First off, big thanks to Jason and Hayden for the heads up.
Early this morning featurefilmauditions.com posted that casting has begun in Los Angeles and Chicago for Ghostbusters 3. It’s exciting news, but continues without official context – Feature Film Auditions uses the quote from the Italian Sony rep in its article set-up – a quote that Sony has yet to officially confirm. That said, the auditions listing contains a number of interesting details that give it the heft of a real listing, such as the listing of Dan Aykroyd’s Harold Ramis’ production company, Ocean Pictures.
As well, the article lists Richard Mento as the LA casting head – Mento has a solid resume of casting for teen-to-twenty-something films, including Youth in Revolt. As well, the timing is about right for a film due – allegedly – to begin shooting in the Spring of 2011.
[UPDATE] It’s looking like bad text layout may have skewed my read – Instead of Richard Mento from the Joanna Colbert Casting Agency, it appears it’s Richard Mento / Joanna Colbert casting. Meaning, Mento may not be the casting lead. In fact, hints have been made that Joanna Colbert is more likely to be the principle casting director in this case, but again, this is all unconfirmed.
Two details are unique. The first is the inclusion of Anna Faris as one of the new team of Ghostbusters. The other is that filming will take place in LA… and Chicago? This isn’t a crazy idea, if you consider that Ocean Pictures and Harold Ramis are based in Chicago. Not to mention Aykroyd’s love of the city. But this flies in the face of an iconically New York film Franchise. Perhaps production has decided it’s time to write a ghosty love-letter to a new city. Or maybe Chicago is where the new team is sent, either as a satellite office or for a particular bust.
The long awaited “Ghostbusters 3″ is finally set to go into production early 2011. Initial casting for the film’s main characters will take place in Los Angeles, and additional casting will be conducted in Chicago, where filming is to take place.
Story:
A ragtag group of paranormal researchers reopen their notorious ghost removal service, and a new generation of Ghostbusters is brought on board to be green slimed and trained to contain the mischievous spirits.
I’m filing this under Stay Tuned for now, as there is little to credit or discredit it either way. At face value, it’s certainly curious and mildly exciting.
[UPDATE] It’s been pointed out that Chicago is, in recent years, a popular stand-in for New York. Given the logistical problems filming in New York on the previous two movies, it’s not unreasonable to posit that Chicago will stand in for non-specific exteriors, minimizing the need to film in New York, and allowing production to focus their time film exteriors at places like the firehall.
[UPDATE] On Location Vacations, which helps direct travelers to filming locations, has posted the casting news, and have their own update “from an inside source”, saying that production will not be moving to Chicago, and will remain in New York. I’ve heard similar things throughout the day from a couple of sources, so assuming this is all legit, it looks like Chicago will not be doubling as New York – perhaps it’s merely a convenience thing, for Chicago-based Ramis. (shrug)
[UPDATE] WhatsPlaying.com has posted the casting story and they are claiming they have a source that cannot confirm much of anything, other than casting has begun. This would be a second party confirming, unofficially, the original casting listing. Hard to gauge the quality of the sources, but it continues to build into something more than the usual Internet wildfire. We’ll just have to wait and see. In a twist, Hollywood Insider’s source didn’t know anything about Anna Faris, other than Sony likes her (supporting the initial report), but did say that SNL names like Bill Hader and Will Forte were being moved around as well.
[UPDATE] Arrrgh. Give me a hoax or internet hot-air to work with any day. This maybe-maybe not stuff drives me nuts.
Entertainment Weekly has spoken to reps for Anna Faris (as well as Will Forte and pretty much anybody else mentioned recently) and they are NOT cast for the movie… and then they say nothing about the validity of the casting call. That’s like only putting out half-a-fire. And who better to kill bad info than EW? And yet, nothing. Thanks guys. Mind you, EW operates at a level where often certain things aren’t said unless they are cleared (and also, you don’t out-scoop your print mag.)
Not logged in 
Slight correction, sir… Ocean Pictures is Harold’s company.
Chicago casting could mean they want to draw from Second City actors as well.
You’re right, Troy, sorry. It’s stamped on my copy of Dan’s first draft, so the two are badly co-filed in my brain.
It could be that, Dan, but I suspect that mostly it’s for extras in the area. If they intend to film in Chicago, you draw on the talent pool that’s there. No doubt they’ll go looking for Second City talent, but there’s a lot more to it than just that.
