Ivan Reitman, equally interesting to reporters these days for running with the Olympic torch and his son’s new film as he is for Ghostbusters 3, got quizzed by The Hollywood Reporter about Sigourney Weaver’s latest comments.
Short version (as there is no long version) is that Reitman has confirmed the inclusion of Oscar as a next-gen Ghostbuster in the latest script, but nothing about Bill Murray returning as a ghost. This does fit with Weaver’s MTV role wherein she said Reitman did tell her about Oscar’s part, but later only guessed about Murray as a ghost.
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So the grown up Oscar part you buy, but the Venkman ghost thing you choose to ignore. Obviously Venkman being a ghost would be a huge spoiler so Reitman didn’t mention it.
I find it quite possible that Reitman told Weaver the broad strokes of the story in the phone call. Which is why she mentioned the Oscar and ghost parts in the interview.
Why would she make up the ghost part and not the Oscar part?
Yes, I know he’s 30+, but I think Sean William Scott would make a hilarious Oscar.
Oscar is about my age….
I think a dead Venkman will suck big time, and i dont think it would be funny at all…hope is just a tease joke nothing more.
Because as we’ve seen, she is the farthest out of the loop – The “tightest” in the loop being Aykroyd/Ramis/Reitman…Followed by Hudson/Murray, and finally Weaver, evidenced by the fact she didn’t seem too 100% “sure” in her recent interviews about anything pertaining to GB3, slight from the “Oscar/Recruit” thing…Not to mention her earlier interviews about this were wonky at best, and her disposition to the whole endeavor in the recent years, which has always been lackluster…
And the whole “Venkman’s Dead-Ghost” thing? A holdover from the “Hellbent” script from the late ’90′s [Which in turn was just Dan's last-ditch effort to include Bill in at least a cameo, as he was adamant about not being involved due to his dislike of sequels, and his then-hatred of GBII and how that turned out], to which is most likely the LAST GB3 script she had seen when that comment was made…
She apparently only SINCE having said that, has seen the NEW script, and even then – that’s not confirmed…
And furthermore – Despite those couple of interviews during the “Fantastic Mr. Fox” press-junket, Bill Murray, while not 100% enthused just yet[or so we know], has been confirmed as involved by all parties…And as we’ve seen – Weaver WOULDN’T be involved with this new film unless Bill was on a degree higher than a “cameo”, as evidenced by the new videogame…She didn’t want to have ANYTHING to do with it, until she found out Bill was involved, then clamored to become involved, and by that time it was too late to include her…
But in the end – ALL is rumor and speculation until this project is greenlit…And even then it could change ALOT between that day and the preimere…
Ectofiend,
We have clearly read/seen all the same articles/interviews/videos. Couldn’t have said it better myself. Thanks.
i think shia labouef would make a good oscar myself
Nice summary Ectofiend
i always had an idea for ghostbusters 3, if they made it modern day, oscar would be grown up and a ghostbuster, he would be a great character, becuase he would of grown up with all teh ghostbusters, he would inherit everyones best characteristics.
i think one of the UK GB guys would be good to play him, that one with ray parker jnr?
Well, then there is still hope that they will cast me in Ghostbusters 3 as Oscar Barrett!
Sure, that chance may be about a 0.0001% chance, but it’s better than nothing.
actually, who am I kidding? I won’t even be considered…even though they are trying to find a completely 100% unknown actor for the job, they will probably go with some kid with as much talent as me that they find at some Olive Garden or something. Why would they even consider looking for an actor in Wisconsin?
I still think it’s quite possible that she got the broad strokes of the story from Reitman when he called her a few weeks ago about reading the script. And therefore spilled the beans on Oscar and Venman’s ghost at that interview.
Would be kinda odd if she made up the Venkman part, why would she do that?
