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FX pioneer picks up tech Oscar

You know how you can see cabs through buildings in some shots of Ghostbusters? Well, it could have been worse if it weren’t for this man.

In the 1970s Grafton also began consulting in the motion picture industry, where the highly specialized lenses he designed for optical effects printers enabled the seamless blending of multiple images from different sources. Working with such special effects companies as Industrial Light & Magic and Boss Film Studios, he contributed to the production of numerous feature films including “Star Wars,” “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Blade Runner.”

Congratulations to Mr. Grafton for his win (which is one of only two actual Oscar statues handed out at the tech ceremonies – everyone else gets a certificate, or something.) We proudly, and vicariously, count it as a win for Ghostbusters!

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The birthplace of Ghostbusters

Well, here’s a neat bit of trivia – as Jason Reitman’s Juno heads into Oscar season, a recent interview with him and his father, Ivan, revealed that Art’s Deli (just outside of LA in Studio City) is apparently the birthplace of Ghostbusters.

Young Jason grew up steeped in Hollywood history. For example, Art’s Deli in Studio City was the place Ivan and Dan Aykroyd first met to work on “Ghostbusters.”

“And we basically decided to start the movie right here,” Ivan remembered. “I think it was this booth right behind me.”

“The first set I remember was ‘Ghostbusters,’ Jason Reitman told Braver. “It was a scene in which the street erupted. I remember even at seven years old thinking, ‘Wow, if you direct a movie, you can break the streets of New York.'”

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Ghostbusters IN ice.

As opposed to Ghostbusters On Ice, which now that I think about it, would be awesome.

MTU (Michigan Technological University) is having some sort of winter carnival and the whole Ghostbusters gang is there – the boys, Slimer, Stay Puft, the Firehall, and a really excellent Ecto. A number of people have taken some pics on Flickr, like here and here and here.

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Well, you asked for another Ghostbusters film


After 25 years, Bollywood (note the B) is giving the world what it wants. This is possibly the oddest news I’ve heard all day;

The first of the three [films] will be directed by Sujoy Ghosh and will have three heroes. According to our sources, apart from Dutt who plays one of the leads, the other two may be Salman Khan and Riteish Deshmukh. It is remake of Hollywood blockbuster Ghost Busters. The film is expected to go on the floors once Ghosh wraps up Alladdin, which has Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Riteish Deshmukh.

Given the budget and production values of a contemporary Indian blockbuster (high – don’t let those scratchy old films on community cable fool you. Bollywood is big bucks and these guys are huge stars), this should be a spectacle, regardless of if you’re into Bollywood films or not – doubly so if they keep the song and dance numbers (95% likelihood.) And really, given that Dutt (producer and star) got his start in a remake of Rocky… c’mon. Tell me you’re not totally curious.

No word yet on when the film goes into production or when it is slated to be finished, but I don’t recall Bollywood being slow about finishing a product.

Thanks to Roshangar for the tip – I never would have found that one on my own.

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I think you have the wrong number.

I’ve been meaning to bring this up for awhile, after spotting this on my new Rockford Files DVDs. Note the phone numbers (Ghostbusters on top, obviously, and a close-up of Jim’s phone from the opening credits of the show.)

There’s no evidence that this is anything more than coincidence (or at least not that I’m aware of), but statistically, it would be a one in ten thousand chance that two prop masters, then years apart, would pick the same number. Plus, you have to take into account that while the commercial footage for that Ghostbusters TV spot was done in New York at the Hook and Ladder 8 firehall, the final video may very likely have been done in LA (which would be back on Rockford turf.) For the moment, I’m going to assume it’s a nod, mostly because it’s a better story than plain old chance. However, if anyone knows more, speak now.

[UPDATE] Ah ha! It turns out it’s a highly recycled number for film and television. That same number has been used as the phone number for;

– Baretta
– The Guiler residence in Close Encounters of the Third Kind
– Det. Sgt. Rick Hunter’s number in Hunter
– Kojak
– Jaime “The Bionic Woman” Sommers

And so on. Nobody knows where the number started, but that many 70s and 80s TV/movies suggests either shared props or shared set decorators, which could then lead to continuing references (the number was recently used it Memento, for example.) It appears, with some cursory checking, that the number is one of (if not the) most recycled fictional phone numbers (not counting the easy to pick repeats or thousands – ie 555-2222 or 555-1000)