Maybe there is a Chicago Cubs connection and that’s the only way they can get Bill Murray involved, to bust the ghosts of the Cubs curse.
Why dont we just call the number and talk to somebody at the casting place
proton charging is sort of like the gossip cop site of ghostbusters rumors.
Featurefilmauditions.com seems like a repuitable source. Its not a personal blog or anything like that..
If someone wants to call the number, go for it, though I suspect they screen and personally don’t have the time to dig down that avenue. I’ve already got my days filled with phonecalls that need making. I’ve put a couple of queries out, so maybe we’ll hear more soon…
I’ll call in the morning as it’s 11 PM here.
No, Feature Film Auditions is, as with Production Weekly, an industry-focused, subscription based resource. And subscription based resources don’t live very long if they can’t deliver the goods.
http://protoncharging.com/gb/2010/11/02/production-weekly-reports-gb3-production-start-spring-2011/
So, for now, it continues to add weight to the wheels-are-rolling rumblings, but can only count so far until an official announcement is made.
I’ve also made an amendment to the article – it appears the text was misleading to me, a non-industry type. It’s not Richard Mento FOR Joanna Colbert Casting, but rather the agency is Mento and Colbert together. So, it’s just as likely Colbert is involved, either with Mento or as the lead casting director.
Definitely will be paying attention to Chicago extras casting! Psyched.
Don`t get too psyched. This could all amount to a hill of beans. Barely.
Sorting this crap is a giant nightmare – I need, like, a Doomsday clock for GB3 news. A simple way to rate/weight a given chunk of news, a simple visual like Rotten Tomatoes that can change throughout the day, as new details roll in or are dug up.
Someone make the days ten hours longer, would you…
[UPDATE] On Location Vacations, which helps direct travelers to filming locations, has posted the casting news, and have their own update “from an inside source”, saying that production will not be moving to Chicago, and will remain in New York. I’ve heard similar things throughout the day from a couple of sources, so assuming this is all legit, it looks like Chicago will not be doubling as New York – perhaps it’s merely a convenience thing, for Chicago-based Ramis. (shrug)
Good luck fielding this Chris…youre gonna need it
Fielding how?
So, apparently there’s a site that’s debunking this story. Anybody have any idea where it is?
I’m not seeing any site debunking this story. Apparently it’s out there since someone mentioned it.
I would suggest that everyone NOT bombard the poor phone numbers with inquiries about the movie or digging for news scoops. Especially Central Casting which gets bombarded by calls for a slew of other reasons (it’s one of the main hubs for extras casting and assignment on almost EVERY film and TV show that you see non-speaking background extras in). Your time is better spent elsewhere like planting a tree, or out looking for double rainbows. Trust me, you’ll be a lot happier.
I’d like to go back in time and flick my ear and follow Troy’s lead – emphatically, dont pester those numbers.
Yes, but if you flick your own ear, will you not be touching a past version of yourself, causing an inter-demensional paradox, and thereby ripping a whole in all of space time?
I am going to have to change my diet with all of the grains of salt I have been taking these articles with over the last year or ten… before I suffer sodium overload…but I must say that this one does have a quiet credibility to it. Color me tentatively excited, and more than a little intrigued.
Thanks for digging deeper into this!
To be fair if filming is done In Chicago it doesn’t mean for sure that the film won’t be based their. Sound stages can be built anywhere, as you pointed out external shots of buildings are external shots of buildings, and Chicago does have sort of the same look in places. I know it tends to be forgotten but not all the shots in GB 1 were of real places in New york, some were sound stages some internal shots were different buildings.
With extras it really doesn’t matter it might even be a tiny scene that shows where one of the G.B.’s have been. Guessing the Chicago audition’s purpose is pointless, but I truly doubt the main focus of the G.B. movie won’t be New York. Honestly I wouldn’t know the difference, I’ve never been to N.Y.C. and as such wouldn’t care if the movie was set their.
Long story short, this is interesting news, but it sees like trying to figure out what purpose having it casted in Chicago is at this point well pointless. I hope it’s true but it could boil down to Sony just trying to see the response, or even a prank of some sort, I’m not sure how through the company is on checking credentials but I doubt they know a lot about any of the film projects they cast for. If someone calls and says their from Sony and want to open casting for Ghostbusters 3 is seems like they’d probably assume they were serious. I may be wrong about the latter part because it would make an agency look bad if such a thing happened, but the first part is possible. After all it seems a bit odd to me that every few weeks something mentioning GB 3 has been mentioned but nothing concrete has happened yet.
