Thirty years and a couple of weeks ago, Harold Ramis, Dan Akroyd, Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson unleashed Ghostbusters onto the world. The film went on to gross over $240 million domestic, beating out Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom for 1984’s top slot at the box office. A few years later, I was born. And while everyone else on the playground fought over the role of Peter Venkman, I grew up calling dibs on Winston Zeddmore.
Last Thursday, Collider attended the 40th Annual Saturn Awards and I got to meet one of my childhood role models, (even if the only thing he taught me was how to break my mother’s vacuum cleaner). I then promptly turned into a Chris Farley-esque babbling idiot spewing, one “Remember that one time when you…” question after the next. Fortunately, Mr. Hudson was gracious and kind, answering questions about everything from Ghostbusters 2’s bad rap, to annoying fan catcalls, to his vision of Ghostbusters 3 and even Ayn Rand’s influence on the franchise. Hit the jump to watch.
- 00:00 - Are you enjoying the [20th] anniversary of Airheads?
- 0:40 - Was Ghostbusters green-lighted because the studio had an empty release date?
- 0:55 - Did you enjoy working further iterations of the series like Extreme Ghostbusters?
- 1:55 - Why do you think Ghostbusters 2 gets a bad rap?
- 2:55 - Does Dan Akroyd really believe in ghosts?
- 3:55 - Question: Is Ghostbusters secretly a Randian fantasy about how the free market is obstructed by things like the EPA? Hudson says, "No I think that knowing those guys, and knowing Harold Ramis especially, I think that was all very intended. And I think it’s very interesting seeing the EPA being the bad guy in this thing. But I think they were making a lot of statements."
- But I mean, they were carrying unlicensed nuclear weapons on the backs that could obliterate all of reality! Hudson says, "Well from my perspective we do need government to do something about guys who make nuclear backpacks. So I don’t have a problem with it."
- 4:45 - Did an unused script for Ghostbusters 3, where they get sent to hell end up morphing into Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey?
- 5:05 - Where would you like to take Ghostbusters 3, if you had your druthers?
- 5:55 - How long was it before having the Ghostbusters theme yelled at you stopped being cool? Did it ever become cool again?
- 6:30 - What is your favorite film that no one talks about?
- 7:05 - I go full Chris Farley and start describing random scenes from Congo.
