It’s no secret that the pandemic pretty much turned Hollywood on its head there for a while. Filming came to a halt in most cases and countless movies were delayed. It wasn’t just new properties that were put on halt though, the newest film in the classic Ghostbusters franchise Ghostbusters: Afterlife film that was set for last summer has been delayed 3 times so far. In this film’s case, though, a delay may not have been the worst thing, as franchise star Bill Murray makes it seem like shooting Ghostbusters: Afterlife was a pretty grueling experience.
In an interview with Collider, Bill Murray says that he is glad the newest Ghostbusters film was delayed and that it will be very worth seeing. Murray isn’t as young as he was while making the OG film, and the comedic actor made shooting the film sound like it really took a toll on him physically. Between wearing the iconic packs and hitting the floor and popping back up, it sounds like Murray got quite the workout. Here are the Groundhog Day actor’s own words:
I think he’s really got something. It was hard. It was really hard. That’s why I think it’s gonna be good. We were just in it for a little while, but it was physically painful. Wearing those packs is extremely uncomfortable. We had batteries the size of batteries. They now have batteries the size of earrings. It’s still a really heavy thing to wear, all the time. The special effects in this one are a lot of wind and dirt in your face, and there was a lot of going down and getting back up. I was like, ‘What is this? What am I doing? These are like Bulgarian deadlifts, or a Russian kettlebell, getting up and down with this thing on my back.’ It was very uncomfortable. Usually, when something has a very high misery quotient, something comes of that and some quality is produced that, if you can capture it and project it, comes on the screen and affects you. I think it comes out sometime in the fall. They’ve delayed it for a year or a year and a half, but I’m glad they did. It will be worth seeing.
The “he” Bill Murray is referring to is Jason Reitman, who is the writer and director behind the newest Ghostbusters reboot. Even though he has a notable career as the director of films like Juno and Thank You For Smoking, the real specialty here is that he is Ivan Reitman’s son. Having the son of the original Ghostbusters’ director direct this new age version of the classic film makes the reboot not only a nostalgic film, but gives it a feeling of legacy.
Bill Murray, who has been involved in all the films in the Ghostbuster franchise, says he remembers going to the younger Reitman’s Bar Mitzvah when he was just a boy. When he came to Murray with a fresh idea for a Ghostbusters film, Murray says he was skeptical but the idea was solid and we should have a great film from the interesting pairing.
With recent films like Godzilla vs. Kong and Tom & Jerry seeing post-pandemic success at the box office, we can expect the delays Ghostbusters: Afterlife has seen to come to an end. If that’s true, we’ll be able to see the film in theaters on November 11th of this year, and if we take Bill Murray’s word as gospel we’re in for another potentially iconic Ghostbusters film - and he's got the muscle ache to prove it.