I know it’s been stuck in post production hell, but I’ve gotten to the point where I’m waiting for Dan Aykroyd to say “We’re doing it, expect it 20XX” or an official Sony rep to say, “Strap on your proton packs for GB 3 in 20XX” or somethign before I’ll get TOO excited.
Well Reitman isn’t tied up directing anything else now. Going on the assumption that this is all true, I really hope they don’t fck it up.
Anna Faris is fine as long as she doesn’t play a brain dead character. I hope they are casting in her age range and not casting for a Youth in Revolt type of movie. I’m most worried about Oscar casting, that could kill this film. If Venkman raised him then he needs to be like Venkman and those are some gigantic shoes to fill. Hopefully Peter Venkman is still filling those shoes but I have my doubts because $ony is involved.
Am i the only one not wanting a ghostbusters 3? back in the 90′s it would have been no problem but anything now will just ruin the franchise.
Anna Faris huh? They need to work in another “covered in slime in their underwear” scene then.
I think using Chicago has a lot to do with going back to the roots of Ghostbusters. Between Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis each getting their start with Second City, and the amount of time all three spent living in Chicago, it isn’t a surprise that they would use the city in some capacity. I’m also guessing they may each have residences in Chicago… which will save the studio a ton on hotel bills and transportation. It’s probably also less of a hassle to shut down a street in Chicago than it is in New York. That said… Ghostbusters is still a New York staple. A good chunk of it should be shot there.
This sounds like potentially great news, in one way its great because this could mean the film is getting made, on the other hand its bad because if these new Ghostbusters are cast badly the film will be dead on arrival. A bad sign already is Anna Faris. While I have no problem with her generally, she was funny in House Bunny, but that movie fit her,Ghostbusters does not, simple as that.
I am going to keep saying this until the film is made and finished, Donald Glover from NBC’s Community is an excellent choice for this film, and if they are going to have a female Ghostbuster Aubrey Plaza is the only way to go in my opinion.
Hopefully $ony doesn’t cast big names as the replacements because most of the big names suck these days. They already have to write four gigantic pay checks to Murray, Ramis, Reitman, and Aykroyd. Hopefully that forces them to cast no names.
Donald Glover would be AWESOME.
Anna Farris? Chicago? I have a sick feeling in my stomach that they are going to ruin my favorite movie franchise of all time. I really hope they dont make this movie and this is all rumors. Dont do it Sony please!
@Andy: A franchise can only be ruined if you let it be. If the movie is terrible it doesn’t impact the original at all. The original is still in the same form that it was when you first saw it. It’s up to you to make the decision whether or not you feel that the first film is different, but the fact will remain… they aren’t doing a “special edition” of Ghostbusters (1984) so it’s going to remain the same.
jin you are right on donald glover would be amazing as well as aubrey, she’s got that dry sarcasm that would be perfect for ghostbusters, wouldn’t mind seeing aziz ansari(sp?) in the movie too
Alison Brie from Community mentioned her love for Ghostbusters. She would be a perfect addition. I wonder why Sony is taking so long to release an official statement. That’s what makes me think this is all hog wash. Any reason behind that?
Danny McBride would make a great Ghostbuster. He has the sarcasm of Venkman, but the blue collar “every man” sensibilities of Winston.
Chris. I meant fielding all the back and forth with people taking this as a confirmation
Paul – I think I know what Andy is trying to say though. Whether or not it REALLY will destroy his ability to enjoy the first film really is up to him, however, I think it’s that feeling you get whenever a franchise or something you love is just ransacked and majorly tampered with. I can imagine how some people felt when watching Ghostbusters 2 and you find out that our heroes were sued by the city and the GBs were disbanded… AND Dana and Peter split and she had a kid with the musician who dumped her and went to Europe… Talk about ruining the happy ending of the first film! We can still enjoy the first film for what it is, obviously, but then when we’re given what the “official” continuation of the story is and it’s a huge disappointment, there is an element to it all that kind of “ruins” the whole universe of the GB world. Granted, I can still enjoy the earlier Real Ghostbusters episodes even though the cartoon went down the crapper when it became all about Slimer. It didn’t entirely ruin the earlier episodes for me, but it’s different.
