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Jun 8 • 40 tweets • 23 min read Twitter logo

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GHOSTBUSTERS was released 39 years ago today. A 1980s comedy classic with some iconic performances and moments, the making of story is as huge as the Marshmallow Man…

A THREAD

1/38

SNL comic Dan Aykroyd was brought up in an environment where ghost and ghouls were part of his family - his great grandfather was a spiritual researcher and his dad wrote a book called A History of Ghosts. Aykroyd always wanted to put his experiences into a screenplay.

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Aykroyd sent Stripes director Ivan Reitman his script – titled Ghost Smashers. It was set in a future where the Ghostbusters operated out of a New Jersey gas station & faced ghostly threats. It also had a large portion of the film set in space.

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Reitman made some changes. He set it in the modern day, made the Ghostbusters more like firemen and had them buy a fire station. He also thought that starting in a university would root the story in realism – he called it “the domino theory of reality”.

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Reitman pitched the idea to Columbia Pictures president, Frank Price, who asked how much it would cost. Reitman pulled $30m out of thin air based on 3x the cost of Stripes. Price said yes immediately as long as it was out in 12 months – June 8th 1984.

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Harold Ramis came in to help with the writing having worked on Stripes. Aykroyd, Reitman and Ramis then spent 3 weeks in Aykroyd’s Martha’s Vineyard basement. Reitman said that it was the best time of his professional career.

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Aykroyd wrote the script for he and his pal John Belushi to play the leads. Sadly, Belushi died in 1982. Aykroyd took it badly and called Belushi his “kindred spirit” and said Belushi was the only man he could dance with. The ghost ‘Slimer’ was based on Belushi.

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Aykroyd always planned to play Ray Stantz. And after Belushi passed, Michael Keaton, Tom Hanks, Chevy Chase and Steve Guttenburg were all considered for the role of Peter Venkman.

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Reitman and Aykroyd agreed Bill Murray was a perfect fit. Murray was famous for not committing until the 11th hour but had a reputation of honouring his word. Despite this, Reitman didn’t know for certain that Murray would turn up until the day filming started.

9/38

In the script, Egon Spengler was described as a “new wave Mr Spock” with the understanding that he single-handedly got Venkman through school. Christopher Walken, John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, and Jeff Goldblum were all considered for the role.

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Finding Egon difficult to cast, Aykroyd asked the man who’d written most of his lines in the script - Harold Ramis. Ramis took the role and made a conscious decision not to smile throughout the film – a perfect counter to Venkman’s permanent wise cracks.

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To come up with the name, Ramis took inspiration from his own university classmate, Egon Donsbeck. “Spengler” came from German philosopher Oswald Spengler.

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Sigourney Weaver is Dana Barrett and wanted a change from the serious roles she was known for. At her audition she told Reitman Dana should become a demon dog. To demonstrate, she got on all fours and started biting the furniture. Reitman said “Don’t ever do that again.”

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Sigourney Weaver said that when she first met Bill Murray on set he said “Hello Susan” (Weaver’s real name is Susan). Murray then lifted her up over his shoulders and walked down 5th Avenue with her.

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The role of Louis Tully was written for John Candy to be Belushi’s sidekick but he didn’t quite get the script. Candy suggested he play it with a German accent and have two dogs with him at all times. An idea Aykroyd didn’t like at all.

15/38

Rick Moranis read the script and loved it. He told Reitman “This is the greatest script I’ve ever read.” The scene at Louis party below was almost entirely improvised by Moranis, with some input from Harold Ramis.

16/38

Eddie Murphy was lined up for the role of Winston Zeddermore (Reitman has denied this). With each script revision, Winston’s role got bigger and he became the main character, so they shifted some of Winston over to Venkman and cast Ernie Hudson as Winston.

17/38

William Atherton is EPA inspector Walter Peck. He later complained about how people treat him because of his role. He said people passing on a bus shouted “Yo, dickless” and he had been in several bar room brawls over the film.

