Ivan Reitman, who directed the 1984 original “Ghostbusters” and its 1989 sequel, has endorsed the new all-female reboot coming to theaters later this month.
In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, Reitman prodded fans to approach the new film with an open mind and not just based on short trailers.
“Many of the people writing furiously about it were at an age, maybe 7 or 8 or 9, when Ghostbusters was the coolest thing they ever experienced,” he said. “And now there’s this two-minute trailer and how can that stand up to it? It’s not so much that the trailer was bad. The trailer was fine. It just can’t stand up to more than 25 years of personal experience.
“That’s why people have to see it. Word will be out quickly.”
What surprised Reitman most about the public backlash the new “Ghostbusters” stirred up is the problems with the new cast.
“We were concerned about that kind of thing being a possibility,” he said. “It was bigger than I’d imagined. I wasn’t deeply involved in the Internet, so I didn’t realize how vicious it could be. But we’re all adults. We knew what we were getting into.”
“Ghostbusters” will arrive in theaters on July 15.