Manhattan Museum of Art

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The Manhattan Museum of Art is a fictional art museum in New York City that serves as the central location of Ghostbusters II (1989). Dana Barrett worked in its art restoration department, and the museum is where the portrait of Vigo the Carpathian was brought out of archival storage and made ready for public exhibition, setting the events of the film in motion. It also receives a brief mention in the IDW Comics continuity.

In Ghostbusters II

In late 1989, the Vigo painting was transferred from the museum's archives to Room 304, the Restoration department, where it was to be prepared for an upcoming Romantic exhibition. Janosz Poha, the head of art restoration, placed the painting under an arch in his workspace and oversaw a small team of restorers. Dana Barrett was among them, working on a Gauguin. The act of moving the painting allowed Vigo to begin drawing more energy from the River of Slime running beneath the city. Unable to leave the canvas and needing an agent in the world, Vigo seized on Janosz and compelled him to find a child so that Vigo could live again.

After the Ghostbusters returned to business following their dismissal, Peter Venkman visited Dana at the museum. He encountered museum guard Rudy at the front desk (who turned out to be a fan of Peter's television show) and was directed to Room 304. There he met Janosz, examined the Vigo portrait, and observed Dana's growing unease around it. Shortly afterward, the full team, Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore, pushed their way into the restoration department and conducted readings. Egon found the entire room running extremely hot. Ray was briefly hypnotized by Vigo's painted eyes. The team used a Giga Meter, a Globuscope, and a KUD Meter during the sweep.

On New Year's Eve, Janosz kidnapped Dana's infant son Oscar and brought him to the museum as the intended vessel for Vigo's rebirth. Dana followed and entered the building, at which point a shell of Psychomagnotheric Slime formed around the exterior, sealing it completely. Police and fire crews were unable to breach it. The Ghostbusters arrived in Ecto-1a, and Egon determined the shell was pulsing with negative emotional energy, requiring a large positive counter-force to crack it. Seeing the Statue of Liberty on the vehicle's license plate, the team animated the statue and marched it from Liberty Island to the museum. The statue drove its torch through the roof, and the Ghostbusters rappelled into the restoration room.

Inside, Janosz was subdued with positively charged Psychomagnotheric ectoplasm from the Slime Blower. Vigo manifested physically and overpowered all four Ghostbusters. The crowd gathered outside spontaneously began singing "Auld Lang Syne" at midnight, and the outpouring of communal goodwill severely weakened Vigo. The Ghostbusters regained their feet and drove Vigo back into the painting, finishing him with concentrated proton streams and Slime Blower fire. Louis Tully, who had arrived at the scene independently, added a blast at the slime shell from outside. The shell disintegrated, and the painting itself was transformed: where Vigo's portrait had been, it now showed the four Ghostbusters in classical robes surrounding a cherub resembling Oscar.

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In IDW Comics

In the IDW Comics continuity, Peter Venkman and Winston Zeddemore pass by the Manhattan Museum of Art while in transit to a haunted apartment complex.

Real-world filming locations

The exterior of the museum in the film is the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, located at 1 Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan. The building is now home to the National Museum of the American Indian. All exterior scenes, the lobby scenes with Rudy, and the deleted Egon scene that appears in the Ghostbusters II bonus material were filmed at this address.

The restoration room scenes were filmed on a purpose-built sound stage at The Burbank Studios in Los Angeles. The Manhattan Museum of Art restoration room set had to be rebuilt for some reshoots. Additional photography for the Vigo battle sequence and the scene of Dana being ensnared by the vacuum hose was filmed May 1 to 3, 1989, at Burbank Studios. The exterior banners visible on the Custom House during filming advertise a fictional exhibit of work by Edgar Degas, a 19th-century French artist associated with the founding of Impressionism.

The scene where Egon, Ray, and Winston emerge from the sewers covered in slime after being swept away by the River of Slime was filmed on location in New York City at 2 am in 10-degree weather. Eleven takes were completed before the cameras captured a usable version, and the entire sequence had to be filmed again the following night when a camera motor was found to be running off speed. None of the actors complained openly during the ordeal, though Ernie Hudson did ask Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis at one point what they had been thinking when they wrote the scene.

Production notes

The slime shell that enveloped the museum's exterior was achieved practically using a full-scale replica of the building facade constructed on a Burbank Studios sound stage. Special effects supervisor Chuck Gaspar and his crew cut slits in the walls and over the doorways, then ran hoses from tanks holding 8,000 gallons of slime to force the material through the joins. Forty crew members were needed to operate the tanks, hoses, and valves simultaneously. The runoff was collected and pumped back into the holding tanks. A week and a half of rigging preceded the shoot. The wall of slime was filmed twice: the first take produced slime that was too thin and not wide enough, so a thicker mixture was used for the successful second take, though five cameras were struck by slime during filming.

