka bureaucratic asshole Walter Peck, gets smushed by the remnants of Mr. Stay-puft, the crew planned to dump 500 gallons of shaving cream on him. Atherton expressed concern about that much shaving cream landing on him, so the crew tried dropping 75 pounds worth of shaving cream onto his stunt double. Apparently, that was enough to knock him to the ground, so for the actual shot, they used just 50 pounds.

The creativity of the effects extended to Slimer, the churlish green ghost which haunts the Sedgewick Hotel. In one particular scene, a green spray-painted peanut served as Slimer. According to animation supervisor Terry Windell, his team was “totally serious about making it stupid.”

22 Fun Facts About Scrooged

By jennifer m wood | nov 23, 2018 | updated: dec 18, 2021, 10:00 am est.

Since the publication of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol nearly 200 years ago, the story of Ebenezer Scrooge has become familiar fodder for adaptations of all sorts—from ballets to operas to a mime performance by Marcel Marceau. But Richard Donner’s film adaptation, Scrooged , has one thing that sets it apart: Comedy.

Since its release on November 23, 1988, the holiday comedy starring Bill Murray as a ruthless television executive tasked with pulling off a live Christmas Eve broadcast of A Christmas Carol (starring Buddy Hackett, Jamie Farr, the Solid Gold Dancers and Mary-Lou Retton as Tiny Tim!) has become a contemporary classic. Here are 22 things you might not know about the Christmas comedy classic.

1. Scrooged marked Bill Murray's return to the big screen.

Though it’s easy to remember the 1980s as a decade packed with Bill Murray comedies, Scrooged marked a reemergence of sorts of the in-demand comedian. Though he had a brief cameo in Frank Oz’s 1986 remake of Little Shop of Horrors (playing a pain-seeking patient of Orin Scrivello, Steve Martin ’s demented dentist character), Scrooged was Murray’s first major role following a self-imposed, four-year exile from Hollywood.

2. Bill Murray references Little Shop of Horrors in the movie's closing song.

Scrooged concludes with the cast and crew singing “Put a Little Love in Your Heart.” For his part, Murray went a bit off-script, adding in lines like “Feed me Seymour,” a direct reference to Little Shop of Horrors .

3. Bill Murray ad libbed many of his lines.

In a 1988 interview with Philadelphia Daily News , Richard Donner discussed Murray’s penchant for improvisation and described the experience of directing Murray as follows: “It's like standing on 42nd Street and Broadway, and the lights are out, and you're the traffic cop.”

4. Bill Murray had originally been approached about the movie two years earlier.

At that point, he wasn’t ready to jump back into the moviemaking fold just yet. “But when I wanted to work, the scripts were just not good,” Murray told Starlog Magazine in a 1989 interview.

5. Bill Murray would only agree to sign on for the movie if the script was reworked.

"We tore up the script so badly that we had parts all over the lawn," Murray told Starlog. “There was a lot I didn't like. To remake the story, we took the romantic element [Frank's relationship with his former girlfriend, Claire, played by Karen Allen] and built that up a little more. It existed in the script’s original version, but we had to make more out of it. The family scenes were kind of off, so we worked on that.”

6. Scrooged was a Saturday Night Live reunion of sorts.

The script for Scrooged was written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue, whom Murray had worked with in the early days of Saturday Night Live .

7. Even Paul Shaffer was there.

Before he rose to fame as David Letterman’s musical director, Paul Shaffer was a member of the SNL house band from 1975 to 1980 and appeared in a number of sketches, most notably as the piano player to Murray’s Nick the Lounge Singer character. He makes a cameo in Scrooged as a street musician, where he plays alongside fellow musical legends Miles Davis, David Sanborn, and Larry Carlton.

8. A lot of footage ended up on the cutting room floor.

“We shot a big, long sloppy movie, so there's a great deal of material that didn't even end up in the film,” Murray told Starlog . “It just didn't work. You tend to forget what was wrong. It's hard. I just figured that anyone who's good could step into this part and have a lot of fun with it. It's sort of a wicked character. The idea of making a funny Scrooge was an inspired touch. That's what was appealing to me about it.”

9. Richard Donner had reservations about turning A Christmas Carol into a comedy.

“It’s a thin line,” director Richard Donner told the Texas Archive of the Moving Image about getting the right tone for the film. “But you have two of the most irreverent writers in the world. You have the most irreverent humorist since W.C. Fields. And you say, ‘Let’s go!’ There’s a thin line you walk, but the line is broken—hopefully—in the end of the picture when you see a man evolve out of a situation.”

