‘Ghostbusters 3′ Writer & Producer Discuss the Bill Murray Factor

As each month passes, the hopeful spring start date for Ghostbusters 3 becomes increasingly unlikely.

While Sony Pictures, Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd and Ivan Reitman have already signed-off on the much revised Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky screenplay, there still remains one final hurdle to overcome… the Bill Murray factor.

Last week, Lee Eisenberg and Ghostbusters 3 producer Joe Medjuck separately discussed the stalled production of the highly-anticipated return of everyone’s favorite parapsychologists. Despite being on opposite sides of the country, both discussions quickly turned to Bill Murray and his reluctancy to sign-off on the Ghostbusters‘ final installment -- or even read the script.

Eisenberg, visiting his alma mater Connecticut College to kick off a series of lectures, talked about the lengthy waiting period they’re in because of Murray:

“Right now, we have a script we haven’t worked on probably in a couple of months, and we’re waiting for Bill Murray to read it. People seem excited about it, and the studio seems high on it. … We’re very proud of it. We worked really hard on it, and I think it’d be a really fun movie.”

Additionally, Eisenberg noted how involved Reitman, Aykroyd and Ramis have been during the writing process, noting that Ramis will now receive a story credit on the film because of it:

“We’ve been working really closely with Ivan Reitman for a couple years on it. Dan Aykroyd has been really involved. Harold Ramis has been very involved -- we’re sharing a story credit on it with him. Then we reworked the script. I mean, that script went through a lot of rewrites, and it kept getting, we think at least, tighter and funnier. It took a little bit to really understand the tone of a movie like Ghostbusters. It’s really scary when you’re writing characters you grew up on. … The last thing you want to do is disappoint.”

On the other side of the country, Ghostbusters 1, 2 & 3 producer (and longtime producing partner of Ivan Reitman) Joe Medjuck attended the Ghostbusters screening at the Arclight Cinema. Following the film’s presentation, Medjuck, along with other members of the Ghostbusters special effects team (including William Atherton), fielded questions from the audience.

Obviously, the first thing that came up was Ghostbusters 3. While Medjuck related similar information regarding Bill Murray, he provided a more in-depth look at the process – or lack there of – that Murray is known for and how Murray didn’t even read the script for the original Ghostbusters until the first day of filming.

“Sony says they’d like to make it, everyone thinks it’s a good script. Bill has heard it’s a good script, but he hasn’t read it. Bill’s like that – he just says he’s busy.

Harold tells a very funny story about the several months it took to get Bill to read the script for Groundhog Day. Every week or so, [Bill] would go up to Harold and say, “You know, I read 10 pages… they’re really good. Is it going to stay this good?”

He hasn’t even read 10 pages [of Ghostbusters 3] yet, to the best of our knowledge.

[Regarding the original Ghostbusters] Bill just committed to it… he just said yes. He went to India to make The Razor’s Edge. I don’t think he even read the script [for Ghostbusters] until he arrived back, [and] the day he came back, we shot with him.”

You can watch the entire Ghostbusters Q&A from the Arclight Cinema below:

Perhaps it’s the fact that Eisenberg and Stupnitsky are behind this screenplay and not Aykroyd, Ramis and Reitman that’s causing much of Murray’s hesitation. The fact that Eisenberg and Stupnitsky’s Year One bombed in theaters certainly can’t help matters.

Whether it be hell or high water, someone needs to find a way to get Murray to at least read the script. As it’s been stated many times before, Murray is one of the five rights holders to Ghostbusters and there can be no movie unless Murray signs-off on it -- even if he doesn’t want to appear in it. Maybe some nice messages on his famed 1-800 number will help sway the comedic genius… or begging. Whatever works.

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Ghostbusters 3 is slated to begin production this spring.

