Cinema Blend wrote: The 6 Main Ghostbusters Characters And Who Will Probably Play Who

Earlier today, Sony Pictures delivered rather huge news about director Paul Feig’s upcoming Ghostbusters reboot. The studio announced that they had officially signed deals with the Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon to play the lead roles in the movie, the comediennes assigned the task of bringing the horror comedy franchise into the 21st century. What the big reveal lacked, however, were any kinds of details about the characters that each of the ladies will play. Now those details have started to come out.

HitFix has apparently gotten the inside track where Ghostbusters reboot information is concerned, and they have published an article chock full of information about both the main characters in the new film and the identities of the actors most likely to play them. They note that the upcoming blockbuster won’t just be creating female versions of Venkman, Spengler, Stantz, and Zeddmore, and is instead creating a new group that will work together to rid New York City of evil spirits. So let’s meet this new crew:

Kristen Wiig
Erin Gabler
Described as one of the two main leads in the new Ghostbusters, Erin Gabler is described as a professor at Columbia University (just like Venkman, Spengler, Stantz were) who is on the verge of getting tenure at the school. Years before the movie starts, she co-wrote a book about paranormal research with a friend, but wound up finding herself going in a different direction with her life. While it isn’t confirmed, and is instead a best guess, it is assumed that this is the role that will be played by Bridesmaids’ Kristen Wiig (just in case the picture wasn’t enough of a hint).

Leslie Jones
Abby Bergman
Abby Bergman is Erin’s former colleague with whom she wrote the aforementioned paranormal investigation text. But while Erin went on to work at Columbia, Abby never left the world of ghosts behind and continued her work without her – getting a new partner in the process. It is believed that this is the role that will be played by Leslie Jones.

Kate McKinnon
Jillian
Jillian is the new partner that Abby teams up with after Erin leaves her behind. Unfortunately, the report doesn’t really provide any details about the new Ghostbusters character beyond that, but I can also definitely see the logic in the presumed casting of Kate McKinnon in the role. If Abby is secretly upset that her friendship and work relationship with Erin fell apart, there’s a lot of comedy to be mined from the fact that Abby replaced her with another pretty blonde woman – as though to fill the void.

Melissa McCarthy
Patty
Rather than being directly connected to the other three main women in the cast, Patty is a bit of an outsider – but also a role that HitFix is "almost positive" belongs to comedy star Melissa McCarthy. Instead of having any background in paranormal research, Patty is merely a MTA subway employee who gets thrown into the world of ghosts and ghouls when she stumbles upon the film’s main ghost.

Peter Dinklage
"Central Antagonist"
"Central Antagonist" is obviously a placeholder, as HitFix doesn’t provide the name of the new Ghostbusters villain in their write-up, but there are some interesting details about his role offered up. Apparently he is a "creepy mechanical genius," and one that Peter Dinklage is apparently being eyed by Sony to play. This, of course, wouldn’t be the first time that the Game of Thrones star had a baddie role in a big blockbuster, as just last summer he played mutant-hating scientist Bolivar Trask in Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Bill Murray
Martin Heiss
While Bill Murray had spent years talking about his lack of interest in a sequel to Ghostbusters 2, now an interesting twist has come along suggesting that he may be in line to play a significant role in Paul Feig’s reboot. The part he could potentially take is apparently spiritually linked to the one played by William Atherton in the first movie - in that he will be an antagonistic force who is a real thorn in the Ghostbusters’ sides. The character is named Martin Heiss, and is said to be a professional debunker who becomes obsessed with proving that the Ghostbusters are phony after they post a video of their work online.

Apparently director Paul Feig and co-writer Katie Dippold are still working on the screenplay and getting it ready to go into production in a few months, so it’s possible that there are elements above that could change before the shooting script is finalized. That being said, there is a lot to chew on here. Is this a Ghostbusters movie that you want to see?

Dan Aykroyd on SiriusXM wrote:Oh I’ve written… well, we have…I’ve written, well, there’s three drafts of the old concept that exists. And we’re going to be able to salvage some of it and use it. Yeah, we’re gonna be able to use it some day. Let’s get this one made and that will reinvigorate the franchise and then we’ll go on to maybe doing a more conventional third sequel as we were planning and another idea I have for it.