@ShadowSt – My response was directed to one inparticular, and not so much everyone here…But thanks for the compliment…
@Santar – Easy – She’s confused and was put on the spot…And again [after further reading] she apparently [as of me writing this] has NOT seen the new script, and being that the “Hellbent” script is the last one she probably saw back in the late ’90′s [the one containing the "Venkman Ghost" bit], was answering questions based on that knowledge alone…Alot of her answers are worded like “I don’t know” and “I guess this is how it might be”…Not to mention her flippant attitude towards the whole thing, and really not caring one way or the other…
She is the furthest out of the loop and it shows…
She may not be the closest one to the project, but she did speak to Reitman a few weeks ago. That’s why I give her remarks a little credit.
But I don’t want to start a heated argument here, we’ll just have to wait and see.
All I’m saying is I won’t be surprised if the Venkman’s ghost thing turns out to be true.
Santar, what’s your point?
“So the grown up Oscar part you buy, but the Venkman ghost thing you choose to ignore. Obviously Venkman being a ghost would be a huge spoiler so Reitman didn’t mention it.”
I’m not buying anything – I’m reporting. Weaver says two things, everyone attributes it as possible fact. Reitman confirms one, doesn’t say anything about the other. Ergo, one is now confirmed, the other is still speculation based on very little. I didn’t ignore it – in fact, I’ve been paying a lot of attention to it. I just haven’t seen anything that warrents reporting it as anything other than speculation.
You’re right, it may be true. Reitman might know and isn’t saying. How does that change anything here and why does that earn my some bizarre reprimand from you?
castewar-
I’m sorry, my comment could have been worded lots better, my bad there.
You didn’t ignore the Venkman comment there.
I was probably thinking about another post or something like that.
No hard feelings
Tough I’m still not sure why she’d just guess about the ghost thing. You’d think she’d say something like “Maybe he’s a ghost” Instead of “I heard he might be a ghost.”
But that’s just my take on the thing of course.
Ah, I get it. No harm, no foul.
The problem is that from where we’re standing, we’re eating up all the info we can get and it seems like they’re all part of the same world – so when one of them says something, it gets taken as gospel, but really, they’re prone to the same potential errors that we are. She might have recalled the old joke, and brought it up. She might have an assistant that helps prep her for things, picked up on Murray’s repeating of the old joke, and included it, which Weaver repeats. It’s possible Reitman did mention it to her, she mentioned it, the response is huge, and Reitman asks her to clam up on it.
All things are possible – the trick is not to read into it too much. Some speculation, some weighting of variables, is OK, but it’s never as simple as “Why would she say it if it’s not true?” There are LOTS of reasons things get said when they’re not true.
Another option (and remember, we’ll never know which of these are for sure the right one, hence why we have to be careful) is that Reitman or the studio had Weaver play stalking horse – she let’s it “slip” and then they gauge the response. It’s like free test marketing.
Hopefully the movie will get made, so we will find out if it’s true or not
Sorry, bad wording in my first comment. I meant so say, “I know Sean William Scott is 30+ years old, but I think he would be great as Oscar; even though Oscar is in his early 20′s…Older actors play younger characters all the time.”
I really don’t like the idea of getting “no-name” actors for the next gen GB’s. I could see their acting talent turn out to be as bad as Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker.
Dear Santa,
Please don’t let this film suck
please don’t let this film suck
Please don’t let this film suck
please don’t let this film suck
Please don’t let this film suck
please don’t let this film suck
etc….
At this point, I would be SHOCKED if anyone other than Michael Cera were cast as Oscar. And that has nothing to do with personal interest and everything to do with the comedy circles he travels with, his age, and his current status as a semi-popular actor. Whatever my personal feelings are towards his appropriateness for the role, I’d rather they go with the “quiet/geek” role than the “I’m so extreeeeeme!” role. (And it would play well against Venkman’s bad-boy persona).
Cera’s being a huge Ghostbusters fan also might boost his chances of landing the role, unfortunately.
Having Venkman as a ghost would completely ruin the movie. That’s why I wish it was just Dan and Harold writing the script instead of two outsiders. The reason I loves the first sequel is because Dan and Harold wrote it. It made the second movie and authentic Ghostbusters movie. I wish Sony would just hand it off to Aykroyd so this third one will be honest and authentic. I’ve always thought hiring those guys from the office to write it never made any sense. Just stupid.
this has nothing to do with the movie, but has anybody seen this yet? http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2009/12/09/behind-the-awkwardness-i-aint-afraid-of-no-ghosts/
How bout no to Michael Cera. Yes to an unknown.
