‘Ghostbusters’ Director Paul Feig on Why He’s Making an All-Female Reboot

Only one thing has been able to get us interested in a new ‘Ghostbusters’ movie, and that’s Paul Feig’s decision to make an all-female reboot with the property, which will surely feature a cast of incredibly funny women. But some people have criticized Sony and Feig’s decision to go with a female cast, casually (and disrespectfully) dismissing it as little more than a “gimmick.” Feig opened up in a recent interview about why he chose to make an all-female reboot, how his film will be much scarier than the original, and aiming for a PG-13 rating.

In the newest issue of Empire (via Comic Book Movie), Feig explained his decision to reboot ‘Ghostbusters’ with an all-female cast instead of making a sequel, saying that he has “too much respect” for Ivan Reitman’s original film. Some people have called the planned all-female reboot a “gimmick,” which feels incredibly disrespectful to the notion of gender equality. Feig seems optimistic:

A lot of people accused it of being a gimmick. I guess I can see the cynics’ view of it, but for me I just love working with funny women. People said, ‘Why don’t you do a mix?’ I’m just more interested in the idea of lady Ghostbusters. It’s the way my brain works.

Feig further elaborates on his reasoning for a reboot instead of a sequel:

There’s also the feeling that once the world knows ghosts and has seen them busted on such a large scale, they run the risk of becoming pedestrian. There’s something fun about introducing our world, which has never seen ghosts to the phenomenon of ghosts. I love origin stories and to introduce new characters.

Who will star in the film? Everyone has been making suggestions and speculating, including original Ghostbuster Bill Murray. Jennifer Lawrence and Feig’s ‘Bridesmaids’ star Rebel Wilson have admitted to meeting with Feig in regards to the reboot, but no one has officially been cast yet. The director acknowledges that casting will be difficult because there are just too many awesome and talented women who want to star in this thing:

Right now, honestly, there could be 50 Ghostbusters. I’m just waiting to get our first draft of the script together to go, ‘Who makes sense in these roles?’ If I put the list in front of me of people that have said they want to do it, talk about a Sophie’s Choice. When you do a movie like ‘Ghostbusters,’ people get very interested.

In recent leaked e-mails from Sony, Feig had discussed his reboot with executives, stating that he aimed to make a genuinely scary comedy—scarier than the original film, even. Feig goes on to confirm his intentions:

I want ours to be scarier than the original, to be quite honest. Katie Dippold and I are so focused on wanting to do scary comedy. We don’t want to hold back.

Feig’s two previous films have been R-rated female-driven comedies, but the director acknowledges that while he loves using profanity, he wants to dial it down just a teensy bit for the ‘Ghostbusters’ film:

The reason I do a lot of R-rated comedies is that you want a movie to feel honest. But the Ghostbusters world doesn’t need that level of swearing. We’ll have to be PG-13 with this one. I would like to make it R-rated, but I won’t. You want the biggest number of people to watch it and not be put off by it.

So far, so good. Katie Dippold’s screenplay appears to be unfinished at the moment, and Feig likely won’t begin casting until the script is complete and he’s got an official green light from Sony. We came up with our own casting suggestions for the ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot, but what do you guys think? Which awesome actresses do you want to see battling ghosts?