Emma Stone Says She Turned Down Paul Feig’s ‘Ghostbusters’

Emma Stone is, in fact, afraid of no ghosts.

Or maybe it’s more accurate to say she’s afraid of remakes of no ghosts. Because the actress has revealed that Paul Feig wanted her for his upcoming reboot/remake/rewhatever of Ivan Reitman’s Ghostbusters. And she also revealed that she turned Feig down.

This according to the Wall Street Journal, who’s got a new interview with Stone about her life and career, and her upcoming movie with Woody Allen, Irrational Man. Stone said she liked the material but wasn’t ready for that sort of project at this time in her life. Her exact quote:

The script was really funny ... It just didn’t feel like the right time for me. A franchise is a big commitment — it’s a whole thing. I think maybe I need a minute before I dive back into that water

Stone said she’d prefer to play someone “crazy or dangerous” like a villain. (“That would be amazing ... I would love that.”)

Stone could have been a great addition to the Ghostbusters cast, but the film is still pretty loaded with talent without her. The main ’busters include Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon, and the cast also includes Chris Hemsworth as the gang’s receptionist. Still, throwing Stone in there would have been great as well. Her name was often bandied about before Feig locked in his cast, and for good reason; she’s funny, she’s a great actress, and she’d probably be entertaining as hell to watch playing a Bill Murray-type wiseacre. In fact, her best scene in Cameron Crowe’s Aloha — basically the only good scene in the entire movie — featured her dancing with Murray to Hall and Oates. Sadly, that’s as close as we’re going to get to Emma Stone’s Peter Venkman. Regardless, Feig’s Ghostbusters opens on July 22, 2016.