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Reitman has a couple of cameos in the film. He provided the noises of Slimer pigging out on a pile of food before he slimes Venkman. He also provided the voice when Dana becomes possessed and says “There is no Dana, only Zuul.”

19/38

The Ectomobile is a 50s Cadillac ambulance. It was black but didn’t register on camera so was made white. Because filming was rushed, only one Ectomobile was made. They treat it with kid gloves. It still broke down though, fortunately just after production wrapped.

20/38

Reitman wanted effects legends ILM to work on the film but they were booked on Return of the Jedi. At the time, Richard Edlund was wanting to move away from ILM so he set up Boss Studios to work on Ghostbusters. This video shows how some of the effects were made…

21/38

The library sequence was filmed in the New York Public Library and L.A. public library. The whole scene was thought up by Reitman that day as he was driving to the set. So it was shot as they went.

22/38

The library opening included some classic practical effects. The floating books were on wire pulleys. And technicians were hid behind the drawers pushing them out, and copper piping was used to blow air thro ugh the shelves to blow papers out.

23/38

The part where the bookcase falls over was not part of the script – it fell over by chance. So Venkman’s line "Has this ever happened to you before?” was improvised by Bill Murray.

24/38

There was an even scarier version of the Librarian Puppet made, but it was rejected. It was recycled and used in Fright Night in 1985.

25/38

The first time we see the proton packs in action, the Ghostbusters destroy a cleaning lady’s cart. The cart was rigged with pyrotechnics and the actress wasn’t expecting it to be so loud. Her response was genuine and Reitman kept it in the film.

26/38

Huey Lewis and the News were asked to write the theme song but said no. Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac also declined because he didn't want to get into the rut of movie themes having worked on National Lampoon’s Vacation in 1983.

27/38

Ray Parker Jr. was hired and came up with the iconic Who Ya Gonna Call? However, Huey Lewis and The News sued for plagiarism, citing similarities to their hit "I Want a New Drug." The matter was settled out of court.

28/38

Composer Elmer Bernstein used both new and old technology. The new Yamaha DX-7 synthesizer to create weird sounds that orchestral instruments couldn’t. He also used an Ondes Martenot – an electronic instrument from 1928 for the otherworldly tones.

29/38

In the original script, the villain Gozer took on the form of Ivo Shandor – a pale, slender, man in a business suit. Gozer's final form was described as "David Bowie meets Grace Jones". In fact, Jones was considered before Slavitza Jovan was cast.

30/38

The visual effects team had only 10 months to create and shoot every special effect so when the shot of Slimer floating round a chandelier wasn’t working, they spray-painting a peanut green for the second-long shot. The peanut is in the film.

31/38

The marshmallow was actually shaving cream. The moment where a big blob of it lands on Peck, they tried it out on a stuntman and it knocked him out. So they reduced from 50lbs to 25lbs for William Atherton.

32/38

The Ghostbusters defeat Gozer by crossing the steams. It was thought up on the spot. It’s a callback to Egon’s line in the Sedgewick hotel but wasn’t originally planned. They didn’t have a plan on the day of shooting.

33/38

The theatrical trailer featured the Ghostbusters commercial with the number 555-2368. Anyone who called that number heard a message from Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd saying they were busy busting ghosts!

34/38

In the 1970s, Universal had a TV series titled The Ghost Busters and threatened to sue. Luckily, Frank Price was moving to Universal as studio head and let Reitman keep the name. And this is why the animated series is called The Real Ghostbusters.

35/38

At the L.A. wrap party, Sigourney Weaver read a poem about production that she’d written herself. This is her poem…

36/38

Reitman quickly knew he had a hit on his hands. It had audiences laughing and screaming in equal measure, which was what he aimed for, reviews were very good, and 2 weeks after release there were kiosks on every street corner selling bootleg Ghostbusters T-shirts.

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