It appears I’m not the only one who enjoys the less realistic-looking approach of the Wii version of Ghostbusters: The Video Game; Dan Aykroyd is a pretty big fan of it himself!
Recently, a group of media outlets got together with the Ghostbusters creator/writer/star, and one of Newsweek’s questions pertained to who Aykroyd thought received the best digital makeover.
He replied: “Honestly, I love the way we look in the Wii platform, because it resembles the animation that was done in “The Incredibles.” Anybody who looks like an Incredible is automatically a superhero. And I was so pleased that they shaved off at least 60 pounds from my current bulk. The boys look good. We resemble the actors who were in the first movie. You wouldn’t want us out there looking as we do today. But in the third movie we will! There, we’ll have the benefit of passing the torch to a new generation. Much prettier and much better looking, like Alyssa Milano.”
When questioned as to whether or not Milano will make it into the third movie, Dan says “She’s in the game, and I hope the tradition continues! She’d be terrific as one of our new cadets.”
Asked if the third movie was definite, Aykroyd simply fires back “you’re a writer—how definite is writing?” But he notes that they do have people working on it, including “two sharp people” from The Office. So far, the rest of the crew (Ramis, Reitman, and Murray) seem to enjoy how it’s going.
Asked about Sigourney Weaver’s lack of involvement, Aykroyd says that “I’m not sure what her decision-making process was, other than that she was being very careful to protect the reputation and legacy of the first movie, and was concerned that maybe a videogame might risk turning out badly.”
He then notes that “perhaps if she had had the benefit of being in on some of the early meetings and seeing some of the concepts, maybe she might have felt differently about it.”
Dan reassures fans, however, that “she will definitely be in the third movie—we sure need her there, for sure.”
Faced with the question of whether or not he plays games himself, Aykroyd says “I like flight simulators. And I enjoy perfecting my shooting skills on the firearms training system available to police departments in the United States, and I sometimes get on ranges with them. That’s like a videogame, but it’s simulation of real life. When you hit the baby and the mother across the street with the AR-15 by mistake, you feel the gravity of it. When you’re blowing a zombie’s head off, not so much.”
That sounds even harder core than hardcore, when you think about it.
MTV Multiplayer had some questions for the man who fills Ray’s shoes, too. When asked how this game might affect the third movie, Aykroyd said:
“I’d want to see the third movie made. I think [the video game] is the third movie and if everything is creative and right, and this game helps get the third movie made… We have a good concept there; [we have] the young writers from ‘The Office.’ I’ve worked with Harold [Ramis] on [upcoming film] ‘Year One,’ which is coming out. The Book of Genesis adapted into a comedy? Who but Harold Ramis could pull that off! So these two writers — [Lee] Eisenberg and [Gene] Stupnitsky – they sound like a vaudeville team or a law firm — are brilliant young guys. And they come up with a good story.”
“But you know they were inspired by the game — I said, ‘Go see the game!’ And they watched the game and already in their story outline there are things from the game that are going to be in the movie. So it’s going very nicely. But you know, in show business, you can’t ever place your hopes that things are going to happen and so many dreams get perforated. I just had to kiss it goodbye for a long time but we got ‘Blues Brothers 2’ made and that was a miracle. [laughs] It was a success by that measure alone.”
In response to their question about Weaver, he adds to the above that “the Alyssa Milano character leads us to a new generation and a new story. And when we do the ‘Ghostbusters 3′ movie, hopefully, Sigourney will be in it.”
He also teases fans with the following tidbit: “But there will be a whole new generation that has to be trained, and that whole new generation will be led by an individual who you’ll all love when you meet him but I’m not going to tell you anything yet.”
Regarding whether Aykroyd thinks that games are a better home for stories like Ghostbusters than movies are, he sort of glosses over Ghostbusters specifically, saying that he has two science-fiction stories which he thinks are great, but he may just skip the movies altogether. “And I’m going to find maybe some gamers and maybe go with [Atari] again. And I’ll just give them the scripts and say, ‘Pretend this movie got made.’ Which today, games make movies.”
When asked about further Ghostbusters games and whether or not they work as movie sequels, he mentions that the third movie is in development, but it’s not done until it’s done. But for him, this game is real, and it is the third movie, as “it’s the only thing that exists that depicts the characters again in a new adventure, in a new light.”
He then notes that “I think that the third movie might be a sequel to this. I think now you have them acting hand in hand. It’s interactive, if you will. So the third movie, whether it’s a reality or not, I’m sure a concept for a game will come out of that, and then that game may feed the story for a fourth one.”
Now we just have to hope that Hollywood doesn’t muck it all up by calling the third movie “Ghostbusters 3.”
For the full interviews with more Aykroyd Q&A, check out MTV Multiplayer’s here, and Newsweek’s version here.
