How does a movie become iconic in the world of pop culture? It can be thanks to incredible sets, or to an amazing soundtrack. It can also be thanks to some of the props used in the movies, props that might become some of the most sought after merchandise once the movie comes out. And sometimes, a movie franchise will have all of these things and become incredibly popular all over the world: Ghostbusters can boast of having a legendary firehouse, protons packs, an emblematic no-ghost sign but also one of the best and most recognizable car in cinema history, Ecto-1 (and its even more recognizable siren).
While Ghostbusters: Afterlife introduced us to Egon Spengler’s descendants, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire mixes classic and new, nostalgia and revival. The movie has heart, soul, and a good dose of ghost busting. Directed by Gil Kennan and produced by Jason Reitman, the film, now out in theaters, brings the Spengler’s back to New York, where it all begun. Once again the Ghostbusters will have to fight an evil force about to create a new ice age. So of course, when a ghost is threatening an entire city, who you gonna call?
‘’Ghostbusters, it transcends generations’’ told me Ernie Hudson who portrays Winston Zeddemore in the franchise, during our interview over Zoom. ‘’When I see grandparents, great grandparents watching it with their little children, that’s really, really special. I think at a time where the world seems to be tattering on confusion, Ghostbusters has an amazing way of pulling people together, sit together and laugh together, and it‘s not that many movies that does that. That’s what I love about the franchise. I saw a lady with her family, and she had a little baby and he had the Ghostbusters suit on him. And I said ‘Wow that is so special, where did you find that jumpsuit ?’ And she said ‘I made it for his father when he was a baby, and now his baby is wearing it’”.
While the new cast, which includes Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Mckenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard still can’t realize they are now ghostbusters as well, it seems like filming inside the firehouse, 40 years later, felt as nostalgic and unbelievable for them as it was for the public, who grew up watching these movies: ‘’It’s unreal, because I have seen this place for decades, and it’s so well known and iconic” told me Paul Rudd. “All the stuff that was inside, a lot of the props, were from the original film. Being there and seeing the Ecto-1 just sitting there, which was also from the original film, it’s kind of impossible to just feel like ‘ok yeah, we are on a location, filming a scene in a movie’. It’s like ‘oh wow, this is pretty special and I don’t think that we ever got totally used to it‘”.
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I asked the young cast how they were able to appropriate such a famous place, and make themselves at home, knowing it has been visited by fans and tourists from all over the world these past 40 years. ‘’It’s a good question’’ said Wolfhard’’. ‘’ I think we’re still trying to figure that out ourselves. Being in the firehouse was amazing, but the production design really helped us get into it, we had our own bedrooms, the way it was decorated kind of how we all wanted, it helped a lot. ‘’
This piece does contain spoilers past this point
The first two Ghostbusters have some of the funniest, most famous lines ever written for a movie. During a scene in Frozen Empire, Rudd even quotes the theme song of Ghostbusters to Carrie Coon: ‘’Busters makes me feel good’’ he tells her in the most serious way possible. I asked them what were the most quoted lines on set, in front Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson: ’’We didn’t really, because the OG’s were there, we wouldn't dare, they were sitting next to us, I would be terrified.’’ laughed Carrie Coon. ‘’But I do think of Sigourney Weaver as Zuul often, it’s something that’s really burnt into my brain from childhood. I think of that a lot. Iconic.’’ Rudd added: ’That's a very good question. It would be intimidating, ‘Hey Bill, remember when you said ‘We came, we saw… ’. No I'd feel like an idiot”
For a lot of fans, the recipe to a good Ghostbusters movie resides in hearing the siren of Ecto-1 going at full speed in the ghost-infested streets of New York. For others, the secret to success is getting to see Slimer once again, or witnessing the whole team in full gear, hanging on to their proton packs, ready to fire. For Carrie Coon, returning to this world a second time, and becoming Callie once again, wasn’t that hard: ‘’I’m a pretty haggard mom anyway, so that was pretty easy to do, I have 2 children myself, it’s very hard, so it wasn’t a big stretch for me’’ she joked. ‘’But it was fun to put on the suit and the proton pack, because I didn’t get to do that in the last film so it's nice to see Callie embracing her family like that. ‘’
For Ernie Hudson, coming back as Winston one more time, brought back many memories: ‘’ Zipping up the jumpsuit and the proton pack, the siren of the car, the whole experience is unique and it takes you back to the very beginning, to the very first day when I came to the team, it’s very special.” Although for Hudson, it mostly is the sight of the fans, families and friends coming together to see yet another Ghostbusters movie, that resonates so much with him today: ‘’It’s also looking at the faces of people I’ve worked with for 40 years, and just being so appreciative that we’re still here and being loved’’ he concluded.
During the final battle in Afterlife, Egon comes back as a ghost and helps his granddaughter, Phoebe, to hold on to her proton pack as she is fighting Gozer (the Gozerian) who just made a big comeback. In Frozen Empire, a similar scene includes the whole family, who surrounds Phoebe, as they fully embrace the fact that now, they are Ghostbusters too.
‘’Passing the torch is the theme of the film, Ernie setting us up for the future, and Dan sort of having to hang it up. It’s multigenerational our movie, we’re proud of that.’’ said Coon. ‘’That final scene, we feel like we earned the suit‘’ added Rudd.
‘’Oh that’s so funny, I didn’t even thought of that. I like that, I’m sure it was on purpose and I’m just too dumb to realize that’’ joked Finn Wolfhard when I drew comparison between these two final scenes. In Frozen Empire, Phoebe is now a teenager, she feels cast aside, and struggles to find her place amongst the living, and her own family: ‘’It’s interesting having Egon’s ghost help Phoebe at the end of Afterlife, and she has a big connection with a ghost in this one. She just has this fascination for ghosts and the one person she connects to in this film is a ghost. I feel like that’s kind of a recurring theme for her. So it’s nice to see the whole family come around and support each other, so now she has a connection to the living at least. ‘’
In the film, Ray and Winston keep mentioning how these days, these years, are supposed to be their golden years, so I asked Hudson if he felt like right now, it was his golden years as well, a time where he could appreciate and enjoy this experience even more, knowing the impact that the two first movies has had on many generations, compared to how he felt in 1984, not knowing that Ivan Reitman and his cast had just made history:
‘’The golden years is a time where you live long enough to appreciate some of the work that you’ve done. I’ve done a lot of movies, many more TV shows, but to have one that people love and embrace, that’s really special. I think Winston sees the golden years as ‘We’re gonna do research and let these young people get out there with the packs and run around town’ and Ray still wants to be the guy running up the stairs. And I’m like ‘We’re too old for that’.
