‘Ghostbusters’ star criticises “disappointing” all-female reboot
Ghostbusters star Ernie Hudson has labelled the 2016 all-female reboot of the classic film as “disappointing”, despite having a cameo in the production.
The Paul Feig-directed movie aimed to take Ghostbusters in a new direction, starring Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, Kristen Wiig, Lesley Jones and Kate McKinnon. While the film was still somewhat profitable at the box office, it was criticised by audiences, in many cases unfairly, and failed to hit the expected heights in terms of revenue.
Feig took responsibility for the failure, telling Vulture in 2017: “It was a great regret in my life that the movie didn’t do better, ’cause I really loved it. It’s not a perfect movie. None of my movies are perfect. I liked what we were doing with it. It was only supposed to be there to entertain people”.
Now, in a new interview, Hudson, who also features as the legendary Winston Zeddemore in 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife and the recently released Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, has shared his thoughts on Feig’s film.
Speaking to The Independent, Hudson stated: “Look, I’m a fan of [director] Paul Feig so I have nothing negative about him to say. Other than: I don’t quite understand why you do a reboot, you know what I mean? Just make another movie.”
Hudson also heaped praise upon Wiig, McCarthy, McKinnon and Jones as individual talents, claiming all four are “brilliantly funny on their own”.
However, he felt they were dealt a rough card when it came to their characters in the 2016 movie, which ultimately led to the negative reaction from viewers.
The actor remarked: “Fans were really invested in the story and the characters, and I think it was disappointing. I enjoyed the movie, but I think it wasn’t what fans were hoping for.”
During an interview with The Guardian in 2016, McCarthy defended the reboot. She specifically highlighted fans of the franchise who claimed it was “ruining my childhood”, stating: “I have a visual of those people not having a Ben, not having friends, so they’re just sitting there and spewing hate into this fake world of the internet. I just hope they find a friend.”
On a positive note, in the new interview, Hudson praised Sony for how they have added a new dimension to his character over the last two new movies, noting, “Sony is not the same studio it was 40 years ago and they’ve really stepped up and given some dimension to the character.”
Hudson added: “Credit to Sony for being open to hearing my feelings, because in the first one – they didn’t.”
Frozen Empire is in cinemas now, watch the trailer below.
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