Posted on 09/15/2018 5:58:16 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Paul Feig, director of 2016’s female-led Ghostbusters reboot, says the movie was caught in the same misogynistic “vortex” as then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“I have been dying for somebody to look at Hillary Clinton’s campaign and us, because we were caught in the exact same vortex,” Feig told The Telegraph when speaking about new Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively mystery-thriller A Simple Favor.
“It was shocking. I still think about it a lot, honestly — sometimes I’m like, ‘OK, stop thinking about it.’ Because I’m really proud of the movie, and while people still send me mean things, overwhelmingly more people tell me they love it.”
Feig said the film has since inspired young women to enter into scientific fields, most pointing to nuclear engineer specialist and inventor Jillian Holtzmann, played by Saturday Night Live standout Kate McKinnon.
“Parents and their children, women in their 20s and 30s who were inspired to go into science, or are in love with Kate McKinnon,” he said. “But I definitely felt like we were the icebreaker going through the Arctic. People weren’t yet used to the idea that this could happen.”
The director, who waged a real-life battle on online trolls who harassed both himself and his cast before and after production on the controversial re-imagining, separates Ghostbusters fans, a.k.a. Ghostheads — “the ones who have clubs where they dress up, do all this charity work, the most amazing people” — from those who lashed out at the reboot with venomous misogyny.
“It ignited these passions that were already around because Trump was stirring them up,” Feig said. “I think these guys felt they were losing control.”
Its villain — Rowan (Neil Casey), a perennially-bullied bellhop-turned-occultist who sought to bring about an apocalypse as result of his seething hatred for all of humanity — was viewed by some as an in-universe take on the real-life vitriol-spewing type of troll, but Feig said the character was always envisioned as a God’s Lonely Man type “because that’s always the most dangerous guy in the world.”
Feig believes the Clinton-versus-Trump match and Trump’s eventual ascendancy to the presidency helped push along the fall of ousted Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and ushered in the #MeToo movement, which sees women stand up and speak out against sexual harassment and assault in the movie-making industry.
“Because the misogyny out there was in everybody’s face,” he said. “It was this boiling cauldron of so many contributing factors that made women go ‘Enough,’ thank God.”
Ghostbusters scared up a mixed-to-positive response from critics and a tepid response from audiences, pulling in just $229 million worldwide on a $144 million-plus budget — likely dashing Feig’s hopes for a sequel. He said previously the movie was hampered by it taking on a second life as “a cause,” saying the movie “was only supposed to be there to entertain people.”
Mr Feig has a way over-inflated sense of self-importance.
What a Feig.
His movie was caught in a vortex of crap, and if anyone knows he should, after all he spun it.
With Andy Kaufman and Steve Martin and Steven Wright it was a generational thing. My parents didn't think they were funny. As I get older I sometimes think they were right.
But I was thinking more of Jack Black. He has the same problem the Ghostbusters gals have. Creating a droll or whimsical character doesn't make a movie funny. You say "That is a silly person who acts in odd ways" but nothing makes you really laugh.
Oh, please.
All the women in this remake were butt ugly.
A redo of the original was not a good idea, period. If they had come up with a completely new script, with the women being related to the original Ghostbusters then it might have worked.
Most remakes suck. This one sucked even more than most. It didn’t suck because it had an all women cast. It sucked because it was a comedy that was not funny.
So it WAS the same reason Hillary lost!
After the disappointing Ghostbusters 2, only a moron didn’t know that they would have to step it up on any later effort. They went PC instead with predictable results.
Hey Fieg, do a remake of the Magnificent 7 with transvestite midgets. It will be much, much better!
Old Ghostbusters...
Do yo have any hobbies?”
Egon: “ I collect spores, molds and fungus.”
New Ghostbusters..
“I have fungus, clap and syphliss...”
I missed this laugh riot...
(I know it should be fungi...)
Hmm, well, upon further consideration, that would seem to be the case.
Ghostbusters (2016):Production Budget: $144 million
Domestic: $128,350,574 56.0%
+ Foreign: $100,796,935 44.0%= Worldwide: $229,147,509
Same vortex is right trying to shove something down peoples throats they don’t want. Trying to bury all men for feminist agenda, of all women all the time
Bill apparently didn’t like her as a woman either.
Race card. Sex card. It’s always one or the other.
The real problem: Both were misandry’s bridge too far.
If the original cast had been 3 women then rebooted with 3 men, all hell would have broken loose. Actually, it would never have even been considered. The movie sucked because it was bad and most people HATE reboots of movies or shows, especially when they change the original content. They’re remaking them because they were good and great movies/shows. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If writers had talent and originality they wouldn’t need to copy another’s hit.
Another horrible reboot, all female variety, was ocean’s 8. Walked out after 20 minutes and I never walk out of movies.
Joan Rivers had that edginess. Some of the younger woman comics today - the ones we probably hate for ideological reasons - also have it.
The Ghostbusters actresses didn't have it or didn't show it. They wanted too hard to be nice and likeable.
Kristen Wiig probably had a very happy childhood with people telling her she could do anything. That's not a good way to raise a future comedian.
Melissa McCarthy showed some edge playing off against Sandra Bullock in a comic book fashion. But left too herself, she just doesn't have it.
Her recent picture, The Life of the Party, just wasn't funny.
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