Ghostbusters to start shooting in 2015; Ivan Reitman steps down from helming

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

After the passing of Harold Ramis, a decision had to be made about what to do with GHOSTBUSTERS 3. While the original actors only had minor roles, the absence of Ramis would undoubtedly change things with another film, and it seems that it has.

GHOSTBUSTERS 3 is eyeing a start date of early 2015, however, Ivan Reitman will be stepping down as director. The original helmer will stay on as producer, and will help Sony co-chair and producer Amy Pascal find another director for the project.

Ramis spoke extensively with Deadline about his decision to step down:

There has been all kinds of stuff, unofficially written about Ghostbusters. I’ve been reading things online for about four years, speculation on who’s writing, what they’re writing, who’s in it, who we will use, and who’s directing. We’d decided not to comment up till now, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, and it was never clear what Bill was going to do. A lot of things happened in the last few months, the most significant of which was the passing of Harold, who was a very good friend who was extraordinarily influential in my career. We did five movies together including both Ghostbusters.

The director mentions that it was hard to get ahold of Murray who was not available when he tried to reach him about reprising his role. Basically he never gave a definitive answer on the subject. Despite this, they still kept going with writer Etan Cohen and Dan Akroyd helping out. Ramis started to become increasingly ill in the past three years, and they hoped that he would get better…unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

Reitman continued to speak about his departure, and how it was already in his thoughts

It’s a version of Ghostbusters that has the originals in a very minor role. When I came back from Harold’s funeral, it was really moving and it made me think about a lot of things. I’d just finished directing Draft Day, which I’m really happy with and proud of. Working on a film that is smaller and more dramatic was so much fun and satisfying. I just finally met with Amy and Doug Belgrad when I got back. I said I’d been thinking about it for weeks, that I’d rather just produce this Ghostbusters. I told them I thought I could help but let’s find a really good director and make it with him. So that’s what we’ve agreed will happen. I didn’t want all kinds of speculation about what happened with me, that is the real story.

It was such an amazing time in my life 30 years ago, and I felt that way on the second film. With Harold no longer with us I couldn’t see it. It really seems to have resonated, an I think a lot of adults who saw it when they were younger have shown it to their kids and they seem to respond much the same way. Sony sees this as a huge worldwide opportunity, and it eager to make the film.

Right now they are focused on finding a director then a new cast. Reitman intends to keep the spirit of the first film with it being set in New York, and hopes that they can get started as soon as Fall but are expecting to begin in early 2015. Earlier in the conversation he made mention that he, as well as the studio were pleased with the script from Cohen.

I completely respect Reitman’s decision, and am glad he decided to speak on the subject at such great length. While it would have been awesome with Reitman back on board, we always have two GHOSTBUSTERS films to fondly watch whenever we want.