10. Richard Donner calls it the movie where Bill Murray became "an actor.”

Though Scrooged is mainly a comedy, it concludes with Murray’s character being a changed man, who has to deliver a rather dramatic speech in order to make his character’s transformation clear. But Donner told Philadelphia Daily News that what they witnessed in that pivotal scene was something much greater: “On the last take I saw something happen to Billy. I saw Billy Murray become an actor.”

11. Richard Donner saved that dramatic scene for the very end of the shoot.

“I always had my car parked facing the gate,” Donner joked to the Texas Archive of the Moving Image about how the film’s ultimate success hinged on that final scene. Which is why he saved it for the end. “When Bill Murray played off that last scene in the way that he did, I felt confident—and slightly insecure—but I felt confident that we had accomplished what we wanted,” said Donner.

12. For Bill Murray, the bigger challenge was carrying a movie on his own.

Murray was a bona fide movie star by the time Scrooged hit theaters, but up until that point—in movies like Caddyshack , Stripes , and Ghostbusters —he had always been part of an ensemble cast. “ Scrooged was harder [than Ghostbusters ] because I was by myself, really,” Murray told Starlog . “Even though there are a number of people in the movie, they only had cameos. They would stroll in for a day or two and split. I was there every day, and it was like flunking grade school again and again.”

13. Robert Mitchum's cameo wouldn't have happened without Bill Murray.

In one of the film’s many aforementioned cameos, Robert Mitchum plays Murray’s boss, Preston Rhinelander. But such a small role for such a major star wasn’t an easy sell, so Donner invited Mitchum to meet with Murray. “Mitchum was not going to play that small a part, but we said, ‘Well come in and meet Bill. Let’s rap, let’s talk,’” Donner told the Texas Archive of the Moving Image . “He came in and we never got a word in edgewise. He’s so wonderful with stories and we didn’t want to talk … The minute you get around Bill, you’re swooning. Everybody is.”

14. Scrooged is a Murray family affair.

Though seeing one of Bill Murray’s brothers in one of his films is nothing new, Scrooged features all three of them—John, Joel, and Brian Doyle-Murray.

15. It took 23 years for the movie's soundtrack to be released.

It wasn’t until 2011 that Danny Elfman’s score for Scrooged was released. The album, which was limited to just 3000 copies, contained a total of 34 tracks, not all of which were included in the film. The final track is a bonus track that was actually created for Trading Places .

16. Keith Haring's work makes some cameos throughout.

Look at the background throughout the film and you’ll likely spot Keith Haring ’s “Free South Africa” poster on a few occasions. The same poster is seen in Lethal Weapon 2 , also directed by Richard Donner, which was released the following year.

17. Sam Kinison was supposed to play the Ghost of Christmas Past.

The part eventually went to David Johansen, and rumor has it that that happened because of Murray’s close friendship with the actor-musician. If Johansen’s face looks familiar to you, but not his name, that’s because he often went by a different name at the time: Buster Poindexter. Yes, the very same guy who sang “Hot Hot Hot.”

18. Carol Kane didn't have much fun as the Ghost of Christmas Present.

Though it’s a running gag throughout the film that Carol Kane, as The Ghost of Christmas Present, be rather abusive toward Murray whenever they meet, the task began to take a toll on the actress. Both Donner and Murray told Starlog that Kane would often break down on the set, and spend 20 minutes or so simply crying.

19. Carol Kane's scenes weren't much fun for Bill Murray either.

In one scene, Kane is supposed to grab Murray’s lip. Which she did—a little too well. “There's a piece of skin that connects your lip with your gums and it was really pulled away,” Murray explained of the scene to Starlog . “She really hurt me, but it was my idea to be physical and it was her idea just to hit me as opposed to pulling the punches.” Filming had to cease temporarily while Murray healed from the incident.

20. John Houseman passed away less than a month before Scrooged premiered.

John Houseman is yet another one of the preeminent actors who made a brief appearance in Scrooged . Unfortunately, he passed away on October 31, 1988, less than a month before the film made its debut on November 23, 1988.

21. The movie features the Solid Gold Dancers's final performance.

In the telecast within the movie, one of A Christmas Carol ’s selling points is that it will feature the Solid Gold Dancers as The Scroogettes. The movie would mark the small-screen dance group’s final aired performance, as Solid Gold the television series had been canceled back in July.

22. The studio played up Ghostbusters 's success to promote Scrooged .

In an attempt to recapture the attention of Ghostbusters fans, the studio referenced the movie in Scrooged ’s marketing materials, most notably with its tagline: “Bill Murray is back among the ghosts, only this time, it’s three against one.” The tactic probably didn’t get the studio the exact results it was looking for; while Ghostbusters was the second highest-grossing film of 1984 with $229,242,989 in box office totals, Scrooged made about a quarter of that ($60,328,558 to be exact) and was only the 13th highest grossing film of 1988.

A version of this story ran in 2018; it has been updated for 2021.

