Who you gonna call for a Ghostbusters update? Jason Retiman follows in his father’s footsteps

Jason Reitman was just six years old when his father, the director Ivan Reitman, brought him to the Ghostbusters set in 1984.

Afterlife producer Ivan Reitman, Carrie Coon, Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, and Director Jason Reitman on set. Picture : PA Photo/2021 CTMG, Inc

“I remember being on the top of Dana’s apartment building,” he recalls, his father since having made a name for himself steering the first two chapters of the much-loved franchise.

“Before anyone knew what a terror dog was or what a proton pack was, I was watching a stunt man get pelted with shaving cream as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man exploded. I went home with a little piece of marshmallow man that sat on my shelf all the way through high school.”

Now, some 37 years later, it’s come full circle, as onetime fan Jason – now an acclaimed filmmaker in his own right – has stepped up to direct the next instalment in the original universe, titled Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

Mckenna Grace as Phoebe in the Ecto-1 jumpseat inn the new Ghostbusters film. Picture: PA Photo/2021 CTMG, Inc

With Ivan (fulfilling the role of producer) by his side, no less.

It’s quite the change for the 44-year-old Canadian, whose filmography hasn’t been as comedic as his predecessor and thus far has focused largely on intimate relationships and families with hits such as the Oscar-nominated Juno and Up In The Air.

“I think I said, ‘There would be no busting’,” remembers Jason, having often been asked if he’d follow suit. “I don’t think my father ever expected me to come to him with a Ghostbusters story. We had clearly gone on our own storytelling paths – I thought of myself as an independent filmmaker.”

So why now? And what’s the story behind its latest edition?

At the centre of Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a small family: single mum Callie (Carrie Coon), her 15-year-old son Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), and her 12-year-old daughter Phoebe (Mckenna Grace).

After they are evicted from their Chicago apartment, the trio move to a ramshackle Oklahoma homestead, whereby they begin to discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their late grandfather (none other than the iconic Egon Spengler) left behind.

It was an idea that first came to Jason a decade ago, when he was struck by the vision of “a 12-year-old girl who finds a proton pack in a barn”.

“That was the story I wanted to tell – the story of a kid who finds this proton pack and discovers who she is, what her legacy is, and why she’s unique,” he explains.

But while the circumstances are all new – new characters, new story – it was important to both parties that the latest chapter paid homage to the classic we all know and love.

In fact Ivan was so touched by Jason’s screenplay (co-written by Monster House’s Gil Kenan), there were tears on reading the script.

“It really made me cry the first time I read it,” admits the film veteran, now 75.

“It captured the spirit and joyfulness of the first movie. He (Jason) had a real sense of where he wanted to go with it – his idea to bring his vision to a scale movie like Ghostbusters, to funnel a family story through the large, world-saving concept of Ghostbusters, seemed like a good thing.

“And what I love about what you did, Jason,” he says, turning to his son, “Was you tried to use some of the historical techniques, particularly in the special effects, using mechanical effects that are right there, instead of just relying on CGI – which we do still use!

“I mean, it is an extraordinary opportunity, particularly with ghosts, and we can make them articulate in a way that you could never do as a puppet,” he says.

“But much of it, you tried to do in a real practical way, so that everybody in the room was part of it and could feel what was going on and respond to it.”

“As much as possible, we were trying to emulate the 1980 style of filmmaking, grounded filmmaking,” replies Jason, who revealed fans can expect plenty of Easter eggs littered throughout the picture.

“We were always thinking, ‘How do we set the camera, so we were doing it just the way they would have done back then’.

“We wanted the film to remind the audience of everything they loved about the original Ghostbusters while being about new characters on a new adventure in a totally new location.”

In addition to the core family unit, Afterlife also features Paul Rudd as Mr Grooberson, a reluctant summer schoolteacher; newcomer Logan Kim as Podcast, a character reminiscent of Ray Stantz; and Celeste O’Connor as adventurous small-town girl Lucky.

Meanwhile, the original cast making an appearance in some capacity include Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts.

Is there a certain pressure when it comes to following a legacy such as theirs?

“There’s pressure in any job, that you want to do well by it, but we had to separate the whole weight of the Ghostbusters title from what we were doing – so instead of it being intimidating, it felt more of a privilege,” says Rudd, 52.

“Specifically seeing Jason and Ivan having these little powwows and talking about scenes and (seeing) whether they would agree on things or disagree…” continues the Ant-Man actor. “There was something historic and powerful about that.”

“I was big into (Ghostbusters) when I was little!” recalls Stranger Things’ Wolfhard, 18. “And the fact that it was Jason Reitman doing the movie, whose movies are so great…”

“I feel like being a part of any well-known franchise can be really scary, but it wasn’t the biggest overwhelming feeling,” interjects 15-year-old Grace, a rising star who recently starred opposite Viola Davis in Amazon’s hit feature Troop Zero.

“What was really nice is Jason and Ivan were hellbent on us having the best time, having the most fun, coming to set, playing with all the toys, playing with the props,” adds Wolfhard.

“We already had the respect for the source material – that’s kind of all we needed,” he continues. “The rest was them being like, ‘Hey, if you respect the original, that’s all you have to worry about. Now, let’s just have fun!’”

As for mastering the father-son collaboration themselves, the trick simply is, “Well, we like each other…” quips Ivan.

“No, really, it’s a silly answer, but it’s a good one!” he finishes with a laugh.

“I was fortunate to produce a movie called Up In The Air that Jason wrote and directed, and I think going through that process a few years ago was a good learning experience for me to shift from just being a dad to being a colleague that is actually more respectful of the professional that I was working with.”

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is on general release

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