Sean William Scott as the grown up Oscar is PERFECT! On top of which he has had a past working relationship with Ivan Reitman (Evolution).
Idk, I think Sean William Scott’s performance in Evolution alone is enough to make me cringe about Ghostbusters III.
Hmmm, Oscar was 8 months old in Dec. 1989 which makes him born in April 1989.
I was born in Aug. of 87. That’s it, I’m going to play Oscar. Let’s make it happen people.
@ghostbusters1394
I agreed with the shia labouef playing Oscar thing, he also remembers me of the rookie at the Ghostbusters videogame, there can be a connection there. What do you think guys?
I think Michael Cera would be the better of the two. N besides if the office people were doing the script its only natural. I had heard jack black was trying to be involved too. It’d be cool if he was louis tully’s nephew.
And include seth rogen and jonah hill as up and coming gb friends of oscar. That’d be sum funny ass shit right there. An if people would be smart enough to know that us that grew up on GB’s would want to see VENKMAN in the movie and not a fucking ghost!?!?!? Slimer is supposed to be the ghost of Belushi. Y two comedians have to be dead n in this movie? Come on Hollywood writers, be smart. DOn’t kill our enthusiasm for this movie!!
venkman being a ghost would be stupid and id rather ghostbusters 3 NEVER be made if thats how its gonna be. Please tell me im not the only one who isnt THAT desperate for a gb flick?
lets not have shia labouef in gb3 he already killed indiana jones for me
no offense to anyone, but being a gb fan all my life, i personally would love to see a live action version of the extreme ghostbusters on film, all four of the young recruits we’re great, solid characters, and i believe they would get over great on film! oscar would tie gb2 into it, but these characters already have been established, i would hate for them to act like it never happened and abandon everything the show provided.. i thought it was a great point in gb history..
casting for them? jack black would be a perfect garrett, and eliza dushku would be a perfect kylie, reason mentioning them because they we’re both brought up as possible new gb’s. as for roland, then i like the guy who voiced him, alfonzo ribeiro (carlton), and eduardo, hmm, possibly an unknown or someone we wouldn’t expect, i just don’t know who..
plot depth? hmm.. well, two formulas i don’t see talked about too much are the changing of the colored slime in the movies. from green ectoplasmic residue slime, to pink mood altering slime, to energized malevolent black slime, i think they should really carry the black slime from the game into the third movie to tie the game in with the movie..
another big piece of the plot depth would be a towering giant pigure to pose as either the threat or the ally, in gb1 the had to take out some heavy duty marshmallow, but, in gb2, big bad lady liberty lent them a hand against the old, but powerful, dustbucket known as vigo, well, she just smashed up his jello mold over the museum, haha.. that’s actually just a joke, i love both movies greatly, i meant no real harm in saying that. however, even the video have had two MAIN big bad goliaths, the return of stay puft, and of course, “SUPER-SHANDOR” at the end.. now, that makes me really think.. well, truth be told, who could they have now? we have had lots of talk about the protagonists and plot generalizations, but i really am curious to see who the villain is, will it be a giant creature, what about that washington square ghost? two seconds roaring over some cabs in gb2 didn’t really do em’ justice.. but.. it’s all just my opinion, and hope you guys all really like what i had to say here. now i just wait anxiously for this thing to come together, and finally experience that joy of seeing the third ghostbusters chapter on the silver screen, once and for all, heck, i promise i’ll even pay for some movie theater popcorn and a drink, no matter how high the price, for gb3, i will go all out to enjoy that one movie i’ve waited my whole existance thus far for.
Wouldn’t Oscar be too young to play a GB? I know he’d be about 20 years old but still. The GBs can’t find anyone a little older or more responsible than that?
Yes, Oscar is too young to be a GB. He would barely have any college experience (or life experience for that matter), and wouldn’t be anywhere near a Ph.D in anything. All of the original GB’s were in their mid-thirties when the first film came out, so if Oscar had to be included in the new script, I would certainly hope they would play him up to be more of an “unsure/insecure” character than try to pass him off as some dude who knows what he’s doing.
