In an interview with Empire, director Paul Feig shared a few new details on his all-female GHOSTBUSTERS reboot, and talked a little about the internet's (mostly) negative reaction to his plans for the film.
Paul Feig starts by saying like the original movies, his version will be set in New York.
To me it’s such a New York movie and the biggest sin would be to pull it out of there. I just love New York and, selfishly, I just want to shoot in New York.
Feig goes on to say although the reboot will have “fun nods to the old movie," it won't be a self-parody.
We’re not recreating the old movie but we want to do just enough fun nods that the fans will go, ‘Oh, okay, they’re acknowledging that the other movie existed. I like to watch parodies, but I don’t want to do them because they’re too referential. Comedy that’s too referential has such a short shelf life, whereas comedy that’s based around characters will be relatable 2000 years from now because people won’t change that much.
The director also says he's fully aware of the internet's issues with his vision for the movie.
There’s a lot of haters and I get it. The problem with the internet is that if 500 really angry men start bombarding me, I think, ‘Oh god, everybody hates this movie,’ but then you realize that it’s only 500 people. I don’t block anyone out or not read that stuff because I want to know what the most hardcore hater fan’s problem is.
Feig then explained why he's doing a GHOSTBUSTERS reboot instead of an original project.
A lot of people ask why I didn’t create my own thing but Ghostbusters never ran out of steam, it’s such a great idea. It’s such a fun franchise so why not bring it to a new generation? The old movie is never going to not exist. It’s not my plan to erase every copy! Hopefully they can all live together.
As for the Melissa McCarthy casting rumors, Paul Feig says “It came out publicly that we’re in talks with Melissa but there’s a lot to work out."
I really dislike the term "hater." There's a big difference between being a hater and being concerned about a film, and it's obvious more than a few people are worried about the reboot. While there are some who will hate on a project for no or stupid reasons, many just aren't sold on the idea of an all-female GHOSTBUSTERS, but I'm positive most will be very happy if it ends up being a fun movie.
Paul Feig's SPY starring Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne and Jude Law will be in theaters on May 22, 2015.