Paul Feig Still Thinks the Female-Lead 'Ghostbusters' Backlash Had to Do With 2016 Election
Filmmaker thinks his remake was “intertwined” with Hillary Clinton’s campaign
by Jeremy FusterFour years after his “Ghostbusters” remake with a female-lead cast flopped at the box office, Paul Feig still believes that the backlash the film spawned had to do with the larger political and cultural trends surrounding the 2016 presidential election.
In an interview Friday with SiriusXM, Feig noted that Donald Trump went on the attack against the film in January 2015 via an Instagram video posted months before he announced his candidacy for the White House. “They’re remaking Indiana Jones without Harrison Ford–you can’t do that!” Trump said in a rant that would echo many of his campaign speeches. “And now they’re making Ghostbusters with only women. What’s going on?!”
“I think some really brilliant author…needs to write a book about 2016 and how intertwined we were with Hillary [Clinton] and the anti-Hillary movement,” Feig said. “Everyone was at a boiling point. I don’t know if it was having an African American president for eight years that they were teed up, they were just ready to explode.”
He went on, “It’s crazy how people got nuts about women trying to be empowered or be in positions they weren’t normally in, and it was an ugly, ugly year.”
“Ghostbusters” became a cultural third rail in the summer 0f 2016, with critics of the film being accused of sexism, while stars of the film like Leslie Jones received online harassment in the weeks leading up to the film’s release. Ultimately, the film — which also starred Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Kristen Wiig — failed to turn a profit for Sony Pictures, grossing $229 million at the global box office against a $144 million budget before marketing costs. Although reception for the film was solid with a 74% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a B+ on CinemaScore, “Ghostbusters” found itself losing family audiences and sci-fi fans to better-received films in theaters like “The Secret Life of Pets” and “Star Trek: Beyond.”
While the reboot may have gone bust, Sony’s going to give the franchise another chance with “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” a direct sequel to the first two “Ghostbusters” films. It will see the original male cast reunite in a story about a family that moves to Kansas and discovers their connection to the Ghostbusters when a series of earthquakes hit their new home. The film was set to be released in July but was moved to March 5, 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Watch Feig’s remarks in the clip above.
When Jones was 19, a friend entered her into a "Funniest Person on Campus" contest -- and she won. According to People, Jones left school to pursue comedy after winning.
In 1987, Jones had her first professional gig. She opened up for Jamie Foxx -- and bombed.
In 2010, Jones released her first stand-up DVD. The hour-long show, which was taped in front of a live audience, received a 77 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
In 2013, SNL cast member, Kenan Thompson, said that the show didn't have any black women in the cast because in auditions they couldn't "find ones that are ready." Jones fired back: "There’s motherf—in’ three bitches I can call right now, goddammit, that will fill that spot."
In 2014, Jones joined the show. When she first auditioned in 2013, she was initially selected to be a writer.
Jones had a small part in Chris Rock's "Top Five," in which a few comedians hurl insults at each other. “That was the best scene in the movie, and Leslie was the best part of it,” Rock told the New Yorker.
Jones starred in the all-female remake of the classic 1984 film. The announcement of the comedy was met with sexist comments criticizing the film for casting all women.
A review by Breitbart's Milo Yiannopoulos criticized Jones' character for having “flat-as-a-pancake black stylings.” He was later banned from Twitter.
After the review, Twitter users began attacking the comedian with racist tweets. “OK, I have been called Apes, sent pics of their asses, even got a pic with semen on my face. I’m tryin to figure out what human means. I’m out,” wrote Jones.
Following the slew of racist attacks, the comedian decided to leave the social media platform on July 18.
On July 21, Jones returned to Twitter.
Jones' Twitter commentary landed her in Rio. NBC invited her to join their Olympics team and help cover the games.
This week, hackers took over the comedian's personal Tumblr website and posted nude photos, images of her passport and ID as well as her phone number and password to her Twitter account.
How the “SNL” and “Ghostbusters” actress became a star
View In Gallery