If either:…
A.) Venkman is a ghost.
B.) Seth Rogen is cast as a new Ghostbuster.
C.) Michael Cera or Shia Labouef is cast as Oscar/a new Ghostbuster.
…I don’t want this movie to get made. It’s all a series of bad ideas, equivalent or even worse than the ideas in Indiana Jones IV of “nuke the fridge”, Shia as Indy’s son, and the monkey vine swinging scene. Those things killed that movie, and we don’t need a bunch of terrible ideas killing the long awaited Ghostbusters III.
i agree, i think venkman as a ghost is terrible, and besides, in gb2 they put the effort of establishing slimer as the lovable ghost, venkman would take the light of slimer’s character away, it wouldn’t be special no more..
Oscar’s current age is negligible- John Connor went to early conception to the age of 13 in roughly 6-7 years time from Terminator to Terminator 2. I heard no complaints there. Oscar could be 30 for all I care.
Comparing GB with Terminator could be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. It’s apples and oranges. Besides even Connor got some training during T2.
Oh no!
Terminator 2 is susposed to take place in the future.
If Peter became Oscar’s step dad then Oscar would already have a life time of on the job training. and i don’t think he would be insecure or unsure of himself.
at 16 he would be driving ecto 1 and at 18 going out on calls.
I doubt Venkman would be the best role model for being a ghostbuster. He’d be good at teaching you how to scheme your way out of sticky situations. I doubt he’d be able to teach Oscar about anything science related. I don’t think Oscar would be on the job. You don’t see kids of firemen or police officers going out on the job with their fathers. They go to school, and work part time jobs at burgerking until college.
I agree with Mills’ ABC philosophy. Although I think he’s quoting Socrates.
18 year olds can barely deliver a pizza, let alone handle an unlicensed nuclear accelerator.
Shia Labouef is already the poster child for transformers, he doesn’t deserve to have ghostbusters too. That’d be like having Tobey Maguire being both spiderman and batman.
Terminator 2 takes place in 1997, so a big FAIL to all of you trying to justify anything.
[b]“Shia Labouef is already the poster child for transformers, he doesn’t deserve to have ghostbusters too. That’d be like having Tobey Maguire being both spiderman and batman.”[/b]Don’t forget he was in Indy 4. Does that mean he has that, too?
You people dissecting this and reading WAY too much in to NOTHING deserve to be mocked. The only reason Shia LaBeauf’s name is even mentioned is because he’s a popular actor who [i]looks[/i] the right age for the Oscar character.
So instead of handling a discussion like this with any common sense, you all decide to jump down everybody else’s throat over comments that are pipedreams. Apatow’s involvement with the franchise was dispelled a long, long time ago so your worries for Michael Cera joining the franchise are beyond slime to nill.
Let the news roll in as it does and stop speculating over casting choices for a film that, if is made, won’t even start filming for another 6-8 months. Please.
Between this and your untucked pant leg comments in other posts its no wonder people question what the hell happened to this community.
perez hilton one of the gossip mongers says that the film is suppose to be released in late 2010 if you want to believe that which i don’t.
Ernie Hudson, who said they’re shooting for May of 2011, is a much more credible source than Perez Hilton.
No, NO, NOOO to Shia…just NO!!!
I think Venkman as a ghost and Oscar as a Ghostbuster would be good.
LOL at the Terminator 2 comments. None of you got it right.
T2 takes place in ’95. John Connor was born in late ’84 to early ’85. He’s 10 yrs old in T2, according to police records(James Cameron). Judgement Day occurs on Aug 29th, ’97, or at least it did until Jonathan Mostow got his hands on the franchise. He messed up the timeline by stating that John was 13 during the events of T2(because he didn’t think a 10 yr old could do the things John did in), which contradicts everything in T2. If he was 13, T2 would have taken place in ’98, an entire YEAR after Judgement Day happens. So bravo to you, Mr. Mostow for raping everything that James Cameron set up with his CLASSIC films.