What do we love most about the original? The characters and the equipment. And with a third film, being a quarter of a century after the first film, all of that is changing. I’m sure there will be new gear and there will be a new team to replace the ones we know and love? I do have a morbid curiosity about what 2011/2012 GBs could look like… and I’d love to see the original four suit up again… but it’s going to be very, very, very different. The video game was great because it was the four guys. It’d have to be one incredible cast and script to have a passing-of-the-torch that will work.
I don’t know. I’m tired and probably babbling, but I can relate to how Andy feels… After all, when it’s allll about the money (which it probably is for everyone except for Dan and Ernie), it’s almost bound to fail…
This is awesome! Best news yet, all of it!! GB3 keeps getting better with time!!!
Thanks to you guys for posting this, I truly appreciate it.. although, I believe those guys would make up the core of the new team, neither of those two are Oscar yet, and with them already cast, it just makes me more intrigued as to who Oscar is going to actually end up becoming! Also, I’ve missed Anna Farris in movies a lot lately, I think she’d be a wonderful addition and fit pretty well to the cast, Eliza Dushku would be cool as well, and everything i already hear about this movie sounds more and more better as I hear it all! All I can say is, it’s finally about time, and I couldn’t be happier with it all so far!
Just get the freekin’ clapperboards snapping!
If we’re going to start casting talk, handled with serious grains of salt, can I at least throw Donald Glover out there? I’m not too thrilled about a new generation of Ghostbusters, but Glover makes such an idea much more reasonable.
I really need to do a better job reading these other comments… Good to know other people are Pro-Glover as well. My bad.
Clapperboards snapping indeed! Also, Bill Hader is a GB3 Natural, it’s gonna be awesome seeing him in it, the more I think about it and the more I hear about this, the better I like it! I can already get a good visual of those guys suiting up to take on a huge enemy with the guys..
I don´t know, the prospect of a Ghostbusters III is scary. What are the odds the movie will be good and funny? This “passing the torch” concept reeks of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I´m sorry.
That’s why I loved the video game so much. They were able to have the ORIGINAL Ghostbusters going off on another adventure. Not some cast member of SNL, not Anna Farris. Instead of a 3rd movie I pray they make another videogame. Its the best of both worlds, the orginial cast + a new Ghostbusters story. Paul I know that Ghostbusters (1984) will never be changed but they are going to try and pass off this crap as part of this franchise. Jon D I enjoyed Ghostbusters II also, of course it wasn’t as good as the original but they didn’t just change everything you loved about the original.
Wow, lotta talk on this one. I’ll keep my 2 cents short.
I love the idea of Chicago being explored. The Ramis/Aykroyd/Murray connection there is already strong and let’s face it, it’s not “always about New York” every time. I’m happy to see them branch out and Chicago would be similar enough while keeping within the theme.
Anna Faris? One of the few females I’d back for a GB movie. A modern Lucille Ball, her comedic timing is really excellent.
@Bryan
I´m with you, love Anna Faris, but I would love to see Elizabeth Banks carrying on the proton pack better.
Johnny, amigo, what is with the dig at KOCS? KOCS is more on par with MIB. Aliens and flying saucers and all.
Why oh why do you bash it. I waited forever for that instalment. And forever and a day for GB3.
The only other film I’m looking forward to as much as GB3 is POTC4.
You can conjure up newbies for future spin off money magnets but you will never beat the original cast for franchise potential. I’m with the old skool. And we are all growing old disgracefully. Ha!
Officially Faris is not on- http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/11/24/ghostbusters-3-anna-faris/
I REALLY prefer a new Ghostbusters movie centered in the originals (Why in the hell no!!) but if there is no other way..my firt choice would be Vince Vaugh as a Venkman type character, second Choice maybe some action guy like Christian Bale or someone like that, then someone like Zach Galifianakis (Oscar Maybe jajaja Sygorney Idea) and the girl must be an action actress more than a comedian i think someone like Zoe Saldana..
Cheers.
As per InKibuster’s link – EW has confirmed that Faris is not in, but doesn’t kill the casting call. If someone could just officially drive a stake through this things heart for me, that would be great. In the meantime, it’s a zombie story. Not dead enough to lie down yet, but nobody will say it’s alive either.
So the casting still might be going on.
It’s completely Schrodinger’s Cat – could be happening, could not be. The fact that they had the Faris info wrong, supposedly, isn’t a great sign… only, outside the article, I’ve heard a lot from a couple of places (not just other websites) that make it sound real. Thus, we’re stuck in limbo until something comes along and makes it 100 crap or not.
