Everyone who saw the hilarious, matchless performances by Bill Murray in the Ghostbusters comedies dreamed that he might one day agree to make another sequel, yet he never exhibited much enthusiasm for the idea. But when rumors began flying last year about the possibility of an all-female version, he was all in favor, stating: "I would go to that movie. They’d probably have better outfits, too.”
Murray even named Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig as prospective cast members and, indeed, both are starring in a new version that is now filming under the direction of Paul Feig. Now Murray has made dreams come true: he will indeed appear in the new Ghostbusters, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Can we predict who he's playing? Hmm...
Will Murray be reprising his original role as Dr. Peter Venkman, parapsychologist? (See below for a sample of his work.) That's still up in the air. Another site, Birth.Movies.Death, says that an earlier version of the script mentions a character named Martin Heiss, described as "a professional supernatural debunker," and was reportedly written specifically for Murray (without knowing if he would actually take it). The role is said to be "tiny," which makes sense, since we're sure Murray doesn't want to be seen as trying to "upstage" the new stars.
Of course, Murray might have taken another role, or the character may have changed, or, well, any number of other changes might have happened between the writing of the script and now. So we'll just have to wait to see if any other details are revealed in advance or -- horrors! -- wait until the movie is released in theaters to know for sure.
What we do know is that Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones will portray the new Ghostbusters, Chris Hemsworth will play their receptionist, and we'll all be very, very happy to see Bill Murray in the movie. We'll wager that he'll be funny, no matter the size of his role. Ghostbusters is scheduled to open in theaters on July 22, 2016.
