The 1984 film Ghostbusters starred Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, and Dan Akroyd as paranormal exterminators in New York City (later joined by Ernie Hudson). The script was written by Ramis and Akroyd. The movie was #1 for five weeks straight that summer, and became the most successful comedy of the 1980s. But you already knew all that, didn't you? Here are ten things you might not know about Ghostbusters.
1. The story as Dan Akroyd originally envisioned it involved time travel and many more ghostbusters. He wrote the principle roles for John Belushi, Eddie Murphy, and John Candy. Belushi died before the movie was made, and Candy and Murphy weren't interested. Harold Ramis changed most of the original plot to make the production affordable.
2. The film had no name through most of its development. One name that was considered was Ghoststoppers. After the producers settled on Ghostbusters, plans went ahead. Some time later, it was brought to their attention that a live action children's show named The Ghost Busters had aired during the 1975-76 TV season. Columbia quickly pursued negotiations with Filmation, the owners of the series, to secure rights to the title they were already using. After the movie became a hit, Filmation went back and produced an animated series called Filmation's Ghostbbusters, using the same characters from the earlier live-action series. A separate animated series from Columbia Pictures called The Real Ghostbusters based on the movie began in 1986.
3. The voice of the gatekeeper Zuul, the minion of Gozer, was that of Ivan Reitman, the film's director, but he didn't take a credit for it. Just another trick at a producer's disposal for saving money -one more voiceover artist they didn't have to pay!
4. The Proton Pack is the weapon of choice for the Ghostbusters. It is sort of a particle-beam weapon. We have some of those in real-life now, such as the Large Hadron Collider and other particle-acceleration laboratories, but you can't carry something like that on your back. Columbia Pictures had the Proton Packs made by the prop department out of fiberglass with various gizmos added like pneumatic fittings, resistors, and anything else lying around that might look appropriate.
5. Adult film star Ron Jeremy appeared in a the crowd as the containment unit explodes. The scene is about an hour into the movie, and Jeremy is to the left, sporting his iconic mustache.
6. Harold Ramis, who played Dr. Egon Spengler, is better known as a director. Before writing and acting in Ghostbusters, he directed Caddyshack and National Lampoon's Vacation. After Ghostbusters, he directed Bill Murray again in Groundhog Day.
7. The spirit/diety Gozer takes the form of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man because Dr. Raymond Stantz (Akroyd) thought of him as someone who would never hurt him. Stay Puft is a fictional company. The Marshmallow Man was only one of many oversized monsters in the original script -the rest were cut due to budget concerns.
8. The voracious green ghost that passes through walls and leaves slime behind is known as Slimer, although he was never referred to by name in the first Ghostbusters movie. Instead, the cast and crew called him "Onion Head"! Oh yes, the voice of the-ghost-to-be-later-known-as Slimer was also director Ivan Reitman.
9. "Who you gonna call?" The theme song "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker, Jr. went to #1 on the Billboard singles chart and stayed there for three weeks. It was nominated for an Academy Award in the best original song category, and won a Grammy. But you won't find the music video on the home video version of the movie Ghostbusters, due to a plagiarism suit brought by Huey Lewis in 1984. Lewis charged that the tune to "Ghostbusters" was essentially the same as "I Want a New Drug" by Huey Lewis and the News, which came out six months earlier. The suit was settled out of court in 1985, with one of the stipulations being that neither party would ever discuss the suit in public. Believe it or not, Huey Lewis was asked to come up with a theme song for Ghostbusters, but turned down the project, after which the producers approached Ray Parker, Jr.
10. Ghostbusters III has been in discussion for years. Dan Akroyd had a script ready long ago. Producer Ivan Reitman says the movie will begin filming this fall for a 2012 release. The principle characters will be played by younger actors, although the original cast may appear as well. Bill Murray is not interested in participating.
1. The story as Dan Akroyd originally envisioned it involved time travel and many more ghostbusters. He wrote the principle roles for John Belushi, Eddie Murphy, and John Candy. Belushi died before the movie was made, and Candy and Murphy weren't interested. Harold Ramis changed most of the original plot to make the production affordable.