Deadline wrote:Sony Plans New Ghostbusters Film With Russo Brothers, Channing Tatum; Iron Man 3 Scribe Drew Pearce

By Mike Fleming Jr
March 9, 2015 2:32pm

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures is broadening the Ghostbusters franchise and the first order of business will be an action-centric comedy that is a counterpart to the Paul Feig-directed film that will start production in June. The studio is simultaneously forming Ghostcorps, a new production company whose principals include original Ghostbusters architects Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd; they will have offices at Sony with the mission to scare up branding opportunities based on the 1984 comedy classic.
Reitman is putting the film with a powerhouse brain trust: Captain America: The Winter Soldier helmers Joe and Anthony Russo, who just made a first-look Sony deal and are looking to direct and produce this; Drew Pearce, the Iron Man 3 and Mission: Impossible 5 scribe who'll write; and Channing Tatum and his partners Reid Carolin and Peter Kiernan, who are attached to produce. The hope is for Tatum to play one of the Ghostbusters in this film. Given his versatility and franchising success in 21 Jump Street and Magic Mike, he's a good cornerstone to launch another Ghostbusters series. The idea came from Pearce, who honed it the Russo Brothers, Tatum's team and Reitman.
This is being put together even as the studio moves to the start line with a Ghostbusters reboot that will be directed by Feig and star his Bridesmaids leads Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy, and Saturday Night Live stand outs Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon. All of this is being steered by new studio head Tom Rothman, Doug Belgrad and production president Michael De Luca.
Reitman confirmed these early plans to Deadline, and said that this was something he and Aykroyd had long discussed. In fact, it is remarkably close to the branding prospects included in a cosmic Bible for the possibilities that they hatched 30 years ago, ideas which were used to form the original film. They were rolling around ideas for Ghostcorps with top Sony execs Amy Pascal and Belgrad last fall at the Toronto Film Festival at Montecito. That's the 12,000-square-foot restaurant that Reitman opened near the TIFF Bell Lightbox building, and which played host to several major festival premieres Now, after Pascal left to become a producer on Feig's Ghostbusters, they are ready to move on the branding effort.
We want to expand the Ghostbusters universe in ways that will include different films, TV shows, merchandise, all things that are part of modern filmed entertainment," Reitman told me. This is a branded entertainment, a scary supernatural premise mixed with comedy. Paul Feig's film will be the first version of that, shooting in June to come out in July 2016. He's got four of the funniest women in the world, and there will be other surprises to come. The second film has a wonderful idea that builds on that. Drew will start writing and the hope is to be ready for the Russo Brothers' next window next summer to shoot, with the movie coming out the following year. It's just the beginning of what I hope will be a lot of wonderful movies.
Reitman said that aside from himself and Aykroyd, Ghostcorps principals will be his longtime Montecito partner Tom Pollock, Ali Bell and Alex Plapinger, and Sony. They'll take space on the Culver City lot, even as they continue operating Montecito as a separate production company. They have several pictures percolating at Paramount and they are getting close on a movie adaptation of Baywatch.
"My primary focus will be to build the Ghostbusters into the universe it always promised it might become. The original film is beloved, as is the cast, and we hope to create films we will continue to love."
This is early days and the Russo Brothers, who are prepping their second Captain America pic <"Captain America: Civil War" (Sony's signature superhero Spider-Man is expected to make an appearance), have also been mentioned as being coveted by Marvel to direct the next two Avengers movies - taking over for Joss Whedon - so we'll see the configuration when this makes it to the start gate.
That uncertainty doesn't scare Reitman, particularly given how long it took to resuscitate the franchise after waiting years for original Ghostbuster Bill Murray to read the script. They are all very happy to be relaunching the franchise with Feig's version.
"Sometimes things happen at the speed they are supposed to happen." he said. "The deals were so strong on that second movie that the franchise became frozen in place 25 years. Nothing got done, we all had the power to block whatever we didn't like, but we finally got together and found a way."Those Ghostbusters deals simply don't exist anymore in Hollywood. Stars don't get first dollar gross anymore, but that opens different doors that include back door paydays and, sometimes, being a part owner in a promising new concern like Ghostcorps.
WME reps the Russo Brothers, Tatum is with UTA and Management 360, and Pearce is repped by WME and PBJ Management.

TC wrote:oh boy. i get the mixed reactions to the trailer, but i do not comprehend hating wiig. she is fucking hilarious. was just thinking to myself yesterday about a couple of her skits on SNL and laughing like a lunatic. wish they were online (stupid fucking NBC).

_Marcus_ wrote:

TC wrote:oh boy. i get the mixed reactions to the trailer, but i do not comprehend hating wiig. she is fucking hilarious. was just thinking to myself yesterday about a couple of her skits on SNL and laughing like a lunatic. wish they were online (stupid fucking NBC).

I love Wiig too, and seem to be the only left on the planet not onboard the McCarthy hate train.

TC wrote:i used to love her, but she has made it difficult. seems like she's made the same movie over and over and her character is stale. she needs to do something different. looks like she's the same character in this as everything else. she's funny, don't get me wrong, just... i've seen it.