Movies
John Hodgman Will NOT Play Egon’s Psychic Son in ‘Ghostbusters 3’
*Update: Hodgman cleared up this rumor pretty quickly via Twitter stating: “I AM NOT APPEARING IN GHOSTBUSTERS 3. Nor is @scharpling. That was a radio #fakecastingnews joke.” Funny.
io9 discovered that on the latest episode of “The Best Show” on WFMU, Tom Scharpling and John Hodgman talked a great deal about Ghostbusters 3, where Hodgman revealed that he’s currently doing some “secret errands” for Dan Aykroyd — and heavily implied his involvement in the film.
Further into the conversation, Hodgman polled the audience about his hypothetical predicament:
“If you were hypothetically offered a role in ‘Ghostbusters 3’… would you take the role? Let’s say you’re [playing] sort of the dissolute son of Egon, the Harold Ramis character, and you’re kind of like John Candy in ‘Splash’, you’re kind of a mess. But it turns out you’re a natural ghost-whisperer, a natural psychic. But here’s the thing: Bill Murray’s not going to be in this movie, and probably not happy that you are. But you get to be in a major role, in a major movie and one of the greatest franchises of all time. Would you do it?”
That’s some seriously insane stuff right there. Can you imagine Aziz Ansari and John Hodgman as two of the new Ghost Busters? Too bad about Murray, it’s unfortunate that it sounds like he’s pretty much out at this point. Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis and Sigourney Weaver are all rumored to return with Ivan Reitman confirmed to direct.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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