2. The film had no name through most of its development. One name that was considered was Ghoststoppers. After the producers settled on Ghostbusters, plans went ahead. Some time later, it was brought to their attention that a live action children's show named The Ghost Busters had aired during the 1975-76 TV season. Columbia quickly pursued negotiations with Filmation, the owners of the series, to secure rights to the title they were already using. After the movie became a hit, Filmation went back and produced an animated series called Filmation's Ghostbbusters, using the same characters from the earlier live-action series. A separate animated series from Columbia Pictures called The Real Ghostbusters based on the movie began in 1986.
3. The voice of the gatekeeper Zuul, the minion of Gozer, was that of Ivan Reitman, the film's director, but he didn't take a credit for it. Just another trick at a producer's disposal for saving money -one more voiceover artist they didn't have to pay!
4. The Proton Pack is the weapon of choice for the Ghostbusters. It is sort of a particle-beam weapon. We have some of those in real-life now, such as the Large Hadron Collider and other particle-acceleration laboratories, but you can't carry something like that on your back. Columbia Pictures had the Proton Packs made by the prop department out of fiberglass with various gizmos added like pneumatic fittings, resistors, and anything else lying around that might look appropriate.
5. Adult film star Ron Jeremy appeared in a the crowd as the containment unit explodes. The scene is about an hour into the movie, and Jeremy is to the left, sporting his iconic mustache.
6. Harold Ramis, who played Dr. Egon Spengler, is better known as a director. Before writing and acting in Ghostbusters, he directed Caddyshack and National Lampoon's Vacation. After Ghostbusters, he directed Bill Murray again in Groundhog Day.
7. The spirit/diety Gozer takes the form of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man because Dr. Raymond Stantz (Akroyd) thought of him as someone who would never hurt him. Stay Puft is a fictional company. The Marshmallow Man was only one of many oversized monsters in the original script -the rest were cut due to budget concerns.
8. The voracious green ghost that passes through walls and leaves slime behind is known as Slimer, although he was never referred to by name in the first Ghostbusters movie. Instead, the cast and crew called him "Onion Head"! Oh yes, the voice of the-ghost-to-be-later-known-as Slimer was also director Ivan Reitman.9. "Who you gonna call?" The theme song "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker, Jr. went to #1 on the Billboard singles chart and stayed there for three weeks. It was nominated for an Academy Award in the best original song category, and won a Grammy. But you won't find the music video on the home video version of the movie Ghostbusters, due to a plagiarism suit brought by Huey Lewis in 1984. Lewis charged that the tune to "Ghostbusters" was essentially the same as "I Want a New Drug" by Huey Lewis and the News, which came out six months earlier. The suit was settled out of court in 1985, with one of the stipulations being that neither party would ever discuss the suit in public. Believe it or not, Huey Lewis was asked to come up with a theme song for Ghostbusters, but turned down the project, after which the producers approached Ray Parker, Jr.
10. Ghostbusters III has been in discussion for years. Dan Akroyd had a script ready long ago. Producer Ivan Reitman says the movie will begin filming this fall for a 2012 release. The principle characters will be played by younger actors, although the original cast may appear as well. Bill Murray is not interested in participating.
Ghostbusters Stuff From the NeatoShop:
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Drinks and Candies
Did you know that shaving cream was used to simulate marshmallow on the Ghostbusters after Stay-Puft is destroyed? Also, did you know that Bill Murray complained that Lorenzo Music didn't sound enough like him on the cartoon, and so he was replaced by Dave Coulier (of Full House fame)?
1975 The Ghost Busters (live action) by Filmation
1984 Ghostbusters (film) Columbia Pictures
1986 Ghostbusters, later called Filmation's Ghostbusters (animated) by Filmation with characters from the 1975 show.
1986 The Real Ghostbusters (animated) by Columbia with characters from the 1984 movie.
ChrisR clearly hasn't watched enough bad 50s sci-fi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTXv1K6YcQw
They're both plagiarists!
1.
Dana's apartment building actually exists at 55 Central Park West in New York City. The building is actually only 20 stories high. For the film, matte paintings and models were used to make the building look bigger and with more floors. According to the commentary on the DVD, the top of the building is modeled after the top of the Continental Life Building in St. Louis, MO.
2.
The Stay-Puft marshmallow man was originally supposed to come up out of the water right next to The Statue of Liberty, to get a contrast of size, but the scene was too hard to shoot.
3.