Movie ad-libs: New and improv

• Post author By Pat and Stewart
• Post date June 2, 2011

Q: In Pat’s May 11 discussion on WNYC of movie ad-libs, she said the lines “I’m walkin’ here!” and “You talkin’ to me?” were improvised. They may not have been scripted, but they weren’t “improvised.” They’re everyday street talk in WNYC.

A: By “improvised,” Pat meant unscripted—in other words, lines that either deviated from the script or that actors were directed to supply on the spot, impromptu.

This is a legitimate use of the verb “improvise,” which the Oxford English Dictionary says can mean “to utter or perform extempore.”

An improvised or ad-libbed line is one supplied by the actor on the spot. It’s not necessarily original and never-before heard.

An ad-lib CAN be original, though, as with Bill Murray’s line in Ghostbusters (1984): “All right, this chick is toast.”

That line was not only improvised (that is, it deviated from the script), but was the first recorded example of this usage, according to the OED .

As we wrote on the blog last month, what Murray apparently invented was the use of a form of the verb “be” + “toast”—as in “I’m toast,” “you’re toast,” and so on.

This has come to be a common expression when stated in a proleptic way (that is, said of something before the fact), and it apparently originated with Bill Murray’s ad-lib.

Another ad-libbed line that Pat mentioned on the Leonard Lopate Show seems to have been original too. It’s Roy Scheider’s remark in Jaws (1980): “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

As one WNYC listener called in to say, Scheider’s expression has become a popular catch-phrase (sometimes as “We’re gonna need a bigger boat”) for people who find themselves in over their heads.

However, most of the ad-libs that came up during the show were not original material. Two, in fact, were deliberate allusions to earlier sources.

For example, there’s Jack Nicholson’s unscripted line in The Shining (1980): “Heeere’s Johnny!”

Nicholson improvised the line on the spot, but it wasn’t original. It was a deliberate allusion to Ed McMahon’s nightly introductions of Johnny Carson.

Another example is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s line in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991): “I need a vacation.”

It was a deviation from the script, done on the spot as a joke. It was a line Schwarzenegger had delivered the year before in Kindergarten Cop.

Then there’s the “You talkin’ to me?” speech ad-libbed by Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver (1976). As De Niro himself has said, the line, though improvised, wasn’t original with him.

Various sources have said he got it from a stage line delivered by either Bruce Springsteen or a stand-up comic. But, as you say, it was probably popular street talk long before that.

And we agree with you that pedestrians had probably said “I’m walkin’ here!” in self-defense long before Dustin Hoffman used the line in Midnight Cowboy (1969).

We can’t say for sure that it was Hoffman’s ad-lib, however, since Hoffman and the producer, Jerome Hellman, tell different stories.

There’s similar disagreement about a line that brought the house down in When Harry Met Sally (1989): “I’ll have what she’s having.”

Of course, actors have been ad-libbing since talkies were invented.

In the very first feature-length film with synchronized speech, The Jazz Singer (1927), Al Jolson says, “Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!”

It’s the first speech in the movie. And while it was impromptu (that is, unscripted), he had used similar lines before on stage.

The term “ad-lib” comes from the Latin phrase ad libitum (at one’s pleasure). Originally used as an adverb, the full phrase first appeared in English in 1610 and the abbreviation in 1811.

Through the 19th century, the term in both long and short forms was often used in music, as the opposite of “obbligato” (that is, obligatory).

But it was used in general ways, too, as in “to marry wives ad libitum ,” a line from Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s 1848 novel Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings .

The use of “ad-lib” as a verb, an adjective, and a noun, however, was a 20th-century American show-biz invention.

Here are a couple of early examples, courtesy of the OED :

“ ‘Easy money, friends,’ Miss Hoag would ad lib . to the line-up outside her railing” (from Fannie Hurst’s short-story collection Humoresque , 1919).

“ ‘Can the ad lib!’ which means, politely, ‘Will you be good enough to hush!’ ” (from a 1925 article in the journal American Speech about stage slang.)

Check out our books about the English language

Share this:

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)
• Tags English language , Etymology , Grammar , Linguistics , Usage

Help support Grammarphobia.com

Search the blog, the blog is updated regularly read our latest posts …, subscribe to the blog by email.

Enter your email address to subscribe to the blog by email. If you are an old subscriber and not getting posts, please subscribe again.

Email Address

Other subscription options:

Blog archives

To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

• What Is Cinema?
• Newsletters

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.)

This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.

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.

By Richard Lawson

By Savannah Walsh

By Tara Ariano

“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.

