There was much cranking of the eyebrows and taking of the doubles a few weeks ago when word slipped out that Bill Murray – famously a hold-out on appearing in more Ghostbusters films – was making a cameo in Paul Feig’s new take on the concept. He’s now spoken out about why he came around.
Talking with Vulture, Murray conceded that he’d been resistant to the idea of any return to the Ghostbusters universe. So what finally changed his mind and convinced him to join in? “I like those girls a lot,” he says of the new main cast, which includes Leslie Jones, Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy and Kate McKinnon. “I mean, I really do. They are tough to say no to. And Paul is a real nice fellow.”
He still had second thoughts, but finally agreed to a small appearance. “They were incredibly nice to ask me, and I really enjoyed being there,” Murray says. “They have such a jolly group, and they are going to have great success with this project. I didn’t want to overshadow them or anything, and I feel really good about it.”
And even then, he had to seriously ponder the idea. “I thought about it for a very long time. Like, many, many months. No, that’s not right. I was seriously thinking about this for years, really… It kept eating at me, and I really respect those girls. And then I started to feel like if I didn’t do this movie, maybe somebody would write a bad review or something, thinking there was some sort of disapproval on my part.”
Feig’s film, co-written by the director and The Heat’s Katie Dippold, will also feature Chris Hemsworth, Michael Kenneth Williams, Andy Garcia, Cecily Strong, Matt Walsh, Nate Corddry, Neil Casey and Murray’s old partner-in-bustin’, Dan Aykroyd. The new movie will be out here on July 15 next year.