In a reply to a comment a couple of days ago I made reference to a story that I had read regarding Bill Murray’s involvement with Ghostbusters 3 and his demands that the character Winston Zeddemore play a larger role. A couple of people have asked me about this and Matt mentioned it over on Culture Kills and I thought I should go out and expand on it.
Straight off the bat I need to correct myself, I associated the reference to the yet to start production Ghostbusters 3 and the actual demands from Bill Murray stem from the Ghostbusters game that’s coming out this month and features all four of the original Ghostbusters actors.
So the demands regarding Murray’s involvement in the game and I guess the return to the franchise were fairly limited however one that Dan Aykroyd mentions was that he wouldn’t sign up unless the character of Winston Zeddemore was beefed up to give him more equal footing.
Even Murray returned – not with a hatful of diva demands, but wanting an assurance that Winston Zeddemore, the underwritten black character from the movies, would be elevated to full status. source
There was also an article which directly quotes Dan Aykroyd but I can’t find it.
Even though it wasn’t the film it was still a really classy move on Bill Murray’s behalf to campaign for an another actor and character that has been given a bit of the short end of the stick. It’s interesting too because the Zeddemore character lost a lot of his lines in the first Ghostbusters film to Bill Murray’s Venkman character after the studio decided that would be a good idea to focus on Murray more.
In fairness it probably was a really good idea to focus on Venkman in the first film but that really doesn’t make up for it in the sequel when Winston is treated as a secondary character.
Now the challenge is out there, Microsoft or Sony – whoever wants me to review their version of the Ghostbusters games need to send me their console.
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5 Responses to “Bill Murray’s Winston Zeddemore demands in Ghostbusters”
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Hopefully the diva behaviour won’t mess the movie up too much.
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He can make all the diva requests he wants as long as it results in a better film!
More Winston Zeddemore = better Ghostbusting. The “straight-man” character that doesn’t have Venkman’s detachment, Stanz’s nearly obsesive-compulsive drive or Spengler’s over-intellectualization is absolutely necessary because it gives the audience a character to directly identify with. Plus, come on, Ernie Hudson is the shit. He’s great on-screen and he delivers no matter what role you put him in. Giving him more screen time just means the movie will be better.
Preaching to the choir here! Treating each character with respect is only going to produce a better Ghostbusters 3!
I agree. Adding straight man Winston can only help. Just played the Ghostbusters and and was glad to hear/see him included (and Annie Potts' surly Janine, too!) Ernie Hudson always brings it, I been a fan since I saw him guest starring on ABC-TV's “Bosom Buddies” (look it up, kiddies.)
Oddly, while the great (and my SCTV fave) Rick Moranis did NOT participate in the Ghostbusters game, I didn't miss Louis Tully at all. Go figure.