Ghostbusters: Afterlife Was Made in a Surprisingly Unique Way

That Jason Reitman, the co-writer and director of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, is the son of Ivan Reitman, who directed the primary two Ghostbusters, may seem to be a clear-cut case of nepotism. But in actuality, that relationship made the youthful Reitman’s choice to make a brand new Ghostbusters movie much more sophisticated. If another person screws up a franchise, odds are they don’t need to see its creator in the course of the holidays.

For instance, George Lucas isn’t J.J. Abrams’ dad. So Reitman mainly prevented any thought of making a Ghostbusters movie for so long as doable, each as a result of he was keen on different issues and to keep away from that complete probably tainting your loved ones’s good identify factor. “I obviously set out on a career to make independent films and my filmmaking career began at festivals,” Reitman, who beforehand directed Juno, Thank You For Smoking, and Up within the Air, advised io9. “And I think the intimidation factor of taking on my father’s most successful film certainly was a hurdle that I never thought I would attempt to leap.”

Reitman co-wrote Afterlife with Gil Kenan, a long-time pal, collaborator, and fellow filmmaker who defined to io9 that Reitman’s leap took place not out of necessity, however out of a dream. “He brought this idea to me very casually as just sort of conversation,” Kenan advised io9. “He said, ‘You know, I’ve been asked this question [if he’d make a Ghostbusters movie] for most of my filmmaking life. I haven’t really ever wanted to tell the story. I haven’t felt like I was in a place where I was ready to tell the story,’ but there were a couple of dreamlike images that came to him sort of like a key. They felt like they were ready and poised to unlock something.”

Those photos concerned a younger woman, a proton pack, and a cornfield. Quickly, Reitman realized he was seeing the granddaughter of Egon Spengler, performed by the late Harold Ramis. But who was she? Where was this subject? It was as much as him and Kenan to determine it out. Thankfully although, as a result of the concept for Afterlife occurred so organically, nobody even actually knew it was occurring—not the executives at Sony, which owned the rights, not Ivan Reitman or Dan Aykroyd, the keepers of the Ghostbusters legacy, and definitely not any followers. It must be famous that lots of these followers have been nonetheless upset over what some contemplate a mishandling of the franchise by 2016’s Ghostbusters: Answer the Call directed by Paul Feig. (Reitman, for what it’s value, credit Feig’s movie for exhibiting everybody Ghostbusters could possibly be one thing new and completely different.)

To get to jot down and create a blockbuster franchise sequel of this magnitude with none exterior forces or enter was actually distinctive and the pair took full benefit. “We weren’t in any rush,” Kenan stated. “We sort of took a few weeks and months to kind of buildup something that felt really solid then we sort of casually took that to Ivan. The two of us pitched it and then we just went off and wrote it and we weren’t really under [any pressure]. We didn’t have like, a gun to our head, we just sort of wrote. And it never felt like work, it felt like a pure storytelling exercise. It really was that. We weren’t getting studio notes. There was no interruption to the process. We were just allowed to build up a story that we felt was a way to connect with who we were in 1984, when the film played for us and how to make that feeling [return].”

Obviously, that feeling was completely different for the 2 males. Reitman was actually on the set of the primary Ghostbusters and even seems in the second; Kenen merely noticed them within the theater. But collectively, the companions knew the important thing was to seize all the things concerning the franchise that spoke to them. “This is a movie about what is it like to become a Ghostbuster and in that way, it’s about nostalgia inside and out,” Reitman stated. “It’s about the rest of us. It’s about the group that grew up thinking about Ghostbusters and wondering what it was like to drive Ecto-1 and wondering what it was like to put on a proton pack. It is about the children of [Ghostbusters fans]. And certainly, I was going through a very personal story of my fears of picking up the proton pack and emulating that through the main characters.”

While many makes an attempt have been made to resurrect Ghostbusters through the years, with scripts that approached the story in numerous methods resulting in the 2016 reboot, Reitman and Kenan believed they have been tapping into one thing completely different: a steadiness of latest and nostalgia they imagine will make audiences blissful.

“The nostalgia really serves us for two reasons,” Reitman defined. “I mean, one, I find it incredibly joyful. I think that with any of the movies that anyone grows up on, you want to see the DeLorean hit 88 again. You want to see the lightsaber power on again and you want to see Ecto-1 again. You want to hear the siren, you want to see the proton pack fire, you want to see the PKE meter light up. And we really wanted to make a movie that was simultaneously an original journey, but also had all these kind of links with the past because that’s what the movie’s about. It’s about three generations of a family reconciling itself. And that’s exactly what nostalgia is.”

Once everybody acquired on board with Afterlife, Reitman discovered himself on set together with his father by his facet virtually the complete time. “It was never like any other movie that I’ve directed, and I don’t think it’s like any other experience any other director has ever had,” he stated. “I was sitting next to my father almost every single day.” Which, Reitman admits, has virtually a sitcom-pitch vibe. The concept of your dad at your job trying over your shoulder every single day is simply foolish. And but, whereas that collaboration could appear to an outsider like each Reitmans making certain their household legacy, Jason doesn’t see it that manner.

“I’m carrying this movie, momentarily, that doesn’t belong to me,” he stated, “And in many ways, doesn’t even belong to [Ivan] anymore. And that’s kind of a fascinating experience. Normally, when you make a film, for a brief period of time, it belongs to you and then you hand it over and it belongs to the audience. Here is a case where this film never belonged to me. I simply picked up the baton for a moment, and I wanted to make him proud. I wanted to make Ghostbusters fans proud, I wanted to make a film that was for everybody. And that’s a very daunting task.”

Read extra about that daunting process at this hyperlink. Ghostbusters: Afterlife opens solely in theaters on November 19.

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