— Playing Princess Diana Was Kristen Stewart’s Fairy Tale — Remembering Halyna Hutchins , Rust Cinematographer Killed in Tragic Shooting — How Edie Falco Protected Hillary Clinton on Impeachment — The Five Goopiest Moments in Gwyneth Paltrow’s New Show — Review: There’s No Life in Chloé Zhao’s Eternals — The Ending of Army of Thieves (and Its Origin) Explained — A First Look at Harry Connick Jr. in Annie Live! — From the Archive: Excavating the Private Saga of the Clintons’ Very Public Marriage — Want to obsess over the best of television? Sign up here to receive text messages from the Still Watching hosts or text (213) 652-6731. — Sign up for the “HWD Daily” newsletter for must-read industry and awards coverage—plus a special weekly edition of “Awards Insider.”

Anthony Breznican

Senior hollywood correspondent.

By Hillary Busis

By Donald Liebenson

By Natalie Jarvey

By Kase Wickman

By David Canfield

By Chris Murphy

• Latest Headlines
• English Edition Edition English 中文 (Chinese) 日本語 (Japanese)
• Print Edition
• More More Other Products from WSJ Buy Side from WSJ WSJ Shop WSJ Wine

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/toast-from-busting-ghosts-to-burning-careers-ff44b34d

‘Toast’: From Busting Ghosts to Burning Careers

People who speculate that donald trump ‘s career is ‘toast’ are resurfacing a bill murray ad-lib in ‘ghostbusters’.

June 22, 2023 3:59 pm ET

Copyright © 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

What to Read Next

• DoorDash : 50% off + free delivery on $20 orders with DoorDash promo code
• Instacart : Limited-Time Deal: 50% off Instacart+ membership
• Walmart : Extra 20% off everything with Walmart coupon code
• Target : Take 20% Off Your Entire Order - Target promo Code
• eBay : 5% off sitewide: Exclusive eBay discount code

Most Popular news

Most popular opinion, most popular opinion, recommended videos.

Copyright © 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Ghostbusters' Dan Aykroyd Says Paul Rudd Is the Next Bill Murray

Dan Aykroyd anoints "master comedian" Paul Rudd as comic successor to Bill Murray after watching the actor's performance in Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

Original Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd believes  Ant-Man  star Paul Rudd has what it takes to succeed actor and comedian Bill Murray as the quintessential comic lead for the new generation of  Ghostbusters  fans who will be introduced to the franchise via  Ghostbusters: Afterlife .

In a clip from  The Tonight Show  posted on YouTube, Aykroyd sat down with Murray and his other surviving co-star, Ernie Hudson, to discuss their roles in the eagerly anticipated  Ghostbusters  revival. Sharing his thoughts on the new leads, Aykroyd singled out Rudd as "a master comedian." He went on to compare the Marvel actor's comedic energy to Murray's, claiming he has the potential to be "the leading comic, you know, leading man of his generation." Aykroyd closed his thoughts on the actor by suggesting, "Paul is gonna be taking that torch up, I think."

RELATED: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Clip Reveals Info About the Film's Slimer-Esque Ghost

Aykroyd was also complimentary towards the young talent in the film, citing McKenna Grace as "a spectacular actress, and she’s basically gonna be our new CEO." He was quick to point out that the characters at the forefront of the film would be joined by "some great new creatures" who will provide "great new fun." The former Ghostbuster even teased, "The Ecto[plasm] is doing things that you never saw it do before." In spite of this focus on updating the Ghostbusters  universe for a modern audience, the new iteration still uses practical effects, much to the younger cast's delight.

Afterlife  represents a new direction for the  Ghostbusters  movie series, effectively ignoring the 2016 reboot and instead serving as a direct continuation of  Ghostbusters  (1984) and  Ghostbusters II  (1989). Although his film makes a narrative clean break from the previous installment, director Jason Reitman believes Afterlife  builds on the positive female representation introduced in Ghostbusters  (2016) , arguing, "the remake proved, at least to me, the idea that the Ghostbusters could be anyone."

RELATED: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Clip Features Paul Rudd, Terror Dog and a Wrecked Walmart

Unlike their cameo appearances in the reboot,  Afterlife  sees Aykroyd, Murray and Hudson reprise their respective roles as Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman and Winston Zeddemore for the first time in over a decade, after they lent their voices and physical likenesses to  Ghostbusters: The Video Game.  Harold Ramis, who played the fourth member of the initial Ghostbusters quartet, Egon Spengler, also returned for the game but passed away before any live action relaunch reached fruition, leaving his co-stars with the task of upholding the Ghostbusters legacy by passing the mantle on to a new generation. Despite Spengler's physical absence from  Afterlife , Reitman believes Harold Ramis is the heart of the film .

Ghostbusters: Afterlife  debuts in theaters on Nov. 19.

KEEP READING: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Reveals the Stay Puft Minis' Terrifying New Ability

Source:  YouTube