Who Should Play the New Ghostbusters?

With Harold Ramis confirming earlier this week what we pretty much took as gospel - that he, Dan Aykroyd, and Bill Murray would play mentors to a new team of comic action heroes in Ghostbusters 3 - we started thinking more seriously about how those new Ghostbusters should be. The easy way to do it is to go through Judd Apatow's rolodex.Seth Rogen and I agree that he shouldn't be in it. I think Paul Rudd might be an obvious choice from Camp Apatow, but he's about the only Knocked Up cast member I would really want in there. I just don't see Jonah Hill or Michael Cera or Romany Malco or Rogen or any of those guys as being incredibly inspired casting, and I think if you're going to make Ghostbuster 3, it should meet that standard. Am I being to limiting? I really don't think so. But it is more challenging once you take out the Apatow family tree. The new Vanity Fair comedy issue features that ensemble prominently, and a quick Google search for "funniest movies 2008" shows a list from About.com that features Step Brothers, Nick and Norah, Role Models, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Zack and Miri, Pineapple Express, and Tropic Thunder. There's a ton of shared DNA there. So if you remove all things Apatow, what's left? Unfortunately, not a lot. The biggest stars to emerge from Saturday Night Live over the past five years have been Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and although Murray threw out that he'd like to see a female Ghostbuster, I'm not sure that would happen. The most talented guys on the show are probably Bill Hader and Fred Armisen, who are much better at characters than they are versions of themselves, which is what this movie would call for. Jason Sudeikis? Kristen Wiig? Maybe, but SNL, at least right now, doesn't feel like a great resource to tap for this movie. As for Andy Samberg, I like him just fine in someone else's sketch or movie, but not when he's supposed to be the star. The Office would spring to mind as another place to find some potential cast members, since writers Gene Stupnisky and Lee Eisenberg were hired for Ghostbusters 3 based on their work for the show. But Steve Carell is probably out of the question and I'm not sold on John Krasinski when he's not Jim Halpert. Rainn Wilson? I'd rather just take Dwight Schrute if I could. But there are three distinct possibilities on that show: Jenna Fischer, Ed Helms, and Craig Robinson. Of course, Robinson kind of implies that this is a Judd Apatow movie, especially if we're keeping Paul Rudd. That just tells you how hard this exercise is. Fischer fills the female Ghostbuster idea without being such a dominant personality that she takes a lot of laughs away from the others. Helms is kind of a mixed bag. Sometimes, his stuff is really funny and other times it just never gets where it's going. The trouble with a combo of, say, Rudd, Fischer, and Robinson, or Rudd, Robinson, and even Andy Samberg, is I wonder where the star power is. I'm not saying you need Johnny Depp for this, but Murray and Aykroyd were big stars back in the early 80s, especially Murray, and that had a lot to do with why people were initially interested. If it had been Garrett Morris, Charles Rocket, and Harold Ramis...well, you get the point. So here's where we're stuck: It's easy enough to come up with a second generation Egon Spengler and Raymond Stantz, and even a Winston Zeddmore, based on some of the names we've suggested and even some we haven't. But who's your Peter Venkman? Who's the new Bill Murray in all of this? You absolutely need a star, someone who gets the quotable lines and has the swagger to sell them, and someone with enough broad appeal to make the film an out-of-the-box hit. There are a few guys that could conceivably work, though I doubt they'd be interested. I'm not saying I'd pick them, but Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell put people in the seats better than any other comedians in Hollywood. If it were ten years ago, Jim Carrey's name would come up. Jack Black would be a better sideman than a frontman here. But there are two names I keep coming back to, for various reasons. The first is one of the best investments in show business year after year. That's not me talking, that's Forbes. People line up to see his comedies and he definitely knows how to add quotability to a movie. I can't believe I'm saying this, but you'd at least have to consider Vince Vaughn. Again, that's not me talking, but simple, cold-blooded studio wisdom. He sells tickets, people think he's funny, you know he's going to fill the trailer with catchphrases, and he's proven time and again that he can open a comedy well. However, the guy I keep coming back to, over and over again, could make Ghostbusters 3 absolutely soar. The only problem is that we're not having his discussion in 2007. What about RDJ? Robert Downey Jr. as the leader of the new Ghostbusters? How cool would that be? It sounds crazy at first, and you wonder if it would even appeal to him, but there aren't many actors who can get a Best Supporting Actor nomination the way Downey did last year. He's not just a star but a resurgent one, and there's nothing Hollywood likes more that jumping on the train of people who are popular again. It would allow Downey to fill the Iron Man gaps with another ready-made summer smash, and let's face it, there's nobody I'd rather see in the role. If I could have Downey, Rudd, and Robinson/Samberg, I'd take that all day over Rogen, Jay Baruchel, and Jonah Hill. Keeping in mind that we need a big star in the middle of all this to make it go, who would you cast? I'm sure I'm leaving out a few great ideas.

Comments

[Neil]

I think Ryan Reynolds should play Bill Murrays son, he and seth rogan on the new ghostbusters squad and probably a girl for good measure...lets say Kat Dennings.

[Get The Big Picture]

See, I like Reynolds idea. Good call. He's more of a Chevy Chase, but he could do it. You're married to the Rogen idea?

[Anybody]

- Martin Starr (Egon - Nerdy)
- Bill Hader (Stantz)
- Aziz Ansari (Zeddmore)
- James Franco (Venkman)

alternate choices, Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg... Ryan Reynolds isn't a bad choice either.

[Anybody]

Craig Robinson would be awesome also, he's hilarious.

Starr, Robinson, McBride and Franco would be a good team... there are a lot of good choices.

[anonymous]

they should just cast it with four completely new unknown actors with the original cast... that'll be fun... right?

[Ned]

Jack Black
Jason Bateman
Jason Schwartzman
(Craig Robinson)

[Get The Big Picture]

Jason Bateman is a solid call, and Schwartzman could be interesting. I have to say that Martin Starr and Aziz Ansari are way too inside the beltway for a project of this magnitude. There's zero chance Columbia wants it to rest on the shoulders of guys with no real track record of commercial success. Or at least, not more than one of them.

Happy to see Craig Robinson getting so many votes.

[J CASSELL]

Ryan Reynolds is never a bad idea for any movie I feel. The most definite character he can portray would ultimately be a conceited, but witty and successful individual.

Character Equivalence:

Venkman - Reynolds or possibly Rudd
Egon - Why not Fred Armisen? Put some glasses on him and he's quite a sufficient nerd.
Stantz - Bill Hader, and for every reason.
Zeddmore - Completely unsure. His character never had much hype, so...

I also feel Kristen Wiig should be somewhere in this flick. For some reason, I think she'd suffice as a new "Janine."

I understand my reasoning for new character choices stems from the SNL databanks, but seriously, it was done once and succeeded, why not again? Bill Hader should play Stantz, in my opinion, over anybody else.