Ivan Reitman isn't surprised Bill Murray doesn't want to be involved in Ghostbusters III.
The director helmed the first two movies in 1984 and 1989, and has signed up to produce the third instalment. Bill took on the role of the sarcastic Dr. Peter Venkman alongside Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and the late Harold Ramis in the previous features, but it's unsure whether he'll return for the next.
Filmmaker Paul Feig is said to be directing the upcoming feature and Ivan is interested in the idea of a female-led Ghostbusters.
"On the drafts that I’ve been supervising, there’s always been a very important female presence. It’s nice to know that Paul is interested in the same thing. I met with him because I’ll be [a producer on] whatever the new Ghostbusters is," Ivan told Collider.
"I think we were initially slowed down by Bill Murray’s reluctance to be involved. Not that that’s all that surprising. He’s somewhat reluctant about most things. I think that affected the timing of things, to a great extent. We all wanted him back, at the centre of it, as well."
Ivan also explained why he chose to sign up as a producer to the project rather than direct again. It is thought Ghostbusters III will also have Dan as a producer, who is also believed to have co-written the characters alongside the late Harold.
"Just a really good, cool idea that I think would work, that audiences would want to see, and that’s a little different than things before, but that I don’t necessarily have to do, as a director," Ivan explained when asked what made him choose producer. "I certainly would have done it with the original cast version. That’s the script that I was working on. But it was clear that I didn’t have half the cast anymore, so I thought, 'Well, I’ll produce this next one and make sure that the spirit is true to the originals. But, I’ll let somebody bring some fresh ideas to it.'"
