Shocker Of The Day: Ghostbusters Wants Melissa McCarthy In The Lead
This article is more than 2 years old
This should come as no surprise to anyone who has been paying even a modicum of attention, but Melissa McCarthy is reportedly in talks to star in director Paul Feig’s upcoming, oft-discussed, frequently ranted about Ghostbusters reboot.
This bit of news, broken by The Hollywood Reporter, won’t shock any of you out there because McCarthy is a name that has been bandied about since the first moment we learned that a female-fronted revamp is in store. Not to mention that she starred in Feig’s last two directorial efforts, Bridesmaids and The Heat, as well as his next, Spy.
Scheduling could become something of an issue here however, as the Tammy star is all kinds of busy at the moment, but they’re trying to work around that. Not only does she have a commitment to the CBS sitcom Mike & Molly, which I honestly forgot was still on the air (it’s hard to have a show without one of the title characters, isn’t it?), she’s set to star in something called Michelle Darnell. While we’ve never heard of that, you can bet she won’t back out because her husband, Ben Falcone, is the director. According to the report, that project is going to shoot in March, so they have an eye on possibly getting Ghostbusters rolling around June.
Though this choice seems obvious, that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Part of why McCarthy has been mentioned so many times is because she’s damn funny and has a fantastic working relationship with Feig. At least they appear to, and as much as they’ve worked together recently, you hope they do. It’s easy to imagine her as the wildcard member of the team, in one of those beige jumpsuits, running after ghosts, causing all kinds of ruckus.
There has been a lot of talk about other potential actresses, and names like Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone, Lizzie Caplan, Amy Schumer, Rebel Wilson, and damn near every actress (and dudes) in Hollywood have been mentioned in the same breath at Ghostbusters. What’s not clear is who has met with the creative team, who is on a dream wish list, and who has just mentioned that they’re fans of Ghostbusters in passing and someone overheard. Even McCarthy is still preliminary, as the two sides are just talking and working out details at this point.
We’ll see how all of this works out eventually, but they’re working on a backup plan. THR also learned that Workaholics Jillian Bell and Cecily Strong from Saturday Night Live are scheduled to meet with Feig soon.
I still have wildly mixed feelings about this whole thing. The idea of Feig, a director I like, teaming with any of these actresses, most of whom I also like, for a paranormal comedy sounds awesome. It’s just the Ghostbusters angle I have an issue with. Over all the years that there’s been talk of a Ghostbusters 3, none of the ideas have ever been good. (And if those rumors we heard recently about this reboot making the team a sort of covert government agency, like Men in Black, that also sounds super shitty.) This just feels like starting over because you can’t come up with any good ideas. Why not just let it rest and do something else?
I question whether or not the world actually needs another Ghostbusters movie, reboot, sequel, or otherwise. Then again, when has that ever stopped Hollywood from doing anything? For good or ill—we certainly hope good—this new Ghostbusters is happening. Do you think McCarthy is the right choice?
