Bill Murray to appear in Ghostbusters reboot
Murray, who starred as Peter Venkman in '80s franchise, had previously been lukewarm on return
Dust off (or wipe the slime off) all your favourite Ghostbusters clichés, because Bill Murray is on board to appear in the reboot of the 1980s film franchise after all.
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The comedian and actor, predictable in his unpredictability, has agreed to appear in the 2016 film — featuring an all-female ghostbusting team — after years of saying he was done with the franchise, Variety and the Hollywood Reporter say.
Murray, who starred as Peter Venkman in the original Ghostbusters (1984) and its lesser sequel, Ghostbusters II (1989), had never been keen on reprising the role.
One story that circulated in 2011 claimed that Murray ran one version of a Ghostbusters 3 script through a shredder and mailed it back to co-writers Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd.
He explained his lack of interest in revisiting the franchise in a 2014 interview with Dazed & Confused magazine, saying: "I find that you don't really lose by saying no in show business. If you say no, sometimes they come back with a better script. Or sometimes it just goes away."
'He just likes to be surprising'
Apparently Murray believes the new approach conceived by director Paul Feig — and that will feature the ghostbusting team of Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon and Melissa McCarthy — is more to his liking than the more straightforward sequel that original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman was slated to helm.
Reitman told CBC News last year that he didn't expect Murray to rejoin the franchise because "his brain and his heart" weren't in it, but that Murray would occasionally say he'd do it if the right script came along.
"He just likes to be surprising," said Reitman.
It's not clear if Murray will reprise his original role, but another previous ghostbuster will also appear in the film. Aykroyd revealed last month that he shot a scene for the reboot.
The Sony film, also called Ghostbusters, is set to debut July 22.
With files from The Canadian Press