The Boys (in Gray) are back: Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Bill Murray sat down with Jimmy Fallon on last night's (November 15) episode of The Tonight Show to discuss the experience of reuniting after three decades for Ghostbusters: Afterlife — and, in Aykroyd's case, to namedrop Kingston, ON.
Ahead of the film's official US premiere in New York City, Fallon asked the three actors the big question: why resurrect the franchise — which debuted in 1984 — now? Aykroyd explained that director Jason Reitman's script won them over.
As the son of the Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II filmmaker Ivan Reitman, the new director "had his own take on [it], because he grew up as a child of the Ghostbusters, in a way." Didn't we all?
"He had something he thought would work as a good story," Aykroyd continued, "and we all agreed that he got it."
Looking back on the first film, Aykroyd shed some light on his inspiration for the canonical premise: his supernatural-obsessed great-grandfather, "who was a dentist up there in Kingston, ON — so sometimes, with not much to do in the winter, he began to research spiritualism in the 1920s."
Classic Kingston things.
The trio went on to touch on almost not getting the rights to the Ghostbusters name, more nostalgia and their unbridled enthusiasm for the new film.
Watch Hudson, Murray and Aykroyd's interview with Fallon below.
Murray already has a current box office hit on his hands with Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch. Meanwhile, Aykroyd recently weighed in on the comedy-and-cancel-culture debate.
Ahead of the film's official US premiere in New York City, Fallon asked the three actors the big question: why resurrect the franchise — which debuted in 1984 — now? Aykroyd explained that director Jason Reitman's script won them over.
As the son of the Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II filmmaker Ivan Reitman, the new director "had his own take on [it], because he grew up as a child of the Ghostbusters, in a way." Didn't we all?
"He had something he thought would work as a good story," Aykroyd continued, "and we all agreed that he got it."
Looking back on the first film, Aykroyd shed some light on his inspiration for the canonical premise: his supernatural-obsessed great-grandfather, "who was a dentist up there in Kingston, ON — so sometimes, with not much to do in the winter, he began to research spiritualism in the 1920s."
Classic Kingston things.
The trio went on to touch on almost not getting the rights to the Ghostbusters name, more nostalgia and their unbridled enthusiasm for the new film.
Watch Hudson, Murray and Aykroyd's interview with Fallon below.
Murray already has a current box office hit on his hands with Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch. Meanwhile, Aykroyd recently weighed in on the comedy-and-cancel-culture debate.
