Cast
- Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman
- Dan Aykroyd as Dr. Raymond Stantz
- Harold Ramis as Dr. Egon Spengler
- Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore
- Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett
- Rick Moranis as Louis Tully
- Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz
- William Atherton as Walter Peck
- David Margulies as the Mayor
- Jordan Charney as Dean Yeager
Gozer was played on screen by Slavitza Jovan and voiced by Paddi Edwards. Ivan Reitman provided voices for Zuul and Slimer.
Origins: "Ghost Smashers"
The concept grew out of Aykroyd's own fascination with the paranormal, and he conceived it as a vehicle for himself and his Saturday Night Live colleague John Belushi. Aykroyd's original story, "Ghost Smashers," was very different from the finished film: a group of Ghostbusters would travel through time, space, and other dimensions to take on enormous ghosts.
Aykroyd began his first draft in late 1981. Work was slow over the next few years because of his other projects. On March 5, 1982, while writing one of Venkman's lines, Aykroyd learned that Belushi had died.1 He sent a half-completed script to Bill Murray and asked him to pick up the part originally meant for Belushi. Murray responded favorably, and Aykroyd took the script to Ivan Reitman.2 Reitman found the draft, only forty or fifty pages at that point, nearly unfilmable: it was set in the future, took place across different dimensions, and carried an effects budget he estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars, with very little character work and few laughs. He liked the comic attitude but set it aside.3
Undaunted, Aykroyd kept working and finished the script months later, on January 20, 1983, at around 180 pages. In April he submitted it to Reitman along with concept drawings by his artist friend John Daveikis and a videotape of himself wearing a jumpsuit-style uniform with a Proton Pack made from styrofoam and old radio parts. With several of his own projects stalled, Reitman took another look.45
Development and writing
Reitman focused on Aykroyd's central idea: a group of men who work out of an old firehouse and respond to supernatural emergencies the way firefighters do. He had reservations about the fantasy elements and met Aykroyd for lunch at Art's Delicatessen in May 1983.6 Aykroyd readily agreed to Reitman's suggestions, setting the film in a modern American city and telling an origin story.7 Afterward, the two went to Harold Ramis's office at The Burbank Studios; after about twenty minutes Ramis was on board.8 Reitman then asked his agent, Mike Ovitz, who also represented Aykroyd, Ramis, and Murray, to arrange a meeting with Columbia Pictures chairman Frank Price. Price told Reitman to keep the budget in the mid-twenties of millions and gave him thirteen months to deliver a summer tentpole for 1984.9
The first Aykroyd-Ramis collaborative script was completed on June 6, 1983. Ramis came up with making the leads parapsychologists working at a university.10 As more crew joined, including art director John DeCuir and cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs, the budget was refined to just under $30 million.11 In this draft the team was tossed out of a small New England college before going to New York; the New York Public Library opening came when the writers realized how vital the city setting was.12 An early version of the love interest was an alien fugitive named Zuul who transformed into a human woman; the romance proved too comedic and was reworked.13
Aykroyd, Ramis, and Reitman relocated to Martha's Vineyard for about two and a half weeks around the July 4th weekend to write the second draft, working in Aykroyd's basement on an old Royal electric typewriter. During this period they decided the team needed a fourth member who could act as the on-screen voice of the audience, a skeptical professional, and chose to bring Winston in after the first big bust.14 The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, present in every draft, did not become the final encounter until the July rewrite.15 A third rewrite, finished August 6, fleshed out the characters further and reintroduced Ivo Shandor, recast as a deranged surgeon and architect who worshiped Gozer.16 The final shooting script was completed on October 7; the whole script came together in about three months.17
Reitman's team hired a number of freelance artists, supervised by Michael Gross, to sketch ideas for the ghosts and entities; Reitman then mixed and matched from hundreds of concepts.1819 At the time the only major effects houses were Industrial Light & Magic and Apogee, both already booked. ILM was finishing Return of the Jedi and starting Indiana Jones and Star Trek III, while Apogee was working on Dune.20 Gross learned that Richard Edlund was leaving ILM to start his own studio, and Columbia fronted $5 million for Edlund to launch Boss Films, which worked exclusively on Ghostbusters. The team had a little over ten months to build the studio, invent techniques, and design everything.
