Ghostbusters: Afterlife had its formal US premiere on Monday night in New York City, with full cast and crew in attendance. Ahead of the screening, the original Boys in Gray — Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson — sat down on the Tonight Show set to discuss all things Ghostbusters.
To begin with, Jimmy Fallon asked why Afterlife is what finally resurrected the original Ghostbusters after over three decades. “Jason Reitman wrote a great script, so full of heart, going right back to the first two movies in its DNA and its heart and its soul,” said Aykroyd, aka Dr. Ray Stanz, the heart of the Ghostbusters. “We just read it and thought this is the right time and this is the right way to do it.”
Murray added that as the son of original Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II filmmaker Ivan Reitman, Jason “had his own take on [it], because he grew up as a child of the Ghostbusters, in a way. He had something he thought would work as a good story and we all agreed that he got it.”
When it came to talking about the first film, Aykroyd was his usual giddy self, discussing how he was inspired by his great-grandfather’s fascination with the supernatural. He also touched on how they almost didn’t get the rights to the Ghostbusters title, showing a scene from the 1980s where they tested out a number of different names.
The trio also shared stories about the good ol’ days, with Hudson talking about joining the comedy trio and Aykroyd recalling how he and Murray took a joyride through Central Park on a pair of police motorcycles. The latter two also reminisced with Fallon about being on Saturday Night Live, and Aykroyd even showed off his Blues Brothers chops to take the show into commercial.
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Of course, they talked all about Ghosbusters: Afterlife too, including what it was like strapping on the proton packs again. “It was a very heavy thing,” said Murray. “It’s not as heavy as the original was, but we’re weaker, so it’s about the same.” Watch it all below.
Starring Paul Rudd, Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon, Celeste O’Connor, and Logan Kim, Ghostbusters: Afterlife hits theaters this Friday, November 19th.
