‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’: Jason Reitman talks about following in his father’s footsteps

Los Angeles : Filmmaker Jason Reitman’s father always wanted him to direct a ‘Ghostbusters’ film.

Jason, of Ivan Reitman, who directed the original ‘Ghostbusters’ in 1984, shared with Variety that he had originally resisted the idea, feeling “scared to pick up the proton pack. But that’s what this movie became about. ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ is about a family developing the courage to pick up the proton pack themselves”.

The film follows a family that moves to a farmhouse in Summerville, Oklahoma, and becomes troubled by a series of mysterious earthquakes and other strange happenings.

When Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) discover that their grandfather was original Ghostbuster Dr. Egon Spengler, they set out to investigate his legacy and save the world.

“It’s the cozy blankie of the 80s,” said Carrie Coon about the original ‘Ghostbusters’. Coon plays Callie, daughter of Egon and mother to Phoebe.

“I was three when the original movie came out, so nobody took me to the theatre to see it, but it was always on television,” Coon said.

“So it’s so much a part of my DNA. I couldn’t have imagined for one second that I’d ever be sitting here talking about it. And now I’ll be talking about it for the rest of my life.”

“My dad was a grown man running around the house screaming like a little girl,” said Logan Kim, who plays Phoebe’s classmate Podcast, about the day he found out he was cast in ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’.

“We were all just dancing around the house. I’ve watched this movie since I was really young, so it’s been a big part of my life.”

Reitman was intentional about centering this iteration of the iconic franchise around children.

“I don’t think it’s an accident that I was a kid on the set of ‘Ghostbusters’ and that this is a movie about young people picking up that equipment and seeing how it works,” Reitman added.

“It’s not an accident that I have a 12-year-old daughter, and that the center of this story is a brilliant 12-year-old girl who is a scientist who uses ghostbusting as a way to stop being an outsider and find a way to be a hero.”

Celeste O’Connor, who plays Trevor’s classmate Lucky Domingo, added even people who haven’t seen the original films will still find something to love in the reboot.

“The coolest thing about it is that this film isn’t just for the original ‘Ghostbusters’ fans,” she said.

“It’s for anybody and everybody.”