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Source: The Day, Arclight Cinema [via: Proton Charging]

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‘Hurt Locker’ Writer May Script Wikileaks Movie

Whether you feel he’s been unfairly vindicated or villainized for his actions, there’s no doubt that the now Nobel Peace Prize-nominated founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, has certainly made an impact on the current political atmosphere. That’s why it’s less than surprisingly to learn that Hollywood is circling his life like a shark drawn to blood, so to speak.

Among the increasing number of in-development cinematic projects related to Assange/Wikileaks is one that actually looks to become a reality – a film scripted by Mark Boal, the man who won two Academy-Awards for his work on Katherine Bigelow’s high-octane war flick, The Hurt Locker.

Boal’s screenplay would be based off the New York Times Magazine Wikileaks article “The Boy Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest,” the title of which appropriately references another skillful (albeit, fictional) computer hacker – Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – whose methods would be rather controversial in real life. One of the screenwriter’s upcoming new collaborations with Bigelow, Triple Frontier, is a potential obstacle that could restrict him to handling production duties on the Wikileaks movie only.

True Grit executive producer Megan Ellison is working with Boal and Management 360 on the movie that Deadline indicates could emerge ahead of every other Wikileaks project in development – much like All the President’s Men was the eventual winner in Hollywood’s contest to turn the Watergate scandal into cinematic gold back in the 1970s.

Other prospectives in the race to bring Assange’s story to the big screen first include DreamWorks, which is eying the screen rights to the upcoming book Inside Wikileaks by the organization’s former second-in-command, Daniel Domscheit-Berg. Universal is already pulling ahead on the non-fiction side of things, as it’s set to distribute an already in-progress, non-dramatized work from the Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) about Assange.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Boal was widely praised for delivering a Hurt Locker screenplay that captured the essence and nerve-shredding nature of modern warfare without being too preachy or heavy-handed – in order words, scripting a film that generally allowed moviegoers to make up their own minds about the subject matter being examined. That’s exactly the kind of touch needed to successfully recreate the tale of Assange, who some see as a brave man who keeps the U.S. government honest by uncovering its dirty laundry – and others see as a recklessly destructive figure who ought to be imprisoned for his actions.

A film about Assange also has the potential to be an interesting character study, as the fellow has been described as brave, fearless, arrogant, and interested solely in his own benefit – not to mention the recent charges of sexual misconduct against him, which may either be legitimate or just slander. He’s a polarizing character, there’s no denying that.

Be sure to share your thoughts about a Wikileaks movie (and please, try to keep them civil) with us in the comments section below.

Source: Deadline

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Marvel’s Black Panther Movie Has A Writer!

One of Marvel’s key characters who continues to come up in conversations about future Marvel Studios projects is of course, Black Panther, the King of Wakanda known as T’Challa. Alongside Iron Fist, Black Panther is another Marvel license that has been in development hell for years, moving from studio to studio and having talent attached, but never going anywhere.

Another of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s incredible creations, Black Panther has served as a member of The Avengers and the Fantastic Four, representing the first black superhero in mainstream comics. As of today, he’s one official step closer to getting his well-deserved big screen debut.

Heat Vision has the scoop that Marvel Studios has hired Mark Bailey to pen the script for Black Panther. Bailey may be an unknown to you, as his credits only include writing/story-editing positions on a few documentaries, but this indicates to me that he must have some great idea to offer the studio to have landed the writing gig and we at least know he can bring a realistic take on the character in his story.

It was only a matter time before Marvel began moving forward on Black Panther. Comic Book legend Stan Lee and Marvel Pres Kevin Feige have repeatedly stated that this was a character they wished (and planned) to pursue, alongside the likes of Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Dr. Strange. And now that Marvel is about to introduce Captain America and Thor to the world, it’s that time to start moving forward on their second tier characters.

Black Panther is a character I’d love to see show up in an after-the-credits cameo in The Avengers and as a future member of the team. Should Marvel pursue some sort of Civil War-esque story in the future, T’Challa is an integral character in the dynamic between Iron Man and Captain America. More importantly, the character and his backstory, let alone the beautiful setting of the fictional African nation of Wakanda, allows Marvel to create a very unique and special superhero film.

