Dan Aykroyd Blames Director Paul Feig for 'Ghostbusters' Reboot: 'It Cost Too Much'
Dan Aykroyd
UPDATE: Sony Pictures has refuted Dan Aykroyd’s version of events, saying that the reshoots he referred to actually cost between $3 million and $4 million, and not the $30 million to $40 million Aykroyd described on Britain’s Channel 4 earlier today. That does sound like a lot of money for reshoots.
ORIGINAL POST: Paul Feig, who directed last summer’s Ghostbusters reboot, “will not be back on the Sony lot anytime soon,” actor and star of the original Dan Aykroyd told Britain’s Channel 4 on Sunday. (See clip below.)
The director made several decisions that caused the movie to lose money, Aykroyd asserted on the Sunday Brunch show, adding that its struggles had nothing to do with the gender-inverted casting or the ensemble’s performances. One of the main stars and a co-writer of the 1984 original, Aykroyd got an executive producer title on the reboot.
“The girls are great in it. Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig — what wonderful, wonderful players they are — and Leslie Jones,” Aykroyd said. “I was really happy with the movie, but it cost too much. And Sony does not like to lose money, they don’t. It made a lot of money around the world but just cost too much, making it economically not feasible to do another one. So that’s too bad.”
Without even being asked to elaborate, Aykroyd went on to pin the losses on Feig.
“The director, he spent too much on it,” Aykroyd said. “He didn’t shoot scenes we suggested to him and several scenes that were going to be needed and he said ‘Nah, we don’t need them.’ Then we tested the movie and they needed them and he had to go back. About $30 to $40 million in reshoots. So he will not be back on the Sony lot any time soon.”
The film, which reportedly cost more than $140 million to make, grossed just $229.1 million worldwide.
Channel 4 hasn’t posted any official video, but here’s a tweet from British film critic Ross MacLean, which includes almost a minute of the interview:
Don't hold back, Dan. #Ghostbusterspic.twitter.com/WtZ0MbRsmk
— Ross Maclean (@ross_maclean) June 4, 2017
Watch Dan Aykroyd slam Twitter users who sent offensive messages to Leslie Jones:
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