Ernie Hudson looks back on his frustrations with making the original Ghostbusters in a new documentary. Hudson played one of the original four Ghostbusters in the 1984 movie, starring alongside Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis. His Winston Zeddemore is the last to join the group, applying for a job after the Ghostbusters have already established themselves in New York. He later returned for the sequel, Ghostbusters 2, and Hudson made a cameo (as a different character) in the 2016 reboot like the rest of the original cast.
With the upcoming Ghostbusters: Afterlife, though, Hudson will once again portray Winston for the big screen. The new movie, directed by Jason Reitman, finally arrives in theaters this November after several COVID-related delays. It follows a younger generation of Ghostbusters after two siblings (McKenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard) learn about their family's connection to the original team. Hudson isn't the only legacy star returning for Afterlife, as the rest of the original Ghostbusters cast have nabbed roles. This includes Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts, though Rick Moranis will be sitting out.
As part of the new documentary Cleanin' Up the Town: Remembering Ghostbusters, Hudson reflected on the issues he had with the first movie (via Bloody Disgusting). He was frustrated with the development of his character, which changed drastically from the first script to the actual movie. "Somebody dropped the script off… it was actually the night before we started shooting," Hudson said. "The character originally comes in on page 6, now he’s on page 68. Which is really hard for me to sort of come to grips with. I’ve wrestled with that a lot." At the time, Hudson had already participated in rehearsals for the movie, and when he got the script, he went to director Ivan Reitman to discuss the change. However, as no one realized he was in the movie, he initially wasn't allowed on set. Hudson added, "It started off being a little frustrating, but it all worked out."
Hudson's frustrations with Ghostbusters and its treatment of Winston is understandable. Out of all the titular Ghostbusters, Winston is the one to receive the least development, and by the time he joins the team, the others already feel like a cohesive unit. Now, it's hard to imagine Ghostbusters without Winston, but by cutting him from the first half of the movie, his entire character was undercut.
Luckily, Ghostbusters: Afterlife promises to fix this. Earlier this year, Hudson praised Jason Reitman for making Winston a complete character in this new installment, which means fans should perhaps expect to learn more about him than ever before. Afterlife has been careful not to reveal the size of the original stars' roles, but it could be that some of them will have larger parts than others. Perhaps Hudson's Winston will be the one to spend the most time in the spotlight. After missing out on so much of Ghostbusters, that would be a fitting change.
Source: Bloody Disgusting
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October 05, 2021 at 12:34AM