Sorry for the rant – only intended to correct those using the Terminator series to justify any potential chronological problems with the third, potential Ghostbusters film.
And personally, I think Shia would make a great Oscar. He’s got that certain “something” and his witty delivery and improvisation would make him(IMHO) the perfect Ghostbuster.
Why don’t call back the original Oscar? William Deutschendorf or
Henry Deutschendorf? They’re unknowns like Dan said!
Ha, maybe if the movie is about ninjas…They’re martial arts instructors now:
http://www.akasd.com/instructors.aspx
tom you came on here talking some sound logic and setting things straight. Then you mention Shia and lose all credibility. I don’t take anything after T2 into consideration because the creator had nothing to do with the stories. It would’ve been cool if inbetween t1 and 2 there was a future wars film like salvation, but in the style of the flashbacks we see in T1. They really pushed using the same plot to the limits with T3.
Shia’s fish out of water is about as lame and annoying as Michael Cera’s awkward teenager gag. The only reason people are fearing Cera is because Ramis directed Year One.
But not to dwell on the same old casting fight. A colleague of mine recently suggested maybe Murray told Weaver that ghost scenario when they had their lunch a while back. Remember weaver said she was meeting with Murray to discuss GB3? It seems very likely that Murray was joking about being a ghost again and she simply is keeping the joke alive because its funny or she took him serious. If you look back at what Murray said in a recent interview, he mentioned that the studio just wants them to introduce the new guys and get lost. Doesn’t sound like a ghost venkman to me. Just Sony forcing them into cameos.
Rake, who said I had any credibility to begin with? I’m just a geek who loves Ghostbusters lol. My opinion means nothing in the end.
With the all this drama surrounding the next film, it might be better if they just scrap it all together. No live action GB3. Just go back to the CGI premise, write a good story(how hard can it be?), and have all the cast return as the main characters. None of this “new crew” crap. After 20 years, no one is going to be able to fill the original four’s shoes – NO ONE.
And write a completely new story this time – no Gozer or Shandor please. GB The Video Game was cool but the story was the worst part simply because it felt like a rehash. I understand the reasoning behind it and that’s fine for a video game but since it was supposed to be seen as the third film, well that aspect of the game just fell flat.
I know people will probably disagree and that’s fine. At this point, it just seems like the film makers and certain cast members simply don’t know what the fans want from Ghostbusters 3 and will ultimately get it wrong. Just another rehash of the original with the same formula, same montage sequences and absolutely nothing new. They tried it with Ghostbusters 2 and look what happened. It appears that they didn’t learn their lesson. *sighs*
Rake,
Cameron is/was a write for Terminator Sara Connor Chronicles, and is supposed to have some involvement in the next Terminator movie, IMDB has him listed as being associated with it, but I don’t have a pro account so I can not see what capacity he is involved…. And like you the Sara Conner chronicles ignored the third movie…
Quote: Ectofiend Posted December 18, 2009 at 2:57 PM
“Weaver WOULDN’T be involved with this new film unless Bill was on a degree higher than a “cameo”, as evidenced by the new videogame…She didn’t want to have ANYTHING to do with it, until she found out Bill was involved, then clamored to become involved…”
-or enamoured? it’s not such an alien concept! Neither is Venkman as a ghost. Or even an astral projection!? and I will boycot the film if I hear so much as a whisper that the original GB’s are just wallflowers. Or CGI animations.
But as for Shia Labouef as Oscar? although I wasn’t hot on Lucas’ decision (or the casting agent) for casting him as Indys son, I said the same of Sean Connery in the 3rd instalment, but eventually it grew on me.
I could actually see him pulling it off! we do have a lack of other contenders, with the exception of Haley Joel Osman -but I guess I’m leaning on that choice purely from having seen his work in The 6th sense, and A.I. and he is a bit older now…
Still what about the Slimer campaign? I haven’t seen him in any other film since they typecast him in GB2. He’s probably drinking from a brown paper bag, sleeping rough on an underpass somewhere. Poor little urchin.
-anyone wanna see it in 3D too???