Movies
‘Ghostbusters 3’ Was Happening…Until Harold Ramis Got Sick
Vulture posted an in-depth interview with Ivan Reitman, the director of the original 1984 Ghostbusters and the producer of Paul Feig’s reboot. Not only does he reveal plans for the now defunct third Ghostbusters, but he also reveals that the studio had green-lit it before Harold Ramis got sick.
“By the way, the studio green-lit it. Everything was ready to go. I couldn’t get [Bill Murray‘s] attention, and in the midst of that, Harold got really sick. And that was pretty much it.”
Dan Aykroyd had been the most public about the sequel, almost campaigning to get it into production. There were many false starts, but plenty of rumors. It’s sad to hear that Ghostbusters 3 was finally going to happen and everyone’s hard work came to a close because we lost Ramis. We can only hope that Feig’s interpretation has him smiling from above.
If Murray hadn’t been dragging his feet, it may have actually come into fruition. What Reitman is referring in the above quote to is all the of the publicly reported drama Murray brought to the development process, which is why his character was to die in the opening scene. He speaks to all of this and his theory as to why Murray kept playing games:
“I worked with Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, who wrote a number of movies [‘Year One’, ‘Bad Teacher’] and worked on ‘The Office’ together. They wrote a very funny script [for ‘Ghostbusters 3’] that I was very comfortable in directing, and both Harold and Danny wanted to do. And literally Bill refused to read it for a year. Then finally he may have read a few pages, and I got him on the telephone, and he said, “Look, I just don’t want to do this.” It had nothing to do with how good or bad the script was or anything like that. He was having his own issues in his own life, and I think he just didn’t want to engage…I think the reason that Bill wouldn’t read it was he didn’t want to make a decision about this. So he just ignored it.
“Bill and Sigourney’s kid, Oscar, is a postgrad student, and weird things start to happen,” he added, referring to Murray’s character in the third film. “Bill Murray dies in the first scene, because he always said, ‘I won’t do it unless I die.’ And I said, ‘Okay, you got it.’ [Laughs.] It was a father-son story, with him as a ghost.”
There was also version entitled Hellbent, in which the Ghostbusters actually battled the Devil. Reitman explains why:
“I was never a big fan of that one,” he tells the site. “Danny always loved it. To me, what was funny about the Ghostbusters was putting these extraordinary situations in a world that we knew, surrounded by people that we recognized, real New Yorkers acting like New Yorkers. I thought the comedy was in that juxtaposition. I’ve never liked the more fantastical versions.”
He segues into discussing the original plan for the 1984 film, which was to star John Belushi and take the ‘busters to space!
“Danny’s original treatment [for the original ‘Ghostbusters’], which he wrote for Belushi and himself, took place in outer space and the future, with competing groups of Ghostbusters and all kinds of stuff going on that was almost impossible to shoot on any budget, particularly then without CGI. So after Belushi passed away, he came to me. By then I had worked with Bill, I think three times, and Dan said, “I was thinking of doing this with Bill. What do you think?” And I sat down with him and pitched this contemporary story about guys who are paranormal researchers at Columbia University, get kicked out, and go into business. And it gave us a real structure to write a story that I thought could be way funnier than something more fantastical. It’s why I like the second ‘Ghostbusters’ so much. It probably wasn’t as big as it should’ve been. But I liked that a baby was at the center of it, and that it was really a domestic story. I just looked at that film again, and I was so proud of the comedy work between Sigourney Weaver, Bill, and everybody.”
The full interview has so much more, including plans for a follow up and a new animated movie!
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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