This was no small detail, considering this gave them only 12 months to finish the script, shoot the film, and create and finish the special effects. Price agreed on the budget and the movie with one stipulation-that it must have a firm release in June 1984, in time for the summer season. Price asked Reitman just how much the outrageous-sounding movie would cost, and the director allegedly threw out a random guesstimate of $30 million. Since Reitman had a relationship with Columbia Pictures (which produced Stripes), he approached pragmatic studio head Frank Price with Aykroyd’s outrageous one-sentence pitch-“Ghost janitors in New York”-in May 1983. While admittedly skeptical, Price was attracted to the project because the tripartite of comedy geniuses who had agreed to play the leads: Aykroyd, Murray, and Ramis. Reitman had previously directed the popular Bill Murray comedies Meatballs and Stripes-both of which had been co-written by another eventual Ghostbuster, Harold Ramis. Once Aykroyd nailed down the general concept and the narrative of the film (but before he'd penned the final draft ), he brought on Ivan Reitman, not only to direct, but also to sell the movie to a major motion picture studio. THE MOVIE HAD TO BE MADE IN A VERY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. The ghost made it to the screen and was later christened “Slimer.” 4. When it came time to think up the design for the first ghost the group is commissioned to bust, Aykroyd conceived of a gross-looking, gluttonous, party-guy persona for the apparition as an ironic homage to his friend Belushi. The role was later immortalized by Bill Murray, another SNL alum, but the writers still wanted to honor Belushi by somehow involving him in the movie. Part of the reason Aykroyd had to recontextualize and rethink his idea-other than its implausible potential budget-was the tragic death of his fellow former SNL castmate John Belushi, whom he envisioned as the sarcastic Peter Venkman. J OHN BELUSH I STILL APPEARS IN THE F INAL FILM, IN SPIRIT. Eventual director Ivan Reitman estimated that the first script would have cost up to $300 million to produce-and that was in 1984. The now-iconic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man-which is in the climax of the finished film-appeared much earlier (on page 20) and was one of 50 large-scale monsters that the Ghostbusters would do battle with. His concept involved dozens of Ghostbuster groups fighting specters across time and different dimensions. The actors he had in mind for the three main protagonists were himself, John Belushi, and Eddie Murphy. Īykroyd found comedic inspiration in films like Bob Hope's The Ghost Breakers, the horror-comedies of Abbott and Costello, and Bowery Boys fare like Spook Busters and Ghost Chasers. He went wild writing his original script, which took place in the future and had a much darker tone. GHOSTBUSTERS COULD HAVE BEEN MUCH DIFFERENT-AND M UCH BIGGER. After he left Saturday Night Live in 1979, he read an article about parapsychology in an American Society of Psychical Research publication, which inspired Ghostbusters. Dan's father, Peter, kept a sizeable library of books about spooky subjects (including his great grandfather’s séances), which kept ghosts and ghouls in the back of young Aykroyd’s mind. Maurice allegedly tried to use his know-how to create a high-vibration crystal radio that could contact the spirit world. This predilection for the paranormal was passed down to Aykroyd’s grandfather, Maurice, who was an engineer for the Bell Telephone Company. Aykroyd, was a noted nineteenth century psychic investigator who conducted séances at the Aykroyd family farmhouse in eastern Ontario with a medium named Walter Ashurst. ĭan Aykroyd grew up surrounded by spiritualists. DAN A YKROY D FOUND INSPIRATION FOR THE MOVIE IN HIS FAMILY 'S HISTORY. As Paul Feig's reboot of Ivan Reitman's classic sci-fi-horror-comedy readies to hit theaters, we're looking back at the film that started it all.ġ.
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