Since breaking into the film industry in 1984, ghostbusters Few comedies, before or since, have endured, spawning multiple sequels and adaptations in various mediums.star co-written Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramisthis Ivan ReitmanThe director’s film became the highest-grossing comedy in history when it was released, and quickly became a pop culture phenomenon. But what ends up on screen is a far cry from the earliest iterations of the screenplay.Originally conceived by Aykroyd, inspired by his fascination with the paranormal and paranormal, his original idea was ghostbusters Obviously, they’re darker, more ambitious, and really out of this world.
What was Dan Aykroyd’s inspiration for Ghostbusters?
Dan Aykroyd grew up in Ontario, the descendant of paranormal enthusiasts. As the great-grandson of a famous spiritualist, grandson of an engineer who tried radio technology to contact spirits, and son of a published author on the paranormal, the actor is no stranger to ghost lore. . “It’s a family business, for God’s sake,” he told us vanity fair Year 2014. His great-grandfather even held seances at his farmhouse and developed a connection with spirit mediums, so perhaps Aykroyd’s upbringing and unwavering interest in the inexplicable would influence his career as an entertainer as well No surprise. But the real kicker was when he read a magazine article on parapsychology and it occurred to him, “I’m going to design a system to capture ghosts … and combine it with old ghost movies from the 1930s. Almost every comedy team made a ghost movie— abbott and costello, bob hope. I’m a big fan of them. “
What was Dan Aykroyd’s original vision for Ghostbusters?
After the basic concept was established, Aykroyd began to conceptualize and write the title of the time ghost smasher. A self-proclaimed “kitchen sink writer” inclined to “throw everything in it,” Aykroyd’s earliest, incomplete versions of the screenplay proved ambitious, plot-dense, and unwieldy in scope.after a tragic death John BelushiAykroyd would have played a character in the film and ended up being the inspiration for the character Slimer, to whom Aykroyd pitched his idea bill murray and ivan reitman. The latter was impressed, but admittedly overwhelmed by what he read. Reitman said of the script: “It’s set in the future…on many different planets or dimensional planes. It’s all action. There’s very little character work in it. Ghostbusters are catching ghosts.” On one page—and then on every page after that—no gasps, just one paranormal after another. By page 10, I was exhausted. By page 40 or 50 — no matter how many pages there are — I’m budgeting in the hundreds of millions. “
Aykroyd’s central premise revolves around an opening to an alternate dimension that has infested the world with hordes of ghosts, and in response, multiple teams of heroic and villainous “ghost smashers” set out to fight the threat. However, despite including familiar elements, the differences between Aykroyd’s original vision and the final film remain significant. The Ectomobile was painted black to be “dematerialized” and went on to become one of the most iconic vehicles in cinema, while the character who morphed into Slimer was dubbed “The Onion.” Instead of holding trapped ghosts in a New York City firehouse, Smasher holds supernatural prisoners at a gas station in New Jersey that will eventually explode and create a massive sinkhole. Although in the script, the image of the villain Gozel is varied, including an old man in a suit and a huge monster. Instead of a violent battle atop a towering building, the script ends with the heroes being transported to another dimension.
How did Ghostbusters become the movie we all know and love?
As pointed out by Ivan Reitman, Dan Aykroyd’s original written version ghostbusters Big budgets are needed, especially for comedies.Although Reitman and the chairman of Columbia Pictures frank price Confident about the project, they decided the script would have to be drastically revised to get the $25 million they wanted.To better integrate the narrative’s ambitious and fantastical elements into a recognizable reality, Reitman and Aykroyd hired Harold Ramis, who had previously worked with the director, as a screenwriter animal house and stripe.
With Ramis joined, the trio heads off to Martha’s Vineyard for an intense refresher session. “It’s been the greatest two weeks of my life,” Reitman said vanity fair. “We work 7 days a week…have great meals with the family and go back to work in the evening.” Writing together for the first time, Aykroyd and Ramis enjoy a productive partnership, relying on each other to bring Own unique qualities Aykroyd recalls: “I was a better creator of a finished script than an executor. I always relied on my collaborators to bring it to life.” Harold Ramis Speaking of the process, “Dan was very good at creating funny situations, while my strength was more in strong jokes and funny dialogue. Essentially, we wrote separately and then re-wrote each other.” By 1983 At the beginning of the year, a draft was completed that was more similar to the final film, but would make more significant changes in casting. Although Bill Murray was Aykroyd’s first choice to play Peter, Venkman considered other performers for the role following the death of John Belushi.originally cast to play louis tully and janine was john candy and Sandra Bernhardrespectively, and at the same time Paul Rebbins was considered for gozel and Eddie Murphy For Winston.
While we’ll never see “Ghost Smasher,” it’s fun to imagine what could happen
After his release in June 1984, ghostbusters Firmly and quickly establishing itself as one of the most memorable films of all time, it became one of the biggest hits of the year and one of the highest-grossing comedies to date. While it might be hard to imagine the film as Dan Aykroyd originally envisioned it in the early 1980s, there’s no denying that it was fun trying to realize the idea. Epic scale, a darker, more brutal tone, and plenty of action in and out of this world make for a wild viewing experience without a doubt. While arguably, a film might not be able to sustain a spectacle of this magnitude without blowing the brains of its audience, let alone the massive budget and logistical demands, it’s safe to say that Aykroyd chose to broke the fence and created a work that has almost mythical status in Hollywood history.