Could previously rumored and interested Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje or Djimon Hounsou still be contenders for the title role? Who would you cast as T’Challa?

Share your thoughts in the comments and with us on Twitter @rob_keyes and @screenrant.

The Avengers is scheduled to debut May 4, 2012 and we’ll let you know what comes next.

Source: THR

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Joss Whedon Turned Down ‘Buffy’ Reboot; New Writer Speaks

Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series accumulated a legion of rabid fans over the course of its seven seasons. Last week, many of them were outraged to learn that Warner Bros. was moving forward with a big screen reboot of the property – and that Whedon wasn’t involved.

Despite being hard at work on The Avengers, Whedon quickly drafted an amusing (if not slightly esoteric) response to the news and expressed his frustration over how soon all of this seemed to be happening. Unfortunately, Whedon doesn’t own the rights to Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Kazui Enterprises does. He even admitted he doesn’t have any legal ground to stand on.

Although the thought of a Whedon-less Buffy probably sounds sacrilegious to fans, Heat Vision is reporting that he was offered the chance to be involved but turned it down. Evidently, Kazuis approached him last year with their plans for the reboot and Whedon decided he was more interested in other projects.

I’m a little surprised by how many people seem to think this means he has no business complaining about the situation. Of course they offered Whedon the opportunity to participate and of course he passed. It’s not like they were proposing a big screen continuation of the series. This is a brand new Buffy that eschews established continuity and all of the supporting characters. Why would Whedon want to rebuild the mythology from the ground up when he’s already told this story so successfully?

Meanwhile, Hero Complex recently profiled the screenwriter of the Buffy reboot – Whit Anderson. When plans for the film were unveiled and Anderson’s script was mentioned, her name raised a few eyebrows. The reaction was understandable considering she’s an aspiring actress with a few small roles on her resume, but no produced writing credits (her IMDb page is up 12558% in popularity now, though).

It’s impossible to try and guess the tone of her script with no past work to examine, but Anderson says she was a huge fan of the show and of the Buffy character in particular:

“I didn’t really watch much television at all, but I always watched ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.‘ That was the one show I would watch when I got home. I just loved this character. I was the same age as Buffy, and it was so rare to have a female lead character on TV in those days who was strong and capable and smart but also allowed to be feminine.”

Anderson also indicates that she’s aware of fan skepticism, but uses Batman Begins as an example of how a franchise can be successfully revitalized. She goes on to explain what she believes makes Buffy the Vampire Slayer so unique:

“The thing that was so wonderful about ‘Buffy’ is what made it special was so timeless … The deep struggle she had with duty and destiny, that tug between what you’re supposed to be doing and what you want to be doing. The fate of the world is on her shoulders, but some days she wakes up, and she just doesn’t want to do it. And are we doomed and destined to love someone? That conflict was very interesting to me. Those are the things I loved about her and her world. She also represents — like all the heroes — something empowering for us. She reminds us of what we could be if we were in our top form, the best of us if we were at our very best, and even then we still see the vulnerability and doubts she has inside. That’s where we all connect.”

Clearly Warner Bros. believes that this property still has teeth with or without Whedon. They might even be counting on a whole new legion of fans for the reboot rather than simply trying to appeal to old ones. I previously expressed my concern over another writer trying to emulate Whedon’s incredibly unique and specific style, but it’s more likely this reboot will be as dramatically different from the series as it was from the original 1992 film.

As a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I have to admit I always thought that Buffy herself was one of the least interesting characters on the show. Creating an ensemble as dynamic and entertaining as Xander, Willow, Spike, and Giles (just to name a few) seems like an arduous challenge. We’ll see if Anderson is up to it.

Source: Heat Vision and Hero Complex.

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