It seems like people have been talking for so long about the all-female “Ghostbusters” reboot that it’ll never arrive. But come next month, July 15 to be exact, the new cast of Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Kristen Wiig will put on their proton packs and bust some ghosts and some patriarchy at the same time.
In anticipation of the film’s opening, the four stars, and director Paul Feig, sat down with The New York Times to discuss the ongoing reaction to the film, the sexism its faced, and women in the industry.
Here are some highlights:
Girls are super excited about this movie:
“When we were shooting,” McCarthy recalled, “Paul would bring in pictures of young girls dressing up, and they had made their own proton packs and jumpsuits, and I thought, that’s really cool.”
Remaking “Ghostbusters” does not ruin the original:
McCarthy addressed the fan boys who claim this reboot will “ruin their childhoods.” “I think their childhood was pretty much ruined already. If this broke it, it was pretty fragile to begin with,” she said. “It is good to remember, it is a tiny, tiny fraction that screams. Normal, healthy people don’t stand outside, saying, ‘You’re ruining my childhood!’ There’s one nut on every corner in every city that does it. But so what? The other 300,000 people in a town aren’t doing that.”
“They need to probably go to therapy,” Wiig quipped.
Jones added: “They redid ‘Roots,’ and everyone was saying, ‘Oh, it shouldn’t have been done.’ I was like, it definitely should have been done. Because it needs to be refurbished for the new generation, so they can understand it. When we did this reboot, I thought ‘Ghostbusters’ fans would be so excited: ‘They’ve got the new technology — the ghosts are going to look real now.’ These kids are not going to get the jokes that Bill and Dan told. There has to be a new story.”
“Bridesmaids” may have changed the game:
The Times asked, “Are there people who just don’t like the idea of a movie where the principal cast is female?” To which McKinnon replied, “It’s a relatively new concept. And I think it started in earnest with ‘Bridesmaids’ and has been growing since then. I remember when ‘Baby Mama’ came out, I was like: [horrified] ‘No one will see this! Why would they do this?’ I remember even having a little bit of that reaction myself. It’s this ingrained sexism that’s just, ‘That’s not going to work because we haven’t seen that before.’ And now we’re seeing more and more of it, and it just is going to become commonplace. It’s not quite commonplace yet.”
Gender equality doesn't mean replacing men, just adding women:
“I’m surprised, because women have been killing it for years,” Jones said. “It’s the same thing, when you go to a comedy club. [announcer’s voice] ‘Are you guys ready for a woman?’ Are you ready for a unicorn? Why is being a woman so surprising? There are two sexes. A man and a woman. So, if it’s not a man in a movie, what else was it going to be?”
McCarthy added, “There’s a weird replacement phenomenon, a fear that if you put two women in, two men come out. I don’t know why that viscerally affects certain people. It’s not how I ever think. If I see four men, I’m not like, ‘Well, those are four jobs women didn’t get.’ Great for them. There’s room for everybody.”
“Ghostbusters” hits theaters on July 15.
