This time last year, Bill Murray’s potential involvement in a third Ghostbusters movie seemed dead and buried. Rumors were rife that the cult actor sent back a shredded script to his former co-stars DAN AKYROYD and Harold Ramis with a note attached. “No one wants to pay money to see fat, old men chasing ghosts,” it supposedly read.
Ackroyd – who has been spearheading efforts to bring the much-loved series back to the big screen – has attempted to ignore the fact that a Ghostbusters 3 without Bill Murray would be utterly pointless. Speaking to the Metro earlier this year, he said, “It's sad but … Ghostbusters 3 can be a successful movie without Bill. My preference would be to have him involved but at this point he doesn't seem to be coming and we have to move on. It's time to make the third one.” Still one of the most popular actors in Hollywood, Murray is key to ensuring ‘Ghostbusters 3’ remains credible and he gave studio bosses a huge boost this week at the Toronto Film Festival. Attending the premiere of his new movie ‘Hyde Park on Hudson’, the 67-year-old told Entertainment Weekly’s Roz Weston that a new script is in the works, hinting that he would be willing to sign on should the writing be up to scratch. “It comes up a lot, the idea of doing another Ghostbusters, and we’ll see, there’s another script in the process and we’ll see if it’s good,” Murray said. “It’s got to be really good though because the first one was so great.”
The actor – now noted for his collaborations with Wes Anderson - had touched upon the first script during his appearance on David Letterman’s chat show in June. “They just don't have a really good script,” he said. “It's hard. You know, even the second Ghostbusters wasn't as much fun for me as the first one. It's hard to make a sequel.” Murray played Dr Peter Venkman in the 1984 original and the film’s 1989 sequel.