I don’t want to see a new team. I just want to see the original Ghostbusters.
Too bad, Faris sounded as a good casting to me.
Sigh. Here we go again. I REALLY want to believe this, but can we please get an official word?
http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/22522
One last thing, just because the main cast is getting older doesn’t mean they need a whole new cast or to “Pass the torch”. Look at Die Hard. Bruce Willis is just as old as Ackroyd and everyone else but do you see them trying to pass the torch in Die Hard to like his son or something? No Bc that’s fucking stupid. They made a 4th Die Hard and they are trying to make a 5th WITH Bruce Willis, not Anna Farris. New Ghostbusters = Stupidity
Okay substitute Anna Farris for Eliza Dechuku or whatever her name is.
…yeah and DH3 was the worst of the lot. Let’s hope that bears no reflection on GB3. Curse of the third sibling
…anyone got any aspirin?
Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic? No, not so much. Just when I think about Ghostbusters 3.
Just because Anna Faris’ rep says she’s not in it doesn’t mean it’s true. As the movie hasn’t been officially announced, she might have to keep her participation hush-hush right now. Which means… deny… deny… deny.
I gotta admit, throwing Anna’s name up there certainly came out of left field. It’s kinda an odd thing to say if it weren’t true.
But as I’ve said before, and will say again, until Sony makes a 100% official announcement – and a foreign rep making a brief soundbyte at a fan-produced event isn’t “100% official” to me – I’m not believing any of this
@ Paul.R -that’s not very charitable, after all…we’re ready to believe you.
#dodges fish and other sundry items#
I quote Paul R. “a foreign rep making a brief soundbyte at a fan-produced event isn’t 100% official”. You’re right, it was only a little “gem” that he slipped to us. It doesn’t mean in any way (and we at GB Italia never said it) that the movie is a go
Aykroyd speaking of casting is a little nice step forward. Maybe Sony isn’t actually casting names, but i think that they are very near to the casting start date.
At least he’s not saying “we’re gonna get to work very soon” or “we have a great script”
If Ghostbusters was a real life business it’s understandable that due to the fact that the original group are all approaching retirement age they would be looking to hire new employees to carry on the business.
The problem is that I just don’t think that this will make a good movie.
In my opinion the third film should reacquaint us with the original characters and follow them through one final story. That’s what I want to see. Those are the characters that I know, like and care about.
A sequel which concentrates on the original characters is far more appealing to me than a sequel which tries to replace them. Afterall, the characters are the main reason why I liked Ghostbusters so much in the first place. It wasn’t the special effects, the ghosts, the flashy equipment or the ectomobile. It was the characters.
You probably heard this already… but just in case:
http://www.movieweb.com/news/NEfiMLpLJNgEji
Yeah! Ghostbusters 3 is getting closer. But GB 3 should belong to Bill, Harold, Dan and Ernie!!! The new ones are fine as sidekicks. They can have Ghostbusters 4!!
Raystantz Italy – I hope it didn’t seem like I was putting down your event or your efforts to get someone from Sony to appear at the event and say something about GB3. Yes, you never said that the Sony employee’s comments meant that the movie was a go, and I hope I didn’t make it sound like I thought otherwise. Lots of those entertainment sites were passing the Sony employee’s comments off as something big. I was just trying to say that, to me, his comments aren’t anything big at all. When word comes out from the Sony head offices via press release, teaser trailer, or some other well-established form of official communication, that’s when I’ll start to believe.
I’ve been reading about GB3 since all the way back in 1993 when Dan mentioned it in a Playboy interview. Over these past 17 years much has been said, yet no film has been made. So even when Dan himself says something, I don’t believe it as 100% fact. He’s said so much over the years, with no film to show for it, that you just have to take everything with a gallon of salt these days.
this made me laugh…..”The Last of the Ghostbusters” was Bill Murray that said in Starlog Magazine: “It’s not going to be called Ghostbusters II. We’ll burn in hell if we call it Ghostbusters II. I’ve suggested The Last of the Ghostbusters, to make sure there won’t be anything like a Ghostbusters III.”
“We’ll burn in hell if we call it Ghostbusters II.”
Well I read the graffiti on some university campus door, and it read ‘Venkman burn in hell!’
…a conflict of interests it seems? Unless he’s there already and it was part of some advanced research. A psychic prophecy of sorts?