Paul Feig, who’s the director of the 2016 ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot, recently spoke out about the backlash the movie received. It appears he thinks that many of the critics were supporters of former President Donald Trump.
The reboot featured an all-female cast and faced a lot of negative reactions even before it hit theaters. Feig shared his thoughts in an interview with The Guardian and said he didn’t want to damage the original movies’ legacy. “Bill Murray had publicly said he didn’t want to do another Ghostbusters at that point,” he explained. “Harold Ramis had died. Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson were there, but half the team felt weird. It had been 30 years and Bill and the gang were so iconic; I didn’t want to do anything that hurt the original movies.”
Feig also pointed out that the political climate in 2016 played a big role in how people reacted to the movie. “There were a lot of dudes looking for a fight. When I was getting piled on, on Twitter, I’d go back and see who they were. So many were Trump supporters. Then Trump came out against us. He was like: ‘They’re remaking Indiana Jones without Harrison Ford. You can’t do that. And now they’re making Ghostbusters with only women. What’s going on?’ and got all upset. Everybody went [frick]ing cannibal.”
Feig believes being for or against the film was seen as a stance on gender issues. “It turned the movie into a political statement as if to say: ‘If you’re pro-women, you’re going to go see this. If you’re not, then …’ I didn’t think it mattered at all that the main characters were women, but people brought a lot of baggage,” he said.
Fans were upset when news first broke that an all-female ‘Ghostbusters’ movie was being made. The reboot ignored the original movies and didn’t include Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore. At the time, Harold Ramis had already passed away. Some of the backlash was rooted in the fact that fans wanted a direct sequel — not a new story with different characters.
2016’s ‘Ghostbusters’ wasn’t a complete failure, but it was criticized for relying on old jokes, unnecessary cameos, and an ending that felt too similar to the original film. The movie earned a 74% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but its box office performance didn’t meet expectations.