On the set, Dan Aykroyd referred to the "Slimer" ghost as the ghost of John Belushi.
4.
The eggs which fry themselves are sitting next to a package of "Sta-Puft" marshmallows. There is also a large advertisement for "Sta-Puft" marshmallows (complete with the marshmallow man) visible on the side of a building.
5.
When Alice the librarian is queried as to whether anyone in her family had ever had any history of mental illness, she replies she had an uncle who thought he was St. Jerome. Jerome is the patron saint of librarians.
6.
The interiors for the hotel scene were filmed (mostly) at the famous Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, on the corner of 5th and Grand. This famous location has been used for hundreds of films, TV shows, commercials and even a few music videos. The three doors that the Ghostbusters walk through in the movie are actually located on the entrance on 5th St. The Grand Avenue entrance leads you to the main lobby, which used to be the hotel ballroom, as seen in the film. (The ceiling is a dead give away.) The room's formerly solid walls have been replaced by glass doors (at the entrance) and archways. The reception desk is where the long banquet table was located in the film. To the right of that would have been the bar that Egon blasts. If you go into the bar to the right of the main lobby, there is a picture of the old ballroom on one of the walls, giving you a better perspective of what the room looked like in the early '80s.
7.
Flashbulbs were used on the business end of the proton pack weapons so that the special effects creators could properly synch up the effects with the action (most visible in the dining room scene, frame by frame, when capturing Slimer).
8.
The firehouse set the Ghostbusters use as HQ was remodeled and used once again as the mechanic shop in The Mask (1994).
9.
The Ectomobile was originally painted black until it was pointed out that most driving would be at night and the car would be difficult to see. It was then repainted white.
10.
There was an even more ferocious version of the Librarian Puppet that was going to be used, but it was rejected. However, it was recycled and used in another successful Columbia Pictures film released one year after this one, Fright Night (1985).
11.
Michael Keaton turned down both the roles of Dr. Peter Venkman and Dr. Egon Spengler.
12.
Chevy Chase turned down the role of Dr. Peter Venkman, he claimed that the script used in the movie wasn't the original script and in the original script was very dark and even more scarier.
13.
The probe Venkman uses in Dana's apartment is actually a United Technologies/Bacharach 300 Series "Sniffer", normally used to locate utility gas leaks or low-oxygen hazards. The squeeze-bulb is standard. It is conceivable such a detector could be modified to find other gases-perhaps even paranormal ones.
14.
In 1982 producers Ivan Reitman, Joe Medjuck and Michael C. Gross were planning to make a film of the sci-fi novel "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Douglas Adams wrote three drafts for them per his contract. In this occasion Medjuck and Gross were considering Bill Murray or Dan Aykroyd to play Ford Prefect, but then Aykroyd sent them his idea for this movie and they decided to do it instead.
15.
John Candy quit the role of Louis Tully because his ideas for the character were being rejected. According to Ivan Reitman in the DVD commentary, among Candy's suggestions he wanted the character to have a German accent and have a pair of schnauzer dogs. No one felt the German accent was appropriate for the character and since there was "dog imagery" in the movie (i.e.: the Terror Dogs), they felt having Tully own dogs was "too much". So John Candy quit early in production and Rick Moranis was cast at the last minute
Nearly all of Bill Murray's dialogue is ad libbed.
Found in the book of the original screenplay notes.
Mat MacQuarrie
Jul 21st, 2010 at 9:26 am
Bahhhhh, the Huey Lewis song is somewhat similar. But if I were to hear it on the radio I would never have compared the two songs.
When the two songs in question were on the radio all the time, and my friends and I would be out crusin', it was common for us to sing along with whatever was playing. In this case it NEVER failed that when the intro of one of the songs would start, some would sing the right song while others would sing the wrong one. This happened no matter which song would start first!
I remember when this thing went to court, it was revealed that Huey Lewis had been originally asked to write the theme, (he was the most popular singer at the time) but he declined. Ray Parker Jr. ,who was working in the same recording studio as Huey Lewis at the time, was then asked if he could write the theme, and if he could make it sound "like a Huey Lewis song". Ray Parker was walking down the hall, past Huey Lewis recording, a few times a day. "I want a new drug" was being recorded at the time! I don't think Ray Parker was copying the song, but was a victim of "Subconscious Plagerism" Has happened to the best!