A few years before Jason Reitman directed his 2019 “Ghostbusters” reboot, there was Paul Feig’s 2016 all-female take on the franchise. That film resulted in contentious debate as to whether or not it was a warranted path for Sony to jump into.
I won’t delve into the nitty-gritty, but will mention that Leslie Jones, who co-starred in Feig’s female-centered film, has not shied away in her anger about both the backlash that her ‘Ghostbusters’ movie received and Reitman’s reboot.
Jones is now releasing her memoir, because everyone is dying to read about her life, and is again reflecting on the controversy. She complains about being paid less than co-star Melissa McCarthy, says the film was a victim of racism, but also points out an “unforgivable” ‘Ghostbusters’ comment made by Reitman, which she said reminded her of “something Donald Trump would do”. Whatever that means.
Yes, Jones is calling out Reitman for a comment he made about the all-female ‘Ghostbusters’ film. The story goes that, in announcing his plans to make “Ghostbusters: Afterlife”, Reitman said he was “trying to go back to the original technique and hand the movie back to the fans”.
Jones says his words were “unforgivable”, writing: “The damage was done. Bringing up the idea of giving the movie ‘back to the fans’ was a pretty clear shout-out to all those losers who went after us for making an all-female film.”
At the time that Reitman annouced “Ghostbusters: Afterlife”, Jones reacted, writing: “So insulting. Like f*** us. We dint count.” I’m not sure if she meant to write “didn’t” or “don’t” but that’s besides the point.
Reitman, whose father Ivan directed the original 1980s Ghostbusters films, picked up the reins for “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” which pretended Paul Feig’s 2016 all-female version never existed in that universe.
Despite the last seven years of rants, Jones has failed to mention that her “Ghostbusters” was also guilty of ignoring the previous installments and that Sony lost close to $70 million because of her movie. Nobody liked it. Nobody wanted a sequel. If it was of any good quality then maybe she’d have a point, but it was a terrible movie with barely any laughs in it.