HomeMoviesPop-Ed: Casting Ghostbusters 3

Pop-Ed: Casting Ghostbusters 3

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Bill Murray stirred things up with his blessing and approval of a third Ghostbusters film. That is not what buzzed the Internet, instead it was his approving of an all-female cast. The film has been on shaky ground for years, with multiple attempts to resurrect the franchise, only to fail over and over again. Ghostbusters has continued to live through action figures and comics, most recently IDW Publishing having acquired the rights to the title and publishing a monthly. Interesting to note, the comic does feature a majority female team, with little-to-no-complaining from the fanbase. Was IDW onto something?

One could argue, “it’s just a comic” while on the other side a movie involves more, much more. Casting, direction, plot? Is this going to be a Charlie’s Angels or a Baywatch movie? Are they going to look like professionals, or will they all require button down and zippered uniforms just to show off their cleavage? Will we get a solid female cast, or wind up with Megan Fox and other talentless trash to destroy a property beloved by multiple generations of fans. Hell, The Ghost Busters, a 1975 live-action show (not entirely related to the franchise we know and love) featured a giant gorilla. I’d take that over Megan Fox any day.

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It boils down to a simple thing, in my opinion. Is it going to maintain some form of connection to the original films? For this to not only be successful, and to be accepted by the majority of fans, it has to have some semblance of reality, and have the same passion it had with the original cast and production crew. For starters, at least cast someone smart as Janine, bridging the era together. Give us a quality cast and a believable story. Remember, that is what made the originals so great. You could believe anything could happen. I want to believe.

I believe the following females would be accepted into the Ghostbusters universe.

Emma Stone – She can be serious, funny, cynical and sarcastic. She can be intelligent or goofy. I could see her as Egon’s daughter. Her recent work in Amazing Spider-Man convinces me she can handle another nerd-based property well.

Jewel Staite – Known for her roles as Kaylee in Firefly and Dr. Keller in Stargate: Atlantis, she has portrayed characters who are responsible, cautious, while also coming across an as innocent-yet-smirky girl. I could see her easily donning the jumpsuit, but probably as a newcomer slightly frightened at the prospect of coming face-to-face with a ghost.

June Diane Raphael – Who is she? She’s been in shows (or behind them) such as NTSF:SD:SUV on Adult Swim, the web-series Burning Love, the Sundance film Ass Backwards, and NBC’s Mason Twins. Not bad, but not great. She’s got the look of a tough woman but she’s also funny as hell. She’s in the middle of the road, which makes her a relative unknown and is perfect for the big screen.

Jessica Williams – She’s a knockout and is awesome on The Daily Show. Her mix of comedy among seriously-toned political speech is truly entertaining, and while her history is mostly within straight-up comedy, I feel being put into the Ghostbusters movie would showcase her talents on a grand scale.

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I agree with Bill Murray on using Emily Blunt in the film. She has a look, there is something about her which I could agree works for Ghostbusters. Mostly an action or drama star, any film needs something of the action-caliber in order to survive and she would be the right choice to carry that burden.

Just because there has to be one: Rachael Taylor – Yeah, it’s probably a bad idea, but there has to be at least one “eye candy” in the movie, so it might as well be her. She has some serious roles lately and the stunning Australian has the ability to break from it to lend herself to a comedic feature. She was in Transformers after all. I see it working for her, but maybe I’m just flat-out crazy.

I do not agree with some of Bill Murray’s other picks. Melissa McCarthy does the “look at me, I’m funny as a rampaging, yelling klutz” too often and that’s all I see her as. Putting her in Ghostbusters would be a terrible mistake and bring down the quality of the film.

Why oh why did I not choose Tiny Fey or Amy Poehler? I know I am in the minority, but I don’t like them. They do not humor me, and I do not find them funny. I do believe casting them in the film would be disastrous. The banter would fall flat, and the movie wound inadvertently revolve around them, because everyone in Hollywood focuses on how they work together. I don’t, and I don’t want it. End of story.

I reiterate my earlier concern. Ghostbusters is a property spanning generations of fans who would love to see a respectful continuation or spin-off of the property. The recent disasters of Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles may cause some to worry, but Michael Bay is not part of this, so those worries should be alleviated to some degree.

My worry, is with an all-female cast, will it be everyone fantasizing about hot models cosplaying as the ghost capturing crew, or will be get the blend of action and comedy which we welcomed into our hearts?

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Michael Dworkis is a man of vast talent and industry. A former writer and corporate assistant of World Wrestling Entertainment, “MSD” is the Wrestling Columnist for Pop-Break, as well as contributing columns related to comics, movies, pop-culture, and of course, anything Transformers. He recently completed and obtained his Masters degree in Mental Health in Counseling, and recently became licensed to practice as an LAC by the National Board of Certified Counselors. If you need either a therapist or your wrestling fix, come to this man. Michael also is a graduate of Rutgers University with a degree in Journalism and Mass Media, and previously managed an internet retail company. He blames Bill for having so much wrestling on the site and pleads with his superiors to create a feature on his very own Transformer Collection and to subdue Michael Bay for a serious talk. Michael is still searching for a Japanese Grand Maximus or any Japanese Generation 1 exclusives. See more of Michael at MichaelDworkis.com and follow on Twitter @Omegax80.

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