The slime shell miniature used for certain shots was sculpted in clay, cast in plaster, and then vacuformed in clear plastic. A plexiglass backing was mounted in a large metal frame, and the crew placed tubes, injectors, and bubble-makers inside before filling it with water and injecting diamond dust, a fine metal powder. The tank was shot at high speed with bubbles running to simulate currents, with different colors injected during each take. Two complete takes were done before the colors mixed and the tank had to be drained and refilled.

The finale shot of the Statue of Liberty driving its torch through the skylight combined the restoration room interior set at Burbank Studios, compositing by ILM of Jim Fye performing the Statue of Liberty, a crown gimbal built at Burbank Studios, and the exterior facade of the Custom House in New York. Gaspar's team threw breakaway glass, foam beams, and debris down from overhead rigs for the skylight impact. Foolproof safety rigs were used for the stunt work of the Ghostbusters rappelling into the room from the statue's torch.

Floating the infant Oscar inside the museum involved hiding a metal pan in the baby's costume and suspending it on four wires from an overhead rig, secured with velcro to prevent movement. When Oscar was to float across the room, Gaspar pulled the rig by rope. For the precise approach to the altar, a radio-controlled servo operated by Jay Halsey guided the lateral movement while Gaspar held the rope on a straight-line path.

The Mayor Lenny scene was originally scripted to show ghosts bleeding through the walls of the museum. David Margulies filmed at the U.S. Custom House with 400 to 500 extras and an ILM crew present. Four weeks before the film's release, ILM was unable to complete the scene. A replacement scene was shot in which Mayor Lenny describes a conversation he had with the ghost of Fiorello La Guardia.

A preview screening prompted Ivan Reitman to film a new 25-minute ending for the film.

Script development

The museum's role in the film changed significantly across drafts:

In the August 5, 1988 draft, the fictional art museum was instead the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and it played a comparatively smaller role in the story.

By the September 29, 1988 draft, the location was still the Metropolitan Museum. The Vigo-follower character was named Jason Locke rather than Janosz Poha, and Rudy the museum guard appeared as a more active character who witnessed Jason's possession.

In the November 27, 1988 draft, the location was renamed the Manhattan Museum of Art and the Janosz Poha characterization was established, including his distinctive broken English. Vigo's introductory speech was longer and included lines not in the final film, such as references to "twenty thousand corpses" and invocation of "the Book of Gombotz."

In earlier drafts the Vigo painting was described as being prepared for a Byzantine exhibition; by the final film this became the Romantic exhibition. The Gauguin that Dana works on in the film was the painting "Still Life with Onions, Beet Root and Japanese Print." Earlier drafts referred to a Vermeer valued at $10 million.

Trivia

In the film, Rudy informs Peter that the Restoration department is in Room 304.
The Star magazine visible at Rudy's station reads "Ghostbusters Save Mayor" and "Team of Venkman Stantz and Spengler in Heroic Deed." The photo used was taken during production of the first Ghostbusters film in New York at 696 Madison Avenue, the same location associated with the Ecto-1 parking ticket deleted scene.
A second Star magazine prop with the headline "Ghostbusters Save Judge" was prepared but not used in the final cut.
The montage scene showing the Ghostbusters exiting a home entertainment store wearing Santa Claus hats was filmed across the street from the U.S. Custom House.
On page 29 of Egon's Journal, a supplement included with the Hasbro Haslab Ghostbusters Plasma Series Spengler's Proton Pack, it is noted that Dana splits her time between the New York Philharmonic and the Manhattan Museum of Art.
Cover B of Transformers/Ghostbusters Issue 5 includes a billboard referencing the Manhattan Museum of Art.
On page 12 of Ghostbusters: Back in Town Issue 2, Ray alludes to the museum.
In the February 11, 2008 draft revision of Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Peter recalls the slime shell around the museum when he encounters Psychomagnotheric Slime in a pump during the Lost Island Rising level.
As of September 23, 1988, storyboard artists Henry Mayo and Tim Lawrence illustrated concept art showing Vigo's spectral essence animating the exhibits he passed in the museum, a scene that did not appear in the final film.

References

Ghostbusters II (1989)
IDW Publishing, Ghostbusters Ongoing Series, Issues 1 and 13
Transformers/Ghostbusters Issue 5
Ghostbusters: Back in Town Issue 2
Insight Editions, Tobin's Spirit Guide
Hasbro Haslab Ghostbusters Plasma Series Spengler's Proton Pack, Egon's Journal supplement

Manhattan Museum of Art

In Ghostbusters II

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Manhattan Museum of Art

In Ghostbusters II

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In IDW Comics

Real-world filming locations

Production notes

Script development

Trivia

References