Preproduction was well underway before anyone realized that Filmation had produced a short-lived children's show called The Ghost Busters during the 1975-76 television season. Columbia entered negotiations to secure the title, but talks bogged down, leaving the production uncertain about its name through much of the New York shoot.21
Production
Casting shifted late in the process. Around the start of shooting it became clear that John Candy, originally cast as Louis Tully, would pass on the role. Reitman called Rick Moranis the same day; Moranis accepted within two hours of receiving the script and helped shape Louis into the accountant character seen in the film.22
Murray began work on October 27, 1983 after taking the Concorde from Paris, where he had been finishing The Razor's Edge, and driving straight to a New York location for an 11 a.m. start.23 In late October the crew began a week of preliminary second-unit work followed by about three and a half weeks of principal photography in New York.2425 Reitman shot a montage of the three leads in uniform running down Madison Avenue around 61st Street during early camera and wardrobe tests, a week before principal photography began. Much of the montage was filmed in a single day with a small unit and no permits at locations including Chinatown, Rockefeller Center, 42nd Street, and Saks Fifth Avenue, with Aykroyd driving the Ecto-1.26 The crew was allowed two days at New York City Hall, where City Council president Carol Bellamy's office stood in for the mayor's office.27
Three weeks into shooting, the crew cut a rough version of the library scenes and screened it at the Columbia Ranch; audiences both screamed and laughed at the librarian's transformation, one of the only completed effects. A deal with Filmation was finally struck about four weeks into shooting, in part thanks to Frank Price, allowing the production to keep the Ghostbusters title; the only other serious contender had been "Ghoststoppers."28
The main unit then moved to Los Angeles for about nine weeks at The Burbank Studios and area locations. John DeCuir built the million-dollar Temple of Gozer set on Stage 16.2930 Los Angeles locations included the Biltmore Hotel, which doubled for both the Sedgewick Hotel banquet hall and 55 Central Park West, an actual firehouse used for the interior firehouse scenes, and the Los Angeles Public Library for the basement stacks.313233
Other production details:
- The slime applied to the actors was made from methylcellulose ether, a powdered thickening agent used in pharmaceuticals and food.34
- Egon's "Twinkie" explanation of rising paranormal activity began as an analogy describing the universe as an expanding four-dimensional balloon; only the Twinkie survived the cut.35
- The arms that grab Dana were originally meant to be one human arm, one with a hook, and one green frog-like sucker arm; Reitman thought the sucker arm looked too cartoonish, so the film used two human arms and one with a hook.36
- Reitman fought to keep the roughly $250,000 sinkhole effect, arguing it was needed to show the real danger the team faced before the final battle.37 For the collapsing-street sequence, John DeCuir recreated the lower floors of Central Park West on the Columbia back lot.38
Postproduction
Filming wrapped in early February 1984 after about fifteen weeks of shooting. Richard Edlund and his crew then had less than four months to complete close to 200 optical effects shots.39 With a few weeks left, Reitman wanted to add dozens more shots; Edlund talked him down, recalling that he met Reitman in the parking lot with a samurai sword and insisted on "the samurai cut." The film came in slightly over its $30 million budget at about $31 million, with a reported final figure of $38 million once marketing costs are factored in.40
Release
The film opened on June 8, 1984 and topped the box office for much of its run. By the final count, Ghostbusters had grossed more than $225 million.41 The 105-minute theatrical cut was preceded by a 114-minute test screening completed on February 17, 1984; that early "preview cut," with rough effects and missing shots, was later included on a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray gift set.42
The VHS release followed on October 31, 1985. The DVD arrived on June 29, 1999, and the Blu-ray was released on June 16, 2009 to coincide with the release of Ghostbusters: The Video Game and the film's 25th anniversary.
In the United States the film premiered on premium cable on HBO on May 4, 1986, and on Cinemax on May 7. It first aired on broadcast television on the ABC network on September 24, 1987, in an edited-for-television version with several alternate takes replacing some of the more objectionable dialogue.
The film was released internationally with localized titles, including S.O.S. Fantômes in French, Los Cazafantasmas in Spanish, and Ghostbusters - Acchiappafantasmi in Italian.
Legacy
Ghostbusters launched a franchise of films, animated series, comics, games, and merchandise. It was followed by Ghostbusters II (1989) and the animated series The Real Ghostbusters. The story continued decades later with Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024), while a separate 2016 reboot told a new version of the story.
References
-
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 7. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 7. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 7. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 7-8. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters: The Ultimate Visual History, p. 9. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA. ISBN 9781608875108.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 8. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 8. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 7. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 8-9. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 10. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 11. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 36 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 44 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 54 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 197 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 152 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 12. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 143 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 11. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 11. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 50 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 44 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Greene, James, Jr. (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 41. Lyons Press, Essex CT USA. ISBN 9781493048243.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 12. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 26. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 91 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 154 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 50 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 104 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 107 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 81 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 38 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 32 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 81 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 104 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 112 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 165 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
American Cinematographer (June 1984), p. 66. ASC Holding Corp., Hollywood CA USA. ASIN B004WSK5RO.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 12. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Greene, James, Jr. (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 56. Lyons Press, Essex CT USA. ISBN 9781493048243.
Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 13. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA. ISBN 0918432685.
Tested (YouTube), "Adam Savage and Jason Reitman Talk Ghostbusters: Afterlife!" (November 23, 2021). Jason Reitman describes editor Sheldon Kahn's tape of the first test screening.
