It turns out that the famous question of “Who you gonna call?” suddenly got multiple answers last week. That’s because it was recently reported that instead of just one new all-female Ghostbusters reboot movie coming up that we already knew about, Sony were also developing an entire shared universe in which multiple Ghostbuster flicks could be staged. One of these movies would allegedly be led by Channing Tatum and directed by the Russo Bros, and would at some point maybe crossover with team from Feig’s film Avengers style.
Although no official announcement has been made by Sony about the exact details of their plans, Paul Feig, who is directing/co-writing the all-female Ghostbusters flick, confirmed the shared universe to ComingSoon.net, but then revealed that he is not really involved with all the films planned.
“I’m just concentrated on mine. That’s kind of the big plan that Ivan [Reitman] and Sony have. We’ll see if mine ends up tying into theirs. I’m not involved with that right now at all. My only goal is to get my ladies doing their thing.”
The ladies in this case being Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon, some of whom are Feig movie regulars. The director explained that it was him being unable to tackle a straightforward Ghostbusters sequel, but knowing what he wanted to do with these funny women that he knew, that prompted the creation of this rebooted ladies-only team.
“‘Ghostbusters’ kind of just came about, because they were talking to me about doing the sequel and I just couldn’t figure out how to do it. You have to carry over something that started 25 years ago and you have an already-established mythology. I don’t know. I couldn’t get my head around it. I’m sure someone else could have, but it was sitting dormant forever. I was only when I realized that I love this property and I love the idea of this. I mean, I love the original film, but I also just love the idea of busting ghosts and kind of paranormal warriors. I thought, ‘You know, if I could do this with the funny women I know and kind of just do a new origin story…’ I’m more interested in what would happen today. You know, you see things on TV about ghosts, but none of it’s real. What if, suddenly, something started happening? What happens when that just begins to happen to people? Also, how do they develop their technology? It’s not as fun if they’re just handed their proton packs. It’s why it’s not as fun to do a sequel. The fun is getting there. The first ‘Iron Man’ is so much fun because the road to becoming Iron Man is so much fun. ‘Iron Man 2′ wasn’t as much fun, because we already knew what he could do. This just, to me, felt more fertile.”
With Bridesmaids, The Heat and the upcoming Spy, Feig has become known for his female-led narratives in genres that are normally very male-dominated, just like with this film, and he explained that it was all about trying to see something new.
“I’m having a lot of fun playing with genres. Especially since I like working with women. I like to ask, ‘What haven’t I seen women in that would be a cool role for them to play?”
You’ll be able to see those cool roles when Ghostbusters hits cinemas on July 22, 2016.
Last Updated: March 16, 2015
