After more than a year of unsubstantiated talk and rumors, fans already knew that there was a ghost of a chance of Bill Murray appearing in a long-delayed third “Ghostbusters” film, but now it’s official.
“No, I can tell you he won’t be involved,” co-star Dan Aykroyd told Metro.
“It’s sad but we’re passing it on to a new generation,” Aykroyd further explained. ” ‘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.”
The “new generation” comment means that “Ghostbusters 3” has a new writer in Etan Cohen (“Men in Black 3”) and will focus on younger actors (not yet cast) taking up the Ghostbusters legacy, presumably under the tutelage of the original crew including Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson…but not Murray’s deadpan Peter Venkman.
Aykroyd has been promising (threatening?) the film for some time now, but he is promising that the threequel will go before cameras sometime in 2013, saying “We’re working on it to make it just right to satisfy our fans. I’m confident we’ll be in production in the next year.”
Murray, meanwhile, has been busy lately, starring in Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom,” the upcoming “Hyde Park on Hudson.” He’s also in talks to join “St. Vincent de Van Nuys.”
Would you be interested in a “Ghostbusters